Robert Kelker-Kelly, the actor who played Bo Brady on “Days of Our Lives,” suffered cardiac arrest and was found unresponsive in bed at his home in St. Peters, Mo., on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, according to 911 dispatch audio. He was 62.
The dispatcher told first responders that Kelker-Kelly was not breathing. Minutes later came a second relay: the caller could not move him from the bed as CPR was under way.
St. Peters police officers were sent to the house at about 8:16 p.m. for a report of an unconscious man who was not breathing, with paramedics and other emergency medical crews en route, according to a department statement. Kelker-Kelly had complained of chest pain shortly before he became unresponsive, police said, and the circumstances appeared consistent with a medical event. Officers and paramedics administered life-saving measures. The efforts failed.
He died of natural causes, a spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office said. No toxicology testing was ordered, because there was no suspicion of drugs or alcohol.
From Wichita to Daytime Stardom
Born April 18, 1964, in Wichita, Kan., Kelker-Kelly made his acting debut in 1987 as Sam Fowler on the NBC soap “Another World,” a part he held until 1990. He came back to the show in 1996 as race car driver Bobby Reno, a character later revealed to be Dr. Shane Roberts, and played him until 1998. In total, he turned up in more than 400 episodes of the series.
The role that made him a daytime fixture arrived in 1992, when he inherited Bo Brady on “Days of Our Lives” from Peter Reckell, who had originated the character in 1983. Kelker-Kelly played Bo opposite Kristian Alfonso, who played Hope Brady, and Lisa Rinna, who played Billie Reed, appearing in nearly 600 episodes before Reckell reclaimed the part in 1995. The work earned him outstanding lead actor at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1994.
A Villain on “General Hospital”
His second act in daytime was darker. Kelker-Kelly took on the aristocratic villain Stavros Cassadine on “Port Charles” and “General Hospital” from 1997 to 2003, then revived the character on “General Hospital” from 2013 to 2014 — his final onscreen role, per IMDb, and his last television appearance.
Away from the soaps, his credits included “Jack’s Place,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Maybe This Time” and “Rescue 77.” He eventually left acting behind entirely for the cockpit, working as a professional pilot from 2003 to 2015.
Kelker-Kelly was married to Linda Rattner until their divorce in 1992. He married Miriam Parrish in 1997; that marriage ended in divorce in 2013.
A Co-Star’s Allegations
In 1995 — the same year both of them exited “Days of Our Lives” — Kelker-Kelly and Rinna shared the Soap Opera Digest Award for hottest soap couple. What viewers saw and what the two actors say they experienced were not the same thing.
In her 2026 memoir, “You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It,” Rinna accused Kelker-Kelly of being verbally abusive, passive-aggressive and manipulative toward her during their years on the soap, and said he played mind games on set. “Behind the scenes, we hated each other,” she wrote. She also called him “a ticking time bomb.”
The memoir put Kelker-Kelly back in the headlines decades after he had walked away from Hollywood. He never publicly responded to Rinna’s allegations.
