Theodore "Ted" Corday was a producer

Television producer

The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...

, director and creator (or co-creator) of many American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 serials.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Corday graduated from the University of Alberta

University of Alberta

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...

 and studied law before moving to the United States in 1934. He worked in Broadway

Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 for many years before producing dramas for radio, such as Tortilla Flat

Tortilla Flat

Tortilla Flat is an early John Steinbeck novel set in Monterey, California. The novel was the author's first clear critical and commercial success....

, Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road

Tobacco Road refers to the tobacco-producing area of North Carolina and is often used when referring to sports played among rival North Carolina universities...

, Gangbusters and Counterspy

Counterspy

CounterSpy is a proprietary spyware removal program for Microsoft Windows software developed by Sunbelt Software.-Features:CounterSpy scans a PC for spyware, examining files on the hard drive, objects in memory, the Windows registry and cookies and it has a capability called DNR that, according to...

. He then moved to television in the 1950s, producing The Guiding Light for a time as well as directing As the World Turns

As the World Turns

As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...

, from its 1956 premiere until 1965.

Corday was later lured to NBC to create three new soap operas. The first two, Paradise Bay and Morning Star

Morning Star (TV series)

Morning Star is a daytime soap opera which aired on NBC from September 27, 1965 to July 1, 1966. The show was created by Ted Corday who created the long-running soap opera Days of our Lives....

, were not successful, but his third NBC serial, Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives

Days of our Lives is a long running daytime soap opera broadcast on the NBC television network. It is one of the longest-running scripted television programs in the world, airing nearly every weekday in the United States since November 8, 1965. It has since been syndicated to many countries around...

, was a big hit and is still in production after 45 years on the NBC network. He co-created the series along with legend Irna Phillips

Irna Phillips

Irna Phillips was an American actress and most notably writer who created and scripted many of the first American soap operas.Phillips created radio and TV soap operas including:...

 and Allan Chase.

Before Corday could pen many stories for the serial, he was diagnosed with cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, and was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Cedars-Sinai Medical Center

Originally established as Kaspare Cohn Hospital in 1902, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center is a non-profit, tertiary 958-bed hospital and multi-specialty academic health science centre located in Los Angeles, California, US. Part of the Cedars-Sinai Health System, the hospital employs a staff of over...

. After many months in the hospital, he died on July 23, 1966 at the age of 58. His widow, Betty Corday

Betty Corday

Betty Corday was a broadway dramatic actress and long-time American television producer. She co-created and executive produced the long running NBC drama "Days of our Lives from 1966 until her death in 1987.Becoming executive producer after the death of her husband, Ted Corday Betty Corday (née...

, continued to produce Days of our Lives until her death in 1987.