Soap (1977) was honored with four major Emmy nominations for its very strong third season: Best Comedy Series, Best Actor (
Richard Mulligan), and Best Actress (Cathryn Damon and
Katherine Helmond). Mulligan and Damon won trophies for their work as screen spouses Burt and Mary Campbell, who had suffered calamities of cosmic proportions in 1979-80. However, they were not present to accept the awards, as the telecast fell victim to a lengthy and rancorous Screen Actors Guild strike, called by then-SAG President
William Schallert. Damon died, aged 56, in 1987. Two years later, in 1989, when Mulligan made another trip to the stage after winning a Best Actor Emmy for
Empty Nest (1988) (where his character was coincidentally a recent widower), he made a point of acknowledging Damon --"Toots", as he called her-- and thanked her for her support and collaboration on
Soap (1977), nearly ten years after it had come to an end.
