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James Houghton, a handsome actor who took part in “Knotlanding” and won four daytime Emmy Awards for writing “Young and the Restless,” passed away last year at the age of 75.
His wife, Karen Horton, confirmed his death on August 27, 2024 thrshe said she never wanted to discuss his death from mesothelioma.
Horton was born on November 7, 1948 in LA, the son of Buckhoughton, the producer writer of “The Twilight Zone” fame.
In 1959, he made his professional debut with the Charles Bronson starring series Man with a Camera, produced by his father, and also appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone, titled “The Last Rites of Jeff Myrtlebank.”
After several more boys’ appearances, his first adult acting production was in the 1971 episode of “Alias Smith and Jones.” He landed his first film in Sweet Sugar (1972).
Horton was the original cast member of the soap “The Young and the Restless,” which acted on it in the role of Greg Foster from 1973 to 1976.
Robby Benson-Annette O’Toole Romance after appearing in “One One” (1977). “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (1978), a homage to director Robert Zemeckis’ Beetlemania. “More American Graffiti” (1979), Horton joined the cast of “Knots Landing” in 1979.
Horton, who played Kenny Ward on nighttime soaps, was on the show until 1983.
Horton appeared in many different series, including Fantasy Island (1982 and 1983), Hotel (1983-1984), Remington Steel (1985), and Love Boat (1983-1986), and played a major role in the miniseries North and South: Book 2, Love & War (1986).
His other long-time acting gig was as Cash Cassidy on another night’s soap “The Colbys” from 1986 to 1987.
After his role in the film Purple People Eater (1988), he quit acting to concentrate on his full-time writing.
Starting in 1981 as a writer of “Days of Our Life,” he contributed to the scripts of “Knotlanding” (1982), “The Tale from the Dark Side” (1984-1986), and “The Bold and the Beautiful” (2006).
He was best known for his work on over 1,800 episodes of his old show The Young and the Restless, as a member of the Emmy Award-winning writing team from 1991 to 2006.
Horton is survived by his 30-year-old wife, sister, mother, two children and grandchildren.
