DON HASTINGS
A Mini-Biography from SoapNet
The longest-serving serial actor in television history, Don Hastings has been
Dr. Robert Hughes on ATWT since 1960. In 2005 he received an Emmy for lifetime achievement.
Don was born during the height of the Great Depression in Brooklyn, New York, the youngest of four boys. At the age of six the family moved to a house in Queens, also a borough of New York.
He got into show business at an early age because his brother started acting in about 1938 or 1939 and he was offered a part at the age of 6 when he went to watch his brother doing a kids' show. He performed on radio and Broadway through his teens. His big break into televison was being cast as the Video Ranger on "Captain Video" from 1949 to 1955. The show made him a television idol, and provided a solid footing for his television career. He says he kind of considers "Captain Video" as his college education.
