Robert Kelker-Kelly, the actor who played Bo Brady on “Days of Our Lives,” died at age 62, and as of Oct. 6, 2026, two outlets covering the death say a cause of death has still not been announced.
Cardiac arrest struck Kelker-Kelly at his home in St. Peters, Mo., where he was found unresponsive in bed on Saturday, Oct. 3, according to 911 dispatch audio.
A report of an unconscious man who was not breathing brought St. Peters police officers to the house at about 8:16 p.m., with paramedics and other emergency medical crews en route, a department statement said.
Police said Kelker-Kelly had complained of chest pain shortly before he became unresponsive, and police said the circumstances appeared consistent with a medical event. Officers and paramedics administered life-saving measures, and the efforts failed.
First responders were told by a dispatcher that Kelker-Kelly was not breathing. Another transmission relayed that the caller could not move him from the bed as CPR was under way.
Questions Over Cause of Death
A spokesperson for the medical examiner’s office told The Sun that no toxicology testing was ordered, because there was no suspicion of drugs or alcohol. The same spokesperson told The Sun that he died of natural causes.
Two outlets covering the death have not repeated that account. soapoperadigest.com wrote on Oct. 6: “A cause of death has not been announced.” pagesix.com, in a story updated Oct. 6, wrote: “A cause of death has yet to be revealed.” Neither of those sources repeats the natural-causes attribution.
From Wichita to Daytime Stardom
Kelker-Kelly was born April 18, 1964, in Wichita, Kan. He made his acting debut in 1987 as Sam Fowler on the NBC soap “Another World” and held the part until 1990. A return in 1996 cast him as race car driver Bobby Reno, a character later revealed to be Dr. Shane Roberts, and he stayed with the role until 1998. His “Another World” tally came to more than 400 episodes.
He took over Bo Brady on “Days of Our Lives” in 1992 from Peter Reckell, the actor who had originated the character in 1983. Kristian Alfonso, as Hope Brady, and Lisa Rinna, as Billie Reed, acted opposite Kelker-Kelly’s Bo. He appeared in nearly 600 episodes as Bo before Reckell reclaimed the part in 1995, and he won outstanding lead actor at the Soap Opera Digest Awards in 1994.
Kelker-Kelly also played the aristocratic villain Stavros Cassadine on “Port Charles” and “General Hospital” from 1997 to 2003, and he revived the character on “General Hospital” from 2013 to 2014, his final onscreen role, per IMDb. His other credits include “Jack’s Place,” “Touched by an Angel,” “Maybe This Time” and “Rescue 77.”
He left acting entirely for the cockpit and worked as a professional pilot from 2003 to 2015. He was married to Linda Rattner until their divorce in 1992, and he married Miriam Parrish in 1997, a marriage that ended in divorce in 2013.
Memoir Claims and Tributes
Kelker-Kelly and Rinna shared the Soap Opera Digest Award for hottest soap couple in 1995, the same year both of them exited “Days of Our Lives.” In her 2026 memoir, “You Better Believe I’m Gonna Talk About It,” Rinna wrote: “Behind the scenes, we hated each other.” In the same book, she called Kelker-Kelly “a ticking time bomb.”
Rinna accused Kelker-Kelly in the memoir of being verbally abusive, passive-aggressive and manipulative toward her during their years on the soap, and she said he played mind games on set. Those pages returned a man who had quit Hollywood years earlier to the news cycle. Rinna’s allegations drew no public response from him.
Sandra Ferguson, who played Amanda opposite Kelker-Kelly’s Sam on “Another World” and now goes by Sandra Dee Robinson, posted a tribute on Instagram, reported as of Oct. 6. “Certainly a shock to hear of my former co star Robert Kelker-Kelly’s passing,” Robinson wrote.
Writing about their working relationship in the same post, Robinson said, “It was not always an easy time working together on that show.” She added, “Years later we would laugh on calls about life.”