Key Friends character was actually named after an iconic 80s TV legend

Friends has been so beloved for so long now that you’d think we’d know everything there was to know about the legendary 1990s sitcom.

But we were wrong: it turns out, one of the show’s most famous characters was named after a legendary American soap star who died on Saturday aged 70.

Drake Hogestyn, best known for playing John Black in the long-running US drama Days of Our Lives, died just a day short of his 71st birthday after being diagnosed with cancer.

And while his performance as John on the 58-year-old soap opera will be remembered forever, his name will also live on via Friends as more and more people discover the series.

That’s because Dr. Drake Ramoray – the character Joey Tribbiani (Matt Le Blanc) plays on Friends’ fictional version of Days – was named after him.

Earlier this year, Alison Sweeney – who played Samantha Brady on Days alongside Hogestyn – confirmed that the crew used to tune in for Friends whenever Dr. Ramoray appeared.

She told CinemaBlend: ‘We would watch every week that Joey was on Days of Our Lives. It was such a fun ongoing story to watch and it made us laugh. It just had such a sense of humor about what we do, and we just loved it.’

Dr. Ramoray was introduced in season two of Friends back in 1996 and was a recurring character whenever Joey’s plotlines involved his performance on Days.

A neurosurgeon – ironically, given Joey’s famed lack of smarts – he appeared in a handful of episodes of Friends (and, of course, Days) before being ‘killed off’ later in the season.

As all Friends fans know, Dr. Ramoray ‘fell down an elevator shaft’ after Joey claimed to write his own lines while recording episodes of the soap, irritating the Days producers.

In season seven of Friends, however – and in true soap opera form – Dr. Ramoray ‘returned’. The brain of another Days character (Jessica Lockhart, played by Susan Sarandon on Friends) was sensationally transplanted into his comatose body.

Joey continues to play Dr. Ramoray until the end of the main series, but found himself out of work again when Friends spin-off Joey decided to have the neurosurgeon killed off once more.

Hogestyn’s co-star Alison eventually turned up in her own episode of Friends, starring as Jessica Ashley, another soap opera star working in Joey’s industry.

Regardless of whether it was a tribute or a parody (or both), Hogestyn’s memory will live on through Matt LeBlanc’s performance of the character named after him.

A statement from his family read: ‘He was thrown the curve ball of his life when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he faced the challenge with incredible strength and determination.’

It continued: ‘After putting up an unbelievable fight, he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones. He was the most amazing husband, father, papa and actor.’