Esta TerBlanche of Egoli and All My Children found dead in her Los Angeles home at 51.

by Thinus Ferreira

The South African actress Esta Terblanche known for her roles of Bienkie Naudé in Egoli on M-Net (DStv 101) and Princess Gillian Andrassy on All My Children seen on SABC3 was found dead in her Los Angeles home on Friday. She was 51.

On Saturday evening former colleagues of hers confirmed to TVwithThinus that the actress had died, who left South Africa in 1996 to star in the American daytime soap.

According to the Los Angeles County coroner's office a 51-year old woman was found dead at her residence on Friday. 

An autopsy is scheduled for the cause of death.

Her body was found by police in her North Hollywood home after workers couldn't contact her for a number of days and alerted law enforcement.

Police contacted her younger brother Henko who lives in New York, who in turn contacted her family in South Africa about her death.

Burgert Muller, former executive producer of Egoli produced by Franz Marx for M-Net, told me "It's with great shock that I hear the news of Esta. As a young woman in Egoli she was a light in our lives".

"She was the epitome of professionalism, always well prepared and brought joy to set. She was beloved under her colleagues and we were very proud of her when she left to go to America and found fame there with All My Children."

Henry Mylne, former Egoli director who worked from the outset with Esta, told TVwithThinus that "When Franz Marx started Egoli Esta was just finished with matric. She still had to write her last subject after she heard that she had secured the role of Bienkie".

"This young woman had no professional training and she had to portray a main role opposite formidable actors like Christine Basson, Hennie Smit, Brumilda van Rensburg and Sandra Prinsloo."

"Esta was thrown in at the deep end. I helped her a lot with the very difficult task and she absolutely kept up. It was a pure joy to work with her. Besides her acting talent she was incredibly beautiful - when you looked back at scenes you'd often just stare for seconds before listening to the dialogue."

"Around 1996 she decided to go try her luck and further her career overseas and got cast in All My Children. On the Egoli set she was wonderful and I can't remember a single day that anyone had an issue with her or that she was unprofessional."

Henry Mylne says Esta TerBlanche was incredibly popular in South Africa with viewers, and then again with All My Children."

"She loved cats and also had squirrels years ago. She also kept prairie dogs and would always post images of her with all kinds of animals."

Esta TerBlanche still visited South Africa two weeks ago and visited her aunt also named Esta, as well as her dad for a week (her mother had already passed away) and her other brother before she returned to Los Angeles.

In 1991 Esta TerBlanche was crowned Miss Teen South Africa after which she got the Egoli role of Beatrice "Bienkie" Naudé from 1992 where she remained until 1995. 

She then moved to America and appeared in All My Children from 1997 until 2001 when she asked for her character to be written off the show. She briefly returned in 2011 for the All My Children finale.

She was married to Andre de Kock from 1997 to 2008 who was a production assistant on Egoli and after that was in a relationship with fellow South African actor Neil Sandilands that ended several years ago.

Esta Terblanche made appearances on M-Net's youth strand K-TV, had a role in the film Three Thieves and a Wedding and appeared in episodes of TV series like Spin City and The Syndicate.

Lisa Rodrigo, Esta TerBlanche's American publicist, wrote on Facebook: "I can not believe I am posting this. It's with a heavy heart that my friend and client Esta TerBlanche passed away Thursday of natural causes."

"An autopsy report is pending. I am still processing and in shock. Esta was a beautiful soul in and out. I was proud to know her and work with her. More to come in the days ahead."

SABC3 on canning All My Children: 'It has seen declining audiences in recent times on SABC3 which means people were losing interest.'

Tomorrow, Wednesday 20 November, will be the final episode of the weekday soap All My Children, since SABC3 is removing the show from the schedule, and now SABC3 is finally responding to multiple media enquiries made over the past few weeks, telling TV with Thinus that SABC3 is canning the soap because viewers lost interest.

"The soap has seen declining audiences in recent times on SABC3," says Lefa Africa, SABC3's acting channel head, "which means that more and more people were losing interest in the soap."

"All My Children has been removed from the television schedules of most broadcasters worldwide, and it continues on the internet."

BREAKING. SABC3 cancelling All My Children - again! - now plans to replace the soap with The Jeff Probst talk show from 20 November.

SABC3 is cancelling All My Children - again - after trying in 2011 but then doing a double take following viewer outrage and contract issues - with SABC3 now planning on getting rid of the American soap in November and replacing its timeslot with the cancelled The Jeff Probst Show.

The cancelled Jeff Probst Show started earlier this year on M-Net Series Reality (DStv 115) and now SABC3 plans to dump All My Children with the last episode on 19 November.

The Jeff Probst Show will then be stripped into the 13:55 daily All My Children timeslot from 20 November.

There's been no official word from SABC3 yet, but according to various insiders in the know, SABC3 is done with All My Children, feeling that the American soap is "irrelevant", although SABC3 just took over the American soap The Bold and the Beautiful from SABC1.

SABC3 ended up continuing with All My Children more from a contractual obligation last year, as TV with Thinus reported back in 2011, because the TV channel failed to sign the contract for The Nate Berkus Show in time.

After saying that All My Children would be removed and embarrassingly telling TV critics that the channel is done with the soap starting from January 2012, SABC3 quietly kept it on the schedule, which also saw an All My Children petition from outraged South African soap viewers which did the rounds.

That led to a reprieve - what now clearly seems to have been only a temporary one - for All My Children fans.

According to sources the dumping of All My Children is not "new", although the continuation of All My Children might have led viewers and fans of the soap on and mistakenly created the impression that All My Children was actually saved from the axe.

According to another connected source SABC3 simply added another season because new planned content wasn't available in time. "It was the plan since last year" to still end All My Children but just giving it another season extension, the source told me.

If you're unhappy about the second cancellation of All My Children, let SABC3 know on the TV channel's Facebook page. Even better is to vent that Pine Valley outrage and anger with an email to the SABC's customer service department, saying your are unhappy about All My Children: Write to webbd@sabc.co.za, or call the SABC at 011 714 9111 and say: "I want to complain about All My Children on SABC3 being removed".

SABC3 reprimanded for afternoon sex in All my Children soap with wrong age restriction and no 'S' parental advisory.

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SABC3 was reprimanded by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission of South Africa (BCCSA) for the channel's failure to add a correct parental advisory of S for sex and a "13" age restriction for an episode of the American soap All My Children which contained a steamy sex scene.

An upset viewer wrote to the BCCSA and complained saying "it's not the first time". "Many children are waiting for kids programmes to start and instead they are watching and learning about adult sexual relations. If these irresponsible broadcasters want to broadcast adult shows in the day, they must edit out the sex out of them. Absolutely disgusting!"

SABC3 told the BCCSA that the broadcaster believes "the segment was broadcast in a tasteful manner".

The BCCSA reprimanded SABC3 and said an age restriction of 13 instead of 10, as well as "S" for sex would have been the correct classification.

"A PG10 does not indicate the nature of the problematic material. Parents and caregivers would then have been in a position to prevent children under the age of 13 to from viewing the broadcast".

BREAKING. SABC3 returns All My Children temporarily to its schedule after not signing the cancelled Nate Berkus Show as replacement.

SABC3 which decided to end and remove All My Children from the end of the year, has just decided to return the soap temporarily to its schedule from 2012 after not signing the contract for the replacement programme, The Nate Berkus Show yet.

And with The Nate Berkus Show that got cancelled on Friday, SABC3 - which didn't get around to signing for the show - might now be looking for a new longtime TV property with better prospects, as it lets All My Children continue on for a little while longer.

All My Children suddenly back on SABC3's schedule from 2 January at 14:00 is by no means a reprieve for the soap and only a temporary measure as SABC3's erratic and wild scheduling changes continues unabated and the soap is not back in favour with the powers that be. Last month SABC3's programme manager Lefa Afrika told the press in no uncertain terms that SABC3 is permanently and completely done with All My Children and that the show hasn't been performing for the channel for years.

Lefa Afrika told the press that there is ''absolutely zero and no chance'' that All My Children will be back after SABC3 decided to cancel the show at the end of the year. Lefa Afrika said All My Children doesn't have a big enough audience and that SABC3 is a commercial TV channel which needs to bring in audiences, advertisers and money when he explained the broadcaster's decision to axe the show.

What has now happened is this: TV with Thinus kept tracking the progress (on non-progress) of the SABC signing The Nate Berkus Show. International sources told me weekly that the show, produced by Harpo and Sony Pictures Television, was not yet signed by SABC3 - most likely due to the same problems that caused SABC3 to lose Expedition Impossible last month to M-Net.

Then came Friday's cancellation news of The Nate Berkus Show as well. SABC3's procrastination and not yet really having the show, could have caused SABC3 to pause for a moment and maybe re-evaluate whether it still wants to, or can, get The Nate Berkus Show which will only be two seasons long for SABC3. SABC3 might wants a more permanent, ongoing TV property for its 14:00 timeslot.

Long story short: All My Children is only back for a further few episodes because SABC3 haven't yet signed for The Nate Berkus Show, took to long for whatever reason, that show just got cancelled, and SABC3 has time to rethink what it wants in the 14:00 timeslot.

SABC3 haven't yet responded to media enquiries made.

BREAKING. Will e.tv, Top One or maybe M-Net or M-Net Series take over All My Children after SABC3 dumps the soap?

It's the news I broke that has South Africa's entire TV industry abuzz: SABC3 immediately killing off All My Children and replacing the suffering soap from 2012 with The Nate Berkus Show.

Is there any change another broadcaster could take over the beleaguered soap that SABC3 shifted all over the schedule and into more timeslots than Dali Thambo had people in the south?

Here's the top contenders for an All My Children take-over, and last week while I worked this story, TV with Thinus asked them if they would possibly grab the Pine Valley people and give All My Children a South African television reprieve. The most likely channels to take over and continue All My Children, would be e.tv, M-Net, M-Net Series (DStv 110) and Top One (TopTV 150).

''e.tv has no interest in All My Children,'' says Monde Twala, e.tv's head of channels. e.tv already has The Young & the Restless and dumped Passions a few years ago. ''The soap is not in line with the content strategy for 2012,'' he says.

''No. We won't be taking over All My Children,'' Gugu Sibeko, the vice president for local content at TopTV tells me. ''However we are already in conversation with other suppliers regarding the possibility of an international soap that could work for TopTV,'' she says.

M-Net and M-Net Series haven't responded yet - but the pay broadcaster says it's because they don't have an answer yet. Mmm. Interesting, because at least All My Children fans are not getting an outright ''no''. ''We will let you know as soon as we can,'' says M-Net.

With the door not completely closed on Erica Kane and company - there's about 4 years left to see of All My Children. A South African broadcaster who picks up the show, gives it a good timeslot and keeps the show stable, might get the viewership benefit that's eluded SABC3 with cricket-crazy pre-emptions, erratic timeslot moves, zero publicity and exposure, and very little love.

All My Children has a (small but never really allowed to grow) dedicated audience that might be beneficially for a South African broadcaster that shows All My Children some love.

BREAKING. SABC3 dumps All My Children from 2012; soap to be replaced by the new talk show The Nate Berkus Show from 2 January.

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TV with Thinus can break the news that SABC3 is dumping its longtime soap All My Children from January 2012 with Pine Valley's people getting the axe and being replaced in the 14:00 weekday timeslot by The Nate Berkus Show from Monday 2 January.

SABC3 didn't immediately respond to media enquiries made about why the broadcaster is ending All My Children. The soap ended last month in America but since SABC3 is behind, several more seasons of the show is potentially available.

All My Children is getting replaced by The Nate Berkus Show, another spin-off from The Oprah Winfrey Show, similar to Dr Phil and Dr Oz.

ALSO READ: SABC3 won't have Expedition Impossible starting this coming Monday for the second week in a row.

BREAKING. SABC3: All My Children is moving to a better timeslot from October where more viewers are available to watch the soap.

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All My Children is moving to a better timeslot says SABC3 when the American soap, currently on SABC3 at 09:30 will find a new home on weekdays at 14:00 from October.

Last month I broke the news RIGHT HERE that All My Children will be moving from 09:30 on weekdays to 14:00 from next month.

''For the trouble of acquiring All My Children we have to put it in a timeslot where more viewers are available to make the show more viable,'' says Lefa Afrika, SABC3 programming manager. ''It's also 'better' viewers that you get as a channel in the early afternoon than in the early morning. As a channel we always try and respond to what our viewers want,'' he says.

BREAKING. Esta TerBlanche, South Africa's original Bienkie in Egoli, returning to All My Children for several episodes a decade later.

South Africa's Esta TerBlanche is returning to the American soap All My Children as princess Gillian Andrassy Lavery and the big love of Ryan (Cameron Mathison) life.

Esta TerBlanche who became famous for her role of the original Bienkie in the canceled M-Net soap Egoli, left for America where she appeared in the soap until her character was killed off a few years ago. But what is a little death in soap world?

ABC Soaps In Depth just broke the news that Esta TerBlanche is set to return to All My Children before that soap, which has been canceled, goes off the air within a few months in America. All My Children confirmed that Esta Terblanche will be back a decade later after the character died when Ryan took her off of life-support and her heart was donated. The actress has already picked up her first script.

Several former All My Children stars are returning before the soap goes off the air on 23 September in America with Josh Duhamel who've also agreed to return.

BREAKING. Goodbye Erica Kane! Goodbye Pine Valley! All My Children cancelled in America as the soap genre keeps dying off.

The longrunning soap All My Children that made Susan Lucci the most famous soap star in the world has just been cancelled in America.

The ABC network in America announced that All My Children - shown in South Africa on weekdays at 09:30 (with an 01:00 repeat at night) has been cancelled, along with another longtime American soap One Live to Live. Cheaper to produce talk shows will replace the two soaps. All My Children will end in September in America and will be replaced by The Chew, a foodcentric talk show.

''While we are excited about our new shows and the shift in our business, I can't help but recognize how bittersweet the change is," said Brian Frons, the president of daytime for Disney ABC/Television Group in a statement. He described both shows as ''iconic television''.

The soap opera genre in America is dying with the few remaining soaps - both NBC and ABC will now only have one left each - on life support. NBC still has Days of Our Lives (shown in South Africa on SABC2) and ABC will have General Hospital. CBS canceled Guiding Light and then As the World Turns (still currently on SABC2) last year.

UPDATE Thursday 14 April 22:18 - One minute ago Susan Lucci on the end of All My Children tweeted: ''It saddens me that All My Children is canceled. I've loved playing Erica Kane and working with Agnes Nixon & the incredible people at All My Children.''

Programming note: Susan Lucci on The Wendy Williams Show tonight to talk about the rumours about All My Children getting canceled.

Is All My Children (weekdays, SABC3, 09:30) with soap star Susan Lucci getting canceled in America? With nothing confirmed so far but rumours swirling, you have to watch this today.

Susan Lucci is the guest on The Wendy Williams Show on BET (TopTV 190) tonight at 22:00. As I've noted before RIGHT HERE, The Wendy Williams Show is the only major talk show where South African TV viewers see the exact same new episode on the same day as it gets shown in America.

Susan Lucci will be talking to Wendy Williams and Wendy has promised to ask the soap star legend specifically about the rumours that All My Children is getting canceled. Susan Lucci has a new book out entitled, All My Life: A Memoir and is visiting The Wendy Williams Show to talk about it and what she knows about the future of All My Children.

All My Children in January 2010.

In All My Children in January 2010 on SABC3, Tad and Zach share a cell, Greenlee tells Erin about her and Ryan, and Garret is shot . . .

Click on READ MORE below for your comprehensive episode summary for the full month.