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Who Knew it? The original character on “The Guiding Light,” the longest running television drama ever, was modeled on Chicago’s famous Unitarian Minister, the Rev. Preston Bradley (1888-1983). The original radio series was developed and written by Irna Phillips (1901-1973), an enormously successful radio actress turned writer. The radio show ran from 1937-1956, while the TV show aired from 1952-2009 (you can listen to an early episode of the radio show here). Phillips based “Dr. Charles Mayhew, a minister who devotes his life to the needs of others,” on Bradley, whose radio sermons had comforted her after she gave birth to a still born child as a young woman. You can listen to some of Rev. Bradley’s inspirational messages below:
“An Inspirational Message in Troubled Times” (January 25, 1943)
“What is Christianity” (January 18, 1959)
“Thanksgiving Sermon” (November, 1960)
“The Religious Atheist” (April 12, 1964)
