This week on The Young and the Restless , Genoa City laid one if its own — Neil Winters — to rest. The memorial was an intensely emotional episode, which aired on Thursday, April 25. Daniel Goddard, who plays Cane Ashby, shared images of the cast behind-the-scenes of the heartbreaking installment.
Since Kristoff St. John’s untimely death on February 3, Goddard has shared many memories of the actor, as well as encouraging fans to share some of their favorite Neil storylines, according to The Inquisitr . St. John passed away in his home of heart disease complicated by alcohol. The Los Angeles County coroner’s office ruled the actor’s death an accident.
Yesterday, after the episode with Neil’s funeral aired, Goddard took to Instagram to share several poignant images of St. John’s co-stars as they filmed the scenes honoring Neil Winter’s life in Genoa City. The actor said he wanted to share those heartfelt, real moments with viewers. In part of his caption, Goddard revealed that the entire episode, complete with the eulogies, was filmed in one take with no rehearsals. He, along with the rest of the cast and crew, are proud of the work they put into the special show, and he expressed his hope that fans also appreciated the beautiful goodbye that Y&R gave Neil.
In the first image, Goddard captured Christel Khalil (Lily Winters Ashby) laying her head on Bryton James’s (Devon Winters Hamilton) shoulder while Shemar Moore (Malcolm Winters) looked solemn in the background.
In the next image, soap opera legend, Eric Braeden (Victor Newman) hugged Khalil after she filmed her eulogy scene.
Christian LeBlanc, who plays Michael Baldwin, and James embraced as they remembered their co-star and friend, St. John.
Finally, Joshua Morrow (Nick Newman) and Moore caught up with each other between the scenes while actor Stan Shaw, who portrayed the reverend in charge of Neil’s funeral, spoke on the phone in the background. Shaw and St. John co-starred in Roots: The Next Generation when the late actor was a child.
On today’s Y&R , the Winters family and their friends celebrated Neil’s life at Devon’s penthouse, and before everybody left, they took a beautiful family photo, which Goddard also shared on his social media account.
As a final tribute to the legacy that St. John left after his nearly 29 years on Y&R , Monday’s episode will be an unscripted remembrance of all he meant to the cast and crew, both current and former, of the number one daytime drama.