‘It Was Stressful But Uplifting’—Susan Seaforth Hayes Talks Doug’s Emotional ‘Days’ Memorial (EXCLUSIVE)
The soap star gets candid on Doug’s memorial, Bill Hayes and big surprises in Days’ 15K episode
On Days of Our Lives, beloved patriarch Doug Williams passed away on Thanksgiving. Today the soap opera celebrates its 15,000th episode by honoring the character and the man who played him, Bill Hayes—and no one is celebrating more than the onscreen and offscreen wife with whom he shared his Daytime Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award, Susan Seaforth Hayes. Here, the widowed soap opera legend opens up to Woman’s World about delivering her husband’s real-life eulogy for his character Doug, shooting their final scene together last year, and sharing a love story for the ages.
Plus, as Salem comes together to honor Doug and kicks off its 60th season of drama this week, we have everything you need to know about who’s coming back and what to expect from Days of Our Lives’ emotional goodbye.
Susan Hayes on her real life and Salem marriages: ‘You can’t think of one without the other’
By the time Bill Hayes joined Days of Our Lives in 1970, the former Navy Air Corp fighter pilot turned Broadway star and hitmaker had already lived a full life—but he wasn’t even halfway done! He would go on to play Salem’s beloved Doug for over 50 years and, as importantly, be paired onscreen with Susan Seaforth, who’s played Julie since 1968.
“I fell in love with him on the air, and stayed in love with him,” Seaforth Hayes says of her late husband. “49 years of marriage! It’s been all tied up in this show, and the show has been all tied up in our marriage. You can’t think of one without the other.”
The couple—who shared their love story in the memoir Like Sands Through The Hourglass and also co-wrote the sexy mystery, Trumpet—was initially surprised by their pairing. Their chemistry was so powerful, however, that they became one of soap’s first supercouples and even wound up on the cover of Time magazine.
The actors, meanwhile, managed to beat their characters to the altar and when millions of viewers tuned in to hear Doug and Julie say “I do,” it was the Hayes’ real-life vows they got to hear.
Seaforth Hayes on Doug and Julie’s final scene: ‘Bill was stone blind… but his mind was perfect’
When Seaforth Hayes last shared the stage with her husband, she understood the importance of the moment.
“He was 98 years old, and he worked until within four weeks of his passing,” she says proudly. “I knew that our life story was coming to an end, and a love scene was written where we started talking about Chad and then transitioned to our affirmation of loving each other. Nobody else knew, but I realized this was going to be our last scene.
“At that point, Bill was stone blind and could not move very well,” she continues. “He’d had a cavalcade of little, tiny strokes. But his mind was perfect. His sense of participation was perfect.”
Seaforth Hayes knew Hayes could deliver, but still had to ask a special favor from her producers.
Seaforth Hayes thanks ‘Days of Our Lives’ for being a ‘safe space’
At the pace soaps tape today, actors often get one take to get a scene right. If they’re lucky or they need it, they might get a second or third, but things move fast. This time, however, Seaforth Hayes didn’t want to take any chances.
“I asked the production booth, ‘Can you please tape the rehearsal? I’m not sure I can do this twice,’” she admits.
Then she sat beside the love of her life and her character’s life one last time on the Days of Our Lives stages.
“I said, ‘Honey, can you see me?’” Seaforth Hayes recounts. “We were this close, but he said, ‘No darling, I can’t see you at all.’ So we very carefully tried to get the eye line right, and then we did it.
“It was typical of him that it was a good performance, and typical of me that I wanted to write the lines as I felt it, and they let me do that,” she adds. “What a safe place this whole experience has been for me, because of Corday and the whole team. I appreciate it.”
Julie’s eulogy for Doug was inspired by the real one Seaforth delivered for Hayes
That “safe space” goes beyond the stage and out to spaces shared with Days of Our Lives viewers. After decades of attending events, November’s Day of Days marked Seaforth Hayes’ first time visiting with fans without her husband by her side—and with Billy Flynn standing in as her escort, she received a lot of extra love from viewers.
“You never can have too much of that,” Seaforth Hayes says with a grin. “That’s what this show stands for: love and family and support through times of crisis. That’s what the drama is about. That’s what we’re about, and I’m delighted to be associated with such a show.”
This week, history will repeat itself. Just as viewers once got to hear the Hayes’ vows exchanged by their characters, Julie will honor Doug with the eulogy the actress delivered after the love of her life passed away on January 12.
“The head writer at that time (Ron Calavarti) attended the memorial at our church and asked if I would do that again, tweaked for the character,” Seaforth Hayes says. “He said he couldn’t write anything better than what I had presented. And how could I say no to that? So I tried.
“It was uplifting to perform,” she adds of the upcoming memorial. “Stressful and uplifting.”
Who’s coming home for Doug’s funeral on ‘Days of Our Lives’?
With Days of Our Lives’ 15,000th episode dedicated to Bill Hayes, Salem cannot say goodbye to his character Doug without the help of Seaforth Hayes’ Julie, Kristian Alfonso’s Hope Brady, and a host of other Salem favorites from today and yesterday.
“We had a lot of cast from the past come to the memorial for the character of Doug Williams,” Seaforth Hayes tells Woman’s World. “People that I hadn’t seen in a long time and that the audience hasn’t seen. It was a very emotional reunion, and I think it will be emotionally satisfying. I expect a lot of tears.
“There were a lot of tears when we shot it… but those were uplifting tears,” she adds. “The tears of a precious memory, not a sad memory.”
With Matthew Ashford’s Jack, Melissa Reeves’ Jennifer, Lamon Archey’s Eli, and Sal Stowers’ Lani already back for the Thanksgiving holiday, news of Doug’s passing on Days of Our Lives will bring back Salem favorites like Charles Shaughnessy’s Shane, Victoria Konefal’s Ciara, Chandler Massey’s Will, Christie Clark’s Carrie, Leann Hunley’s Anna, Thaao Penghlis’ Tony, Maree Cheatham’s Marie, and more.
Here’s a teaser reflecting the news of Doug’s passing as it spreads on Days of Our Lives.
Conversation
All comments are subject to our Community Guidelines. Woman's World does not endorse the opinions and views shared by our readers in our comment sections. Our comments section is a place where readers can engage in healthy, productive, lively, and respectful discussions. Offensive language, hate speech, personal attacks, and/or defamatory statements are not permitted. Advertising or spam is also prohibited.
