Five months after the death of longtime “Days of Our Lives” star and Hallmark alum Drake Hogestyn, his absence is still felt by former co-stars including Alison Sweeney. In September 2024, Hogestyn died at age 70 of pancreatic cancer, per a family statement.
Sweeney played Hogestyn’s stepdaughter, Sami Brady, on “Days” from 1993 to 2014, per Us Weekly. But between all of her Hallmark movies, she has returned periodically to reprise her role on the soap opera.
While reuniting with Hogestyn’s onscreen family for a photo shoot honoring him and the soap opera’s upcoming 60th anniversary, Sweeney wiped away tears in an interview with Access Hollywood released on February 21, 2025.
“I mean, I’m sorry, it makes me emotional,” she said, getting choked up in a clip shared on Instagram. “It’s been incredible to be here. A lot of tears, a lot of laughs, a lot of memories.”
Alison Sweeney Says Drake Hogestyn Did a ‘Million Little Things’ Daily to Help Others
Hogestyn, who co-starred with Andrew Walker and Alicia Witt in 2020’s “Christmas Tree Lane,” joined “Days” in 1986, according to Deadline. Save for a brief hiatus from 2009 to 2011, Hogestyn consistently appeared on the show as John Brady until just three weeks before his death.
“It’s so hard, we miss Drake so much,” Sweeney told Access Hollywood. “I think about him all the time.”
Sweeney said that when she first learned about Hogestyn’s death, she first texted her “Days” siblings Christie Clark and Eric Martsolf “because we are his kids.”
“I mean, his real life family is so beautiful,” Sweeney said of Hogestyn’s wife Victoria and their four grown kids. “But we felt (like his family), too.”
In one story she shared with Access Hollywood, Sweeney admitted she’s known for “being klutzy in real life” and that every time she had to hold a champagne glass on the “Days” set, people would urge her to be careful.
“One time, I did in fact break the champagne glass,” Sweeney recalled. “And Drake made me sit down, and picked the glass out of my shoes and just jumped into dad mode, into hero mode, and saved me before anyone else could even move. And that’s just the tiniest story of like, a million of the things Drake did every day to help others.”
Alison Sweeney Gets Emotional Talking About Sharing the Grief Journey With Fans
In addition to sharing stories with her fellow “Days” castmates, Sweeney told Access Hollywood that hearing from fans has also been comforting, explaining, “One of the reasons we love him so much is, on his passing, every fan who ever had the chance to meet him shared those stories with all of us.”
Tearing up, Sweeney continued, “That meant so much to us to be able to share our grief with everyone who loved him as much as we did.”
In August, Deadline reported that the “Hannah Swensen Mysteries” star had signed on to reprise her role on “Days” again in 2025. The episodes are expected to air on Peacock in November as part of the show’s 60th anniversary celebration.
“It’s beautiful to be able to come back here and share that with everyone,” Sweeney said, apologizing repeatedly as she choked back tears, “but it’s also hard because we had a big group scene and he would always be at the center of that, and it’s really hard that he’s not there.”
In happier news, Sweeney is currently in Spain, filming two new movies with Hallmark colleague and friend Ashley Williams. On February 22, she posted a behind-the-scenes photo of them together and wrote, “So grateful to be working with this absolute powerhouse actress. @ashleywilliamsandcompany you are everything all the time! Funny, strong, heartfelt, and smart . I cannot tell you how incredible this experience is!!”
