The beloved soap star opens up about the on-screen love story that stole her heart.
Key Points
- Deidre Hall names Doug and Julie as her all-time favorite Days of Our Lives supercouple.
- Hall admires Susan Seaforth Hayes’s graciousness during the iconic wedding shoot.
- Hall says the show offers viewers “family” and consistent holiday episodes when others are off-air.
Deidre Hall has portrayed Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives for nearly 50 years. As the daytime drama marks its 60th anniversary, Hall revealed her personal favorite super couple during a recent interview with Swooon.
The long-running NBC and Peacock soap is widely associated with its celebrated ‘super couples’ including John (Drake Hogestyn) and Marlena (Hall), Bo (Peter Reckell) and Hope (Kristian Alfonso), Steve (Stephen Nichols) and Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) and several other iconic pairings.
During the show’s recent 60th-anniversary, red-carpet celebration, Hall told Swooon reporter Michael Maloney that her all-time favorite supercouple is “Doug (Bill Hayes) and Julie (Susan Seaforth Hayes).”
Hall, who joined Days of Our Lives in 1976, recalled how early she witnessed the couple’s popularity. “I didn’t understand about couples on soaps when I first started on Days [of our Lives]. Shortly after I joined the show, [Doug and Julie] were being married on the show.”
She added that fan excitement around the on-screen wedding was undeniable. “Fans had come to the parking lot of the studio to see it. I soon realized that this is really a thing!” Hall said.
Hall also expressed her admiration for Susan Seaforth Hayes, recalling how gracious the actress was during the lengthy wedding shoot. “I adore Susan. In that moment, I didn’t know her. It took a long time to shoot the scenes. At one point, she turned to all of us in the pews and said, ‘I know it’s taking a long time. Thank you for your patience.’ She was carrying the whole hour! What a woman. I love her.”
At the anniversary event, Hall also reflected on being a part of the soap’s legacy while speaking to E!’s Will Marfuggi. “We are family-owned and run and that gives us a certain idenity, a certain cachet that I think bleeds through the audience.”
Hall shared how Days of Our Lives airs during the holidays, traditionally when other soaps and shows are off the air or airing repeats. “We always have a show on Thanksgiving, when people don’t have anybody come to their table and we have Christmas shows, where nobody shows up at the tree to celebrate.”
The actress added that their show gives the viewer the family connection that they crave, adding, “We give them everything. We give them most holidays. We give them weddings, and on occasion we give them funerals. But mostly we give them family.”
Days of Our Lives streams weekdays on Peacock.
