When Josh Taylor joined Days of Our Lives nearly fifty years ago, the daytime landscape was dominated with doctors, lawyers, and other white-collar professional characters. In a recent interview Taylor explained how his early choices for the role of Chris Kositchek, particularly his wardrobe during the audition, helped set the character apart.
Taylor shared the story during a recent interview with host John Cato on the That’s Classic! YouTube channel, where he reflected on his broader career, from The Hogan Family to his long-running roles on Days of Our Lives.
Reflecting on his early years on the soap, Taylor noted how unusual his character’s look was at the time. “At that time most people were wearing suits and ties,” he said. “They were doctors or lawyers.”
To stand out during the audition process, Taylor said he intentionally wore a denim shirt and jeans for every callback. “I went through all the [Days of Our Lives] auditions in a jean shirt and jeans,” he recalled.
Taylor also described how different production norms were at the time. “Back when I started in 1977, when I first got there you had to bring your own clothes,” he said. “It didn’t last long after that, maybe a year or two. But at that time, I was wearing my jeans and I remember the wardrobe guy, Joe, he said, ‘No, you can’t wear that. We need to have you in a suit.’”
“The character was an engineer,” he explained. “My take on it was he was a guy that went out into the into the shop with the guys, right? And he’s working on stuff. So, it was a blue jean kind of look and that was part of the whole deal. So, I said, ‘Well, Joe, call the producer.’ I said, ‘I went through all the auditions and there were four or five of them, like this.’ So I told him ‘Call the producer, and ask him.’ He came back and said, ‘Yeah, go ahead and do it.’
“That was the situation when I came on,” Taylor said. “I was kind of the first blue jean guy [on daytime].”
He added that the show embraced the character’s different energy. “I think they described the character as a little brash and cocky and so it was kind of a different kind of thing to what was normal on daytime,” he said. “Chris Kositchek took off.”
Taylor added, “It took off beyond my wildest dreams.”
Days of Our Lives streams weekdays on Peacock.
