Days of our Lives is marking their 60th anniversary with a walk down memory of six decades of the iconic soap opera that first premiered on NBC back on November 8, 1965, before transitioning to streamer Peacock in the fall of 2022.
To kick things off, who better than Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie Williams) to recall the times of the 60s into the 70s via the official DAYS Instagram account. Susan began her legendary journey in Salem back in 1968 being the fourth actress to play the role and the one that stuck! In fact, Susan is the only current cast member to have appeared on DAYS in all six decades.
The Days of our Lives post featuring Susan shared, “It all began in 1965. Starting today, for the next six weeks, we’re honoring six decades of Days of our Lives. Go back in time with us from 1965 to the present day as we count down to the 60th Anniversary on November 8. Today, Susan Seaforth Hayes remembers the first decade that started it all. ⏳”
Speaking in the video, Seaforth Hayes discussed the wardrobe of the characters back in the 60s and how the arrival of Bill Hayes in 1970, was different than the other male characters at that time on the soap.
Susan began, “I think of these shows (soaps) as representing the culture of the time. The sixties were turbulent, and our people were phasing out, suits and ties. When my husband, Bill Hayes (ex-Doug Williams) came on the show, he was a new character who was not a good guy. Of course, he became a good guy over the other decades. But in that decade, he decided, ‘Alright, all the men on this show are in suits and ties.’ He came in with a mod wardrobe. In those days, you sometimes supplied much of your own wardrobe, and he did. He looked different. He was different. The times were different. Bill kind of represented that new look. What else he represented? I hesitate to tell you because it’s too good.”
As for the women of DAYS and their wardrobe, hair and make-up, Susan recalled, “In those days, we all were wearing false eyelashes. Many of us were wearing a lot of false hair. I was trying to replace a girl who had dark hair. So I darkened my hair; had a lot of false hair.”
Reflecting on how she was as a young actress on DAYS, Susan expressed, “Personally, I was insecure. At the end of every day’s work, I would hang in the doorway of my dressing room waiting for the producers or the directors to go by and say, ‘Is it okay?” It was hard in the seventies, our show was on the cover of Time Magazine. It was a big deal, and our cover turned out to be of all the 16 soap operas on the airing competition with each other. Our had the hottest storyline, and Billy, my husband and myself, represented the hottest storyline on our show. We got to be on the cover, but the title of this of the article, Sex and Suffering in the Afternoon, you don’t think of these shows as representing the culture of the time, but they do.”
