Family Site
Carrie & Austin OnlineAffiliate Site
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COMINGS & GOINGS
GOINGS
COMINGS
Matthew Ashford
as Jack Deveraux November 2024 & June 2025 
Melissa Reeves
as Jennifer Horton Deveraux November 2024 & June 2025 
Lamon Archery
as Eli Grant November 2024 
Sal Stowers
as Lani Price Grant November 2024 
Brandon Beemer
as Shawn Brady November 2024 
Martha Madison
as Belle Black Brady November 2024 
Stephen Schnetzer
As Steven Olson November 2024 
Gloria Loring
as Liz Chandler November 2024 
Peter Reckell
as Bo Brady June 2025 
Kristian Alfonso
as Hope Williams Brady November 2024 & June 2025 
Christie Clark
as Carrie Brady Reed June 2025 
Alison Sweeney
as Sami Brady June 2025 
Leann Hunley
as Anna Fredericks Dimera June 2025 
Thaao Penghlis
as Tony Dimera June 2025 
Charles Shaughnessy
as Shane Donovan June 2025 
Chandler Massey
as Will Horton June 2025 
Victoria Konefal
as Ciara Brady Weston November 2024 & June 2025 CUTTING ROOM FLOOR
Bo & Hope
John & Marlena
Jack & Jennifer
Steve & Kayla
Shane & Kimberly
Justin & Adrienne
Carrie & Austin
Lucas & Sami
Shawn & Belle
Chad & Abby
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NewsDay of Days 2024 Winter Preview Promo
DAYS RENEWED FOR 61ST SEASON
Amazing news has broken for fans of Days of Our Lives: the venerable soap, which premiered on NBC on November 8, 1965, has been renewed by its streaming home, Peacock, for its 61st season.
Let The Celebration Begin! DAYS made the full-time move from NBC to Peacock in September 2022. Peacock had already been airing the show’s spinoff series, Beyond Salem. In announcing its move from traditional broadcast television to streaming, Mark Lazarue, the Chairman of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, said in a statement, “This programming shift benefits both Peacock and NBC and is reflective of our broader strategy to utilize our portfolio to maximize reach and strengthen engagement with viewers. With a large percentage of the ‘Days of Our Lives’ audience already watching digitally, this move enables us to build the show’s loyal fanbase on streaming while simultaneously bolstering the network daytime offering with an urgent, live programming opportunity for partners and consumers.” Created by daytime pioneers Ted and Betty Corday, and Irna Phillips, DAYS is now produced by Corday Productions Inc. in association with Sony Pictures Television. Since it began streaming exclusively on Peacock, the show has consistently been a top 10 title among subscribers, and the show is gearing up for a major landmark on December 2, when it reaches its 15,000th episode. Since its inception, DAYS has garnered a whopping 392 Daytime Emmy nominations and 62 wins, in addition to multiple Soap Opera Digest Awards, People’s Choice Awards, GLAAD Media Awards and Prism Awards. Fans of the show have much to look forward to in DAYS’s near future, as it has recently announced the upcoming comebacks of a wide swath of past stars, a list that includes Alison Sweeney (Sami Brady), Leann Hunley (Anna), Thaao Penghlis (Tony), Charles Shaughnessy (Shane Donovan), Stephen Schnetzer (Steve Olson), Christie Clark (Carrie Brady Reed) and Victoria Konefal (Ciara Brady Weston). DAYS OF OUR LIVES SUPERSTAR DRAKE HOGESTYN (JOHN) DIES AT 70
One of daytime’s most beloved and iconic stars, Days of Our Lives‘s Drake Hogestyn (John Black), passed away on September 28, 2024, one day shy of his 71st birthday.
In a statement shared via DAYS, the Hogestyn family wrote: “It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Drake Hogestyn. He was thrown the curve ball of his life when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he faced the challenge with incredible strength and determination. After putting up an unbelievable fight, he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones. He was the most amazing husband, father, papa, and actor. He loved performing for the Days audience and sharing the stage with the greatest cast, crew, and production team in the business. We love him and we will miss him all the Days of our Lives.” Executive Producer Ken Corday added, “This is a very difficult one for all of us. Hogey was the ultimate team player and there are not sufficient words to express how deeply he will be missed. His impact on our show, personally and professionally, was profound and will forever remain unmatched.” A Legendary LifeBorn Donald Drake Hogestyn in Fort Wayne, Indiana on September 29, 1953, the future soap superstar left his home state after graduating from high school to attend the University of South Florida on a baseball scholarship. There, he majored in pre-dentistry, graduating with a double major in microbiology and applied sciences, with the intention of becoming an oral surgeon. But after he finished college, he was drafted by two Major League Baseball teams, the St. Louis Cardinals and the New York Yankees. He opted to sign with the Yankees, and played third base on one of the organization’s farm teams in Oneonta, NY. After an injury in 1977 ended his promising baseball career, Hogestyn began his pivot into showbiz, entering a nationwide talent search conducted by Columbia Pictures with 75,00o entrants. He was one of 30 actors chosen to participate in an acting training program sponsored by the studio and headed to Los Angeles. He made his television debut in the 1982 series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, which ran for one season on CBS. Hogestyn played the role of Ben McFadden, the second oldest of the seven McFadden sons; Richard Dean Anderson, fresh from his breakout role as Jeff Webber on General Hospital, played Hogestyn’s older brother, Adam McFadden. After that show wrapped, Hogestyn notched a few more roles in prime-time, such as Kort on CBS’s short-lived sci-fi series Otherworld in 1985. In 1984, he auditioned for the role of Kyle Sampson on Guiding Light, which went to Larkin Malloy. The following year, he was invited to audition for DAYS, but when he first showed up for the try-out, Hogestyn hardly had his heart set on the job — in no small part because his heart was back in Indiana, in the form of his future wife, Victoria. He recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2015, “I had begun courting Victoria and I was flying back to Fort Wayne and DAYS was my last audition, as far as I was concerned. I pulled my Jeep up and I thought, ‘This is perfect. This is exactly where I started, at Columbia Pictures in the talent program. This is the first gate I walked through and it will be the last I go through. Let’s get it over with.’ ” Fortunately, he continued, “[I] stopped myself and said, ‘What kind of attitude is that? Let’s get this over with?’ Got back in my Jeep, drove it around the block, pulled back into the parking lot and said, ‘Give ’em hell.’ And I walked in and when [Casting Director] Doris Sabbagh started describing the character, I pulled [the book] The Bourne Identity out of my briefcase and said, ‘Doris, are you talking about Jason Bourne?’ And she said, ‘Yes, but we’re calling him John Black! It’s only going to last a couple of months, through sweeps period, and then you’ll be free to do what you want to do.’ ” Hogestyn made his Salem debut on January 24, 1986, and in a 2015 interview with Digest, he admitted that as a newcomer on the DAYS set, he felt “overwhelmed. When I started on the first day, I sat there all day long. I stayed on the set in everybody’s scenes all week long, just to see how they did it. I remember watching Mac [Carey, who played Tom Horton] and Frances [Reid, who played Alice Horton] and Quinn Redeker [who played Alex Marshall] and John Clarke [who played Mickey Horton]. [And] Deidre [Hall, who plays Marlena Evans], of course, took me by the hand and said, ‘This is how you do this, this is how you do that.’ ” It was in no small thanks to Hogestyn’s chemistry with Hall that the show abandoned its plans to make John Black a short-term role. Introduced as “The Pawn” (click here for a refresher on that landmark storyline), John was revealed to be Marlena’s thought-to-be-dead husband, Roman Brady, who had been played by Wayne Northrop from 1981-84. As a guest on Digest‘s podcast, Dishing with Digest, in 2022, his DAYS leading lady Deidre Hall (Marlena) recalled the beginnings of her long working relationship with Hogestyn. She said, “Drake came in to audition/screen test, I guess. I had agreed to test with everybody. I ran with everybody the same amount of time, practiced with everybody the same amount of time, and did the scene with Drake. Later, everybody was saying, ‘I don’t know, what do you think?’ ‘I don’t know, what do you think?”’ And they said, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘I don’t think there’s any contest.’ ‘Who do you think it is?’ I said, ‘I think it’s Drake. I mean, he’s got everything you need. I think it’s a good look. I think we look well together. I think he’s got an intensity. He’s got a strength and a masculinity but a sexiness. Of everybody that you brought in, I think he’s your best choice.’ And they had been in the same place but kind of waited for me to say it, I guess. And so he was hired. I guess none of us stopped to think, ‘He’s not really what you would call a terribly experienced actor.’ I mean, he’d been a sports guy, a baseball player.” From the start, she smiled, “He was dreamy. He loved to rehearse, wanted to get it right, very serious about the work…. I think it worked from the very first moment.” Hogestyn, of course, agreed to a longer stay — and while his professional life was on the upswing, that success paled in comparison to the happy tidings in his personal life: He and Victoria wed and began raising their family — daughters Whitney, Alexandra and Rachael and son Ben (who, for a time, appeared on General Hospital as Lucas Jones) — in California. In 2018, he shared his thoughts on how to have a lasting marriage with Digest, noting, “Stay married! You just stay married. And then you just fall in love with that same person over and over and over again…. I fell in love with Victoria when I was 15, she was 12, on the baseball field. She’s on the handlebars of her girlfriend Lisa Miller’s bike, I’m playing center field, go figure. That moment she just shocked me and I just screamed, ‘No! I have too much to do with my life,’ and from then on that was it! I look at her, I see her, I can see her when she was 12, when she was 13, when she was 14, 15, 16 … all the moments.” When Hall left DAYS in 1987, Roman moved on to other romantic pairings, most significantly opposite Genie Francis (Laura, General Hospital), who played Diana Colville, and Staci Greason, who played Isabella Toscano. In 2015, Francis told Digest, “Drake was adorable and funny,” and in 2022, Greason told Digest, “Drake really took me under his wing.” Then, in 1991, DAYS seized the opportunity to bring not only Hall, but the original Roman, Wayne Northrop, back to the show, which is how Hogestyn went back to playing John Black. The actor recalled to Digest in 2015, “I felt in a sense of fair play, I hadn’t created that character [of Roman]. Wayne did and had great success with it…. It was a good opportunity to re-explore John Black.” In 2018, he told Digest, “I hold those years [of playing Roman] very close to my heart, and I’m very proud and protective of my interpretation of Roman Brady.” Hogestyn played John through 2009, when both he and Hall were dropped from the cast due to budget cuts. They were rehired in 2011. “I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking that DAYS was ever going to make the phone call to come back,” Hogestyn told Digest that year, adding, “Did I hope it would happen? Absolutely…. I was welcomed back with open arms. It brought a tear to my eyes.” In May 2016, Hogestyn experienced brain injuries that kept him off the show for several months. Opening up to Digest upon his return to work in 2017, the actor said, “I don’t know if I’m being reflective or not, but you know, this whole thing with losing Joe Mascolo [ex-Stefano, who passed away in 2016] … I really loved that guy. I thought that he was going to live forever. I really did. I mean, his mom and dad lived up to their hundreds. So, as we go through weddings and funerals on the show, we do it in our own lives, too, and it’s kind of crazy.” He went on to say, “I feel life is good…. Time’s going by. That’s just it. It’s amazing. It’s remarkable. We live a dual life here, you know what I mean? We not only have our real life, but we come here and have another life, and it’s really, really unusual. I wish everybody could experience this. It’s really rich and it’s really full and I’m very blessed. It’s a great way to go through life. I was texting with a [mentor] of mine [and] he said, ‘Hollywood really is a meat grinder,’ and I said, ‘Yeah. You have to know when you’re on top of the roller-coaster ride and be prepared for what’s coming next.’ Because that roller coaster goes up and goes down, and you have to have a very, very strong support group and sense of self and be very realistic. He was saying, ‘It’s amazing that you’ve had a gig half your life working in the entertainment industry on a show, and being passionate about what you love to do. How fortunate are you?’ And I said, ‘Yes. Exactly.’ ” Hogestyn is survived by his wife, Victoria, their four children Rachael, Ben, Whitney, Alexandra and their partners, and seven grandchildren. Soap Opera Digest extends our deepest condolences to Hogestyn’s loved ones. He will be greatly missed. HAPPY 38th DAYS ANNIVERSARY DRAKE HOGESTYN
Drake Hogestyn debuted on Days Our Lives in January 1986 believing originally that he was Roman Brady before he became the character we all know & love today of John Black. To celebrate 38 years of Days Memories click below for photos of John & Marlena, John & Isabella as well as the Brady/Black Family. See the Main Gallery for other John Parings and Group Photos
JOHN & MARLENA GALLERIES
JOHN BLACK WEDDINGS
THE TRIANGLE: JOHN/MARLENA/ROMAN GALLERIES
More Huge Returns Announced
TV Insider was the first to report that Christie Clark (Carrie Brady Reed), Leann Hunley (Anna DiMera), Victoria Konefal (Ciara Brady Weston), Chandler Massey (Will Horton), Thaao Penghlis (Tony DiMera), Melissa Reeves (Jennifer Horton Devreaux) and Charles Shaughnessy (Shane Donovan) are all set for comebacks in 2025. Matthew Ashford, who recently wrapped a visit to Salem as Jack Deveraux, will also be returning again.
Executive Producer Ken Corday told TV Insider exclusively, “We always love it when members of our beloved family return to Salem,” adding, “Fans are really going to enjoy what we have in store beginning this fall and well into next year.” All eight returning actors have long histories with DAYS. Clark joined the show in 1986 as Anna and Roman’s (then-Wayne Northrop) daughter and exited in 1991. She returned the following year and played Carrie through 1999 before coming back again for a 2005-06 stint and additional stints in 2010, 2011-12 and 2017-19. In 2021, she reprised Carrie for the DAYS spinoff Beyond Salem, which streamed on Peacock. Hunley’s association with DAYS began back in 1982, and for her work as Anna, she was awarded the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1986. That same year, she wrapped her first Salem run, but reprised Anna from 2007-10 and from 2017-23 (also appearing on its streaming spinoffs). Konefal assumed the role of Hope and Bo’s beloved daughter — and future half of the mega-popular Ben/Ciara coupling alongside Robert Scott Wilson, who now plays Alex Kiriakis — in 2017 and appeared on DAYS and/or the Beyond Salem spinoff through 2023. Massey was cast as Sami and Lucas Horton’s (Bryan R. Dattilo) son back in 2010. His first stint concluded in 2014 and earned him three Daytime Emmy Awards in the Outstanding Younger Actor category. Massey made history as the first male actor playing a gay character to win a Daytime Emmy. He reclaimed the role in 2017, played Will on Beyond Salem in 2021, and was last on the canvas in 2023. Penghlis made his DAYS debut in 1981 as the dashing and devious Tony DiMera, and in 1983, he also began portraying Tony’s look-alike cousin, Andre. Penghlis exited in 1985, but returned as Tony from 1993-96. When he came back in 2002, he portrayed both roles through 2005 and reprised both roles again from 2007-09. He returned as Tony in 2019 and went on to play Tony on DAYS and its streaming spinoffs) through 2023. Melissa Reeves was introduced as Jennifer Rose Horton back in 1985. She exited 10 years later, returning from 2000-06 and 2010-20. Cady McClain has subsequently played the role, most recently in August 2024. It was announced in April 2024 that she was returning to the show in episodes airing later this year (timed to the show’s 15,000th episode); today’s announcement is a separate comeback. Shaughnessy was a DAYS fixture from 1984-92; he returned as the ISA Agent in 2010, 2012, 2013, 2021 (on Beyond Salem) and 2023. He was most recently seen on daytime playing Victor Cassadine on General Hospital, a role that, ironically, was originated by Penghlis.
PETER RECKELL AND KRISTIAN ALFONSO RETURN TO DAYS AS BO AND HOPE
It’s official: Bo and Hope are returning to Salem!
TV Insider was the first to report the exiting news that one of Days of Our Lives’s signature supercouples is poised for a new chapter in their epic love story — and the outlet also shared a first look of their portrayers, Kristian Alfonso and Peter Reckell, together on the Days of Our Lives set. While it was already established that Alfonso had signed on for a return trip to DAYS as Hope to help say good-bye to Doug Williams, Hope’s father, played by the late Bill Hayes, Reckell was not slated to participate in that particular set of episodes, which will air later this year. Happily, though, Reckell has now signed on to rejoin the cast for an arc alongside Alfonso that will air in 2025. “This ride is one we know the fans are really going to love,” Reckell told the publication. “Surprise!” Alfonso touted in an Instagram story. On X (formerly Twitter) longtime DAYS fan Julie Dove (Connie) posted, “Love waking up to this news. Ready now for Bo to wake up too! What do you think #Days fans? #Bope forever.” Bo and Hope’s romance kicked off in 1983, when Alfonso and Reckell first joined the DAYS cast. Hope was a teenager and at first developed a crush on Bo’s big brother, Roman, which was unreciprocated. Soon, though, Bo and Hope were finding it difficult to ignore their growing feelings for one another. Memorable moments of the courtship include Bo kidnapping Hope from her would-be wedding to Larry Welch and the adventurous duo consummating their relationship in New Orleans. In 1985, Bo and Hope wed for the first time, in a splashy ceremony filmed on location in England, after they brought down a notorious criminal known as the Dragon. “I never thought I could have someone in my life that could make me so happy,” the groom told his bride. Back in Salem, the duo welcomed a son, Shawn-Douglas, in 1987. That same year, with Shawn-Douglas in tow, the couple set out on the Fancy Face to sail around the world, as both Alfonso and Reckell opted to depart the show. Both actors were lured back in 1990, but Alfonso’s shorter stay came to a tragic end for Bo and Hope, as she was presumed dead aboard The Loretta at the hands of the villainous Ernesto Toscano. A grieving Bo moved on with Billie Reed. Alfonso returned to DAYS in 1994, by which time Bo was being played by Robert Kelker-Kelly, but as an amnesiac Hope who believed her name was Gina. Reckell reclaimed his role in 1995, and in time, Bo and Hope found their way back to one another. After a slew of complicated obstacles, they remarried in 2000, and expanded their family to include son Zack (who was tragically killed in a car accident caused by Bo’s daughter with Billie, Chelsea) and daughter Ciara. After another divorce, the duo said, “I do” again in 2009. When Reckell exited DAYS again in 2012, Bo left town with his mother, Caroline, and Hope divorced him in 2014. But in 2015, Bo resurfaced in time to help save Hope from a murderous Aiden Jennings look-alike. The lovers’ reunion was sadly short-lived, however, as Bo was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and passed away by year’s end. Alfonso left DAYS in 2020. A miracle was in store for Bo and Hope, however: In 2022, on the DAYS spinoff Beyond Salem that streamed on Peacock, it was revealed that Bo was actually alive. With both Alfonso and Reckell on board, the Bo/Hope saga resumed yet again in 2023, and Bo emerged from the cryogenic state he had been confined to and finally reunited with Hope — only to be shot (by his son, Shawn, no less) and rendered comatose. Alfonso and Reckell left again at the conclusion of that storyline. Alison Sweeney Returns To Days Of Our Lives As Sami Brady
DAYS OF OUR LIVES LEGEND BILL HAYES DIES AT 98
Bill Hayes, the legendary and multi-talented performer best known to daytime fans for his long-running role as Doug Williams on DAYS died on January 12 at the age of 98.
Born William Foster Hayes III on June 5, 1925 in Harvey, Illinois, Hayes served in the Navy Air Corps before completing his degree in music and English at DePauw University in 1947. His showbiz career launched when Hayes decided to audition for a musical in Chicago. He recalled to Digest in 2017, “Carousel had just left New York and was starting its national tour in Chicago, and my young brother Phil had written to the stage manager of Carousel and said, ‘If you need a tenor, I’d like to audition,’ ” Hayes begins. “Well, he had a card that said, ‘Come to the Shubert Theater at 2 o’clock on Tuesday and sing a song.’ When I got home after college, Phil had strep throat and couldn’t make a sound, so I took his card and I scratched Phil off and I put Bill on and went down to Shubert Theater at 2 o’clock on Tuesday and sang a song and I got on the show. I was in the singing chorus, and I thought, ‘Holy mackerel, you can get paid for singing? Acting? Doing stage work?’ I had no idea.” Hayes continued to hone his craft, studying voice at Northwestern and earning his master’s degree, and made his television debut in 1948 on THE ADVENTURES OF HOMER HERK. In 1950, he got an even bigger break when he was cast on YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS, which co-starred Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. “I’ve been told that I’m the longest- running person who’s been appearing on national television,” Hayes marveled to Digest in 2017. I n 1955, Hayes became an even bigger star when he recorded “The Ballad of Davy Crockett”, which became a No. 1 hit on the Billboard charts. In his 2017 conversation with Digest, Hayes recalled, “Archie Bleyer was the head of Cadence Records, and he called me in the morning of December 16, 1954, and he said, ‘Are you able to record a song with me?’ And I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ He wrote the arrangement and I studied the song and we met at 10 o’clock that night, recorded it in one take, and we were on the way. It’s a gold record and it’s on my wall and I’m looking at it now.” Soon, Hayes was touring the country on the strength of that hit. “It was incredible,” he told Digest. “Everybody in the audience would know every word in the song. It’s just that good a song! Everybody in the country today still knows it. If I start singing, they’ll sing along with me. It was quite a magic ride. It just took off like a skyrocket.” Hayes’s professional success continued, with multiple appearances on THE TONIGHT SHOW and a Broadway run in Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet. But by 1969, the nomadic reality of a career in entertainment took a toll on his first marriage, to Mary Hobbs. Hayes noted to Digest in 2017, “Show business is a traveling business. You do theater, you travel. You work on a film, you travel. You work in clubs, you travel. Show business was too much for her and she just left, and suddenly I needed a job where I stayed home. My [five] kids needed me here.” Hayes’s desire to put down roots prompted him to join the DAYS cast, and in February 1970, fans of the show were first introduced to Brent Douglas, the con man better known as Doug Williams. The role not only became the longest-running of his career, but his serendipitous casting introduced him to his beloved wife, Susan Seaforth Hayes, his longtime DAYS leading lady. As the actor put it to Digest in 2018, “Everybody in the country watched Bill and Susan fall in love and Doug and Julie fall in love all at the same time.” But it wasn’t all smooth sailing. He told Digest in 2018, “What I had to go through post-divorce was anger. I just didn’t want to have a relationship. It was just too hard on me that way. I divorced in 1969 and Susan and I married in ’74. If I’d been normally free in my mind, it would’ve happened a lot quicker but I was not ready. In 1974, my youngest daughter graduated from high school and that was the end of a certain responsibility on my part. My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage and that was an affirmation of relationship and marriage. I took my kids for four weeks to London and that was a family experience that was just fabulous. Those three things put together finally released me from this, ‘I don’t want a relationship. I don’t want to hear about it or talk about it or feel it or anything.’ Suddenly, all that went away and I remember saying to Susan, ‘How about a week from Saturday?’ and she said, ‘Good for me!’ I put on my cowboy hat and my cowboy boots and went over to [the home of] Susan’s mother, and I got down on one knee and I said, ‘I would like to have the hand of your daughter.’ She said, ‘Nope! You have to take the whole girl.’ ” The couple wed at home in front of 16 people. “Two years later, Doug and Julie married and they used exactly the same words that we used in our living room,” Hayes recalled fondly. Reflecting on his life to Digest in 2017, Hayes noted, “I’ve had quite a varied career, which started in one direction for a long time and then suddenly stopped and started in another direction. I’m very proud of it. I was on YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS, which was one of the best television series of all time. I played on Broadway. I have a hit record. I’ve been on DAYS OF OUR LIVES all these years. I’ve done wonderful things in my career, but what I’m happiest about is my family. I have four children left, I have 12 grandchildren, I have 24 great-grandchildren and that’s my treasure.” In a statement, DAYS Executive Producer Ken Corday said, “I have known Bill for most of my life and he embodied the heart and soul of Days of our Lives. Although we are grieving and will miss him, Bill’s indelible legacy will live on in our hearts and the stories we tell, both on and off the screen.” We send our deepest condolences to Hayes’s family, friends, and colleagues. Latest Photo Updates |
