"Days of Our Lives" Celebrates 40 Years

"Days of Our Lives" turns forty years old on Tuesday, November 8, 2005. An amazing accomplishment for a series that was on the brink of cancellation after its first year on the air. Ted and Betty Corday, along with legendary writer Irna Phillips talked over the idea and decided to do a show unlike others at the time: one in a rural setting, with a large, moral family as the main focus of the series, and the first daytime drama to debut in color. In some sources, Allan Chase, a New York writing partner of Corday's, is credited as a co-creator, but he had very little to do with the show's creation.

Macdonald Carey was cast as Dr. Thomas Horton, the head of the Horton family. Ted Corday warned Carey that "You are liable to be stuck ten years doing this show. Are you prepared to face that?" Happily, Carey said yes. Marie Cheatham was cast as daughter Marie; John Clarke as son Mickey; Charla Doherty as niece Julie Olson; Ron Husmann as Marie's fiance, Tony Merritt; David McLean as Tony's father, Craig; Burt Douglas as Tony's friend Jim; and...Mary Jackson as Tom's wife, Alice Horton. Ed Prentiss (Minister) and Marilyn Fox (Nurse) appeared as guests. Prentiss also opened the show with his narration of the original epigraph: "Each day is a little life. Every waking and rising, a little breath. Every fresh morning, a little youth. Every rest and sleep a little death; and the sands are running through the hourglass."

With the cast in place, the pilot was taped on July 13, 1965 at NBC's Burbank, California studios (where it is still taped today). It was written by Charles Gussman and directed by Joseph Behar. NBC was pleased with the pilot presentation and decided to make it into a series. The pilot episode was reshot on November 1, 1965. Several changes were made: Peggy Phillips and Kenneth M. Rosen were named head writers; Patricia Huston was added as Julie's mother, Addie; Robert Knapp was added as Julie's father, Ben; Flip Mark was added as Julie's brother, Steve; Paul Carr was added as Tom and Alice's son, Bill; Richard Colla took over as Tony Merritt (Ron Husmann, who had played him in the unaired pilot, would finally get to play the role from 1966-1967); guest stars for the pilot episode were Robert J. Stevenson as Mike, the detective; Geraldine Lawrence as Julie's friend, Diane; and Simone Pascal as Julie's friend, Carol Proctor. The one other change involved the heart and soul of Salem for the past four decades: replacing Mary Jackson as Alice Horton was Frances Reid. Reid later remarked that she had quit her earlier soap opera role on "Portia Faces Life" in 1954, because she couldn't imagine doing the same role for more than a year or so. The other change was to the epigraph. Ed Prentiss continued to narrate, but it was changed to: "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives. 'Days of Our Lives' - a new dramatic serial starring Macdonald Carey." Prentiss would continue to open each episode this way for the first four months. Macdonald Carey would take over the narration of the series in March, 1966, and continues to speak that same statement to this day to open each and every episode. At 2:00PM on the East Coast on Monday, November 8, 1965, Simone Pascal (as Carol) spoke the first line of the pilot episode: "Julie, what did you do? You’re the greatest!" And with Julie's theft of a mink stole from Bartlett's department store in "Days" first-ever scene, a new daytime drama was born. Another early storyline was that of Marie Horton's upcoming wedding to Tony Merritt. However, Tony found out he had a rare blood disease and due to his illness, broke off their engagement (becoming the first of many failed weddings in Salem, USA). Marie later dated and wed Tony's father, Craig.

As the year wound down, head writer Peggy Phillips asked her friend, Patricia Falken Smith to sign on as a writer. Early in 1966, Paul Carr, who had been playing Bill Horton was released. Frank Parker auditioned for the role but was told he was too young. (Eighteen years would pass before Parker finally landed a major role on the show, in 1983, this time as Shawn Brady, the patriarch of the Brady family, a role he still holds to this day.) Parker mentioned that a friend of his would be good in the role: Edward Mallory. (Mallory would continue in the role through 1980 and has since quit acting to direct). By April, 1966, "Days" was near cancellation and Ted Corday was in declining health as a result of cancer. One of Irna Phillips' proteges, William J. Bell, was hired as the new head writer. At the time "Days" was averaging a 19 share, meaning 19 out of every 100 households were tuned to "Days" between 2-230PM as compared to a 60 share for its time-slot competitor on CBS, "As the World Turns". The producers were told if ratings did not rise in thirteen weeks, the show would be cancelled. Improvements started to show, but, before the show became a major hit, Ted Corday passed away of cancer on July 23, 1966 at the age of 58. Irna Phillips left a year later in 1967 to focus on her new series "Love Is a Many Splendored Thing." The show was now in the hands of Betty Corday, head writer Bill Bell, and a new executive producer, H. Wesley Kenney.

Floy Dean originated the role of medical student Laura Spencer in 1966. She was replaced months after by Susan Flannery (and later Susan Oliver, Rosemary Forsyth, and Jaime Lyn Bauer), who would go on to play Laura for the next decade, and be involved with "Days" first major romantic triangle: marrying both Horton sons, first Mickey and later Bill. In September 1968, Laura's son Michael Horton, was born. At first thought to be Mickey's son, he later turned out to be Bill's. The character of Mike Horton currently holds the record for the most actors in the same role: fourteen (most notably Wesley Eure, Michael T. Weiss and Roark Critchlow). In 1967, John Lupton was brought on to play Dr. Mark Brooks, an amnesiac who had undergone plastic surgery. He arrived in Salem and became friends with Bill Horton. He ended up falling in love with Marie Horton. The only problem was he was actually the presumed-dead fifth Horton child: Tommy Horton. The thought of their incestuous relationship caused Marie to give up love for good and become a nun. Regina Gleason was brought on to play Tommy's wife, Kitty; and Astrid Warner appeared as his daughter, Sandy. Several months later, Heather North took over the role of Sandy. (North would later marry executive producer H. Wesley Kenney). Gleason left the show when Kitty died of a heart attack in 1969; and North left in 1971 when Sandy moved away to college. Lupton would continue in his role through 1980, when Tommy disappeared from the canvas for good. He was last mentioned as living in Hawaii in 1982.

In December 1968, Susan Seaforth was hired to replace Cathy Ferrar in the role of Julie Olson (who had replaced Catherine Dunn who in turn had replaced the original Julie, Charla Doherty). Even though Seaforth was the fourth actress to play Julie in just three years, she would stick with the role, and is now only the second actor still with the show from the 1960's (along with original castmember Frances Reid). In 1970, Bill Hayes was brought on to play con-man Brent Douglas, who would eventually transform into good-guy Doug Williams that fans know and love today. Luckily for Bill and Susan, they were paired together on-screen, with the help of the scheming Susan Hunter Martin (Denise Alexander). The chemistry was as good on-screen as it was off-screen, and they married in 1974. Their characters, Doug and Julie, wed for the first time in 1976, and the actors appeared together on the cover of the popular periodical Time. Seaforth Hayes left "Days" briefly from 1984-1989. When Julie returned in 1990, without Doug, the characters were briefly apart. But when Julie and Doug returned for the Christmas holidays in 1993, they had re-wed in Switzerland. Julie and Doug were the first real supercouple in "Days" history, and they continue to appear with the show to this day.

Besides Frances Reid, Susan Seaforth Hayes, and Bill Hayes, the only other actor still appearing in the same role from the 1970's is Deidre Hall. She joined the show in June, 1976 as psychiatrist Marlena Evans. Her twin sister in real life, Andrea, would appear on the show as Marlena's twin, Samantha. Marlena's first major romance was with Don Craig (played by Jed Allan from 1971-1985; Don went to mail a letter one day and was never heard from again!). She had a child with Don, D.J., who died in his crib. In 1981, Marlena was paired with policeman Roman Brady, portrayed by Wayne Northrop (Northrop recently returned to the show in 2005 as Dr. Alex North). Marlena and Roman had two children together: Eric and Samantha (portrayed in their adult years by Jensen Ackles and Alison Sweeney). When Roman supposedly died in 1984, he returned from the dead in 1986 in the form of Drake Hogestyn. To make it more confusing, in 1991, Wayne Northrop returned to the show, and there were two Romans running around Salem! It was finally figured out that Drake's Roman was actually John Black. Northrop left in 1994, and Roman returned to the forefront in 1997 with Josh Taylor in the role (Taylor had appeared as Chris Kositchek from 1977-1987 until moving to primetime in the comedy "The Hogan Family). In a nod to the past, in the summer of 2005, Northrop, Hogestyn and Taylor appeared together in a scene, the first time three actors who had played a major role on "Days" appeared all at once in the same scene.

In the 1970's, "Days" not only introduced its first prominent black family, the Grants, but also daytime's first-ever interracial storyline: Valerie Grant dated David Banning. Since 1980 however, there has only been one other prominent black family in Salem: the Carvers. Debuting in 1981, James Reynolds has been with the show continuously as policeman Abe Carver (except for an eleven-month hiatus to appear on the short-lived "Generations" from 1990-1991). When Reynolds returned from his brief hiatus, Abe had already married his girlfriend of several years, Lexie Brooks. Renee Jones assumed the role in 1993 and continues to this day. Lexie has had several affairs while married to Abe, most notably with Abe's brother Jonah (Thyme Lewis), and more recently with police officer Tek Kramer (Rhasaan Orange).

Offscreen in the 1970's the other major change was when head writer Bill Bell departed to create "The Young & the Restless" for CBS. Pat Falken Smith was named the new head writer in 1973. That year, she created another long-running character: Dr. Neil Curtis. Played for a few months by Ben Archibek, the role soon became Joseph Gallison's. He would stay with the show for seventeen years and be involved with several women, most notably Liz Curtis (singer Gloria Loring) and Maggie Horton (former Rockette Suzanne Rogers). Maggie was another of Falken Smith's creations, first appearing on a farm in the summer of 1974. She met up with Mickey Horton, who at the time had amnesia and believed he was Marty Hansen. They finally made their way back to Salem and wed. Through good times and bad (and even Maggie's supposed death), the duo has remained one of Salem's most successful couples and they re-wed in the summer of 2005. John Clarke who had played Mickey for 38 years, retired in January 2004 and was replaced by John Ingle.

The 1980's brought another major family to Salem: the Bradys. As previously mentioned, Roman arrived in 1981, soon to be followed by his parents Shawn and Caroline (Frank Parker and Peggy McCay). McCay left briefly and was replaced by Jody Carter and Barbara Beckley. Parker was replaced briefly by Lew Brown, and in a contract dispute, for a short time by Peter MacLean. Happily, Parker and the show resolved their differences and he has been with the show continuously since 1990. McCay has remained with the show since 1985, except for a brief hiatus when Caroline was "killed" in 2003. The Bradys have four children: Along with son Roman, there is another son Bo (Peter Reckell). He became a household name when he was paired with Doug's daughter, Hope Williams (Kristian Alfonso). They married in 1985 and left Salem together in 1987. Reckell returned in 1990 and was replaced by Robert Kelker-Kelly from 1992-1995. Upon returning in the summer of 1995, Reckell spoke his first line as Bo in five years by saying "I'm home." While Alfonso was away from 1990-1994 (and Hope was presumed dead), Bo got involved with Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell) and Billie Reed (Lisa Rinna, Krista Allen, Julie Pinson). Daughters Kayla (Catherine Mary Stewart, Mary Beth Evans) and Kimberly (Patsy Pease, Anne Howard, Ariana Chase) rounded out the Brady clan. Each of the four Brady siblings would be part of the four major supercouples of the 1980's: Roman and Marlena; Bo and Hope; Kayla and Steve "Patch" Johnson (Stephen Nichols, who became famous worldwide for his eye patch. When Steve briefly had his sight restored and lost his patch, viewer outrage was so great that Steve quickly lost his sight again)! Steve died in 1990, and Kayla moved away in 1992. They had one daughter together, Stephanie Johnson. Kimberly ended up marrying the suave ISA agent, Shane Donovan (played by Charles Shaughnessy, who after leaving the show, had great success in primetime on "The Nanny."). Kimberly would later marry Philip Collier (Richard Burgi). Neither Brady daughter has been heard from much in the past few years.

On the Horton side, Melissa Anderson (Lisa Trusel, Camilla Scott), Mickey and Maggie's adopted daughter, would becomne prominent.