'Days of Our Lives': 50 Memorable Moments for the Daytime Drama's Golden Anniversary
Weddings, divorces, babies, death, affairs… hallmarks of any daytime soap. Satanic possessions, people buried alive, multiple serial killers, doggie nuptials, and Cruises of Deception… that’s how you know you’re a Days of Our Lives fan. The NBC drama turns 50 on Nov. 8 (the official anniversary episode airs Nov. 9), and in honor of DOOL’s long, strange trip through daytime, we’re taking a look back at 50 of our favorite Days memories, from love and heartbreak to death and destruction, with stops for levitating psychiatrists, deep-fried doughnuts, and alien teens in between. Not to mention all the creative evildoing of the greatest villain in soap history, one Stefano DiMera.
1. Oh, Brother
Days of Our Lives star Peter Reckell told Yahoo TV this is one of his most favorite storylines from more than 30 years of Bo Brady’s time as a Salem-ite: the 1984 death of his big brother, Roman. On a cliff on a Caribbean island, Roman was shot by family nemesis Stefano and fell off onto the beach below, where Bo sobbed as he cradled his dying brother in his arms. Bo had to leave Roman for a brief time to get help, and when he returned, Roman’s body was missing… for a couple of years.
2. The Bope Wedding
They overcame a lot of obstacles — including her blackmail marriage to shady politician Larry Welch — but supercouple Hope Williams and Bo Brady finally made it to the altar in 1985, with a spectacular wedding set in England, the bride (Kristian Alfonso) wearing a $35,000 gown, and the groom breaking out into a song for Hope before they said their vows.
3. The WilSon Wedding
Already groundbreaking because it was the first marriage of two men on a daytime soap, the 2014 wedding of Will Horton and Sonny Kiriakis was also a union between the offspring of two DOOL supercouples: Sami and Lucas’s Will and Adrienne and Justin’s Sonny. The ceremony, held at the Kiriakis mansion, was a family affair, officiated by Will’s grandma, Marlena, and with the grooms’ moms walking them down the aisle.
4. Oh… Brother
In 1967, Tom Horton Jr., aka Tommy, was thought to have been killed in the Korean War. He returned to Salem — with amnesia and a reconstructed face — thinking he was Dr. Mark Brooks, and he fell in love with his lab assistant Marie… Horton… his youngest sister! When Mark’s true identity was revealed, Marie was so freaked out she left town, got herself to a nunnery, and remained a nun for more than a decade.
5. The Devil Inside
It’s one of Days’s most notorious, and deliciously entertaining, storylines ever: the saintly Dr. Marlena Evans (daytime legend Deidre Hall) was possessed by the Devil, complete with exorcism, a burning church, and Christmas Eve 1994 spent levitating above her bed. “I’m still not allowed to say how it was done, because I signed a nondisclosure agreement, but I did levitate,” Hall told TV Guide. “That wasn’t fancy camera work. It wasn’t done by computer, like they do now. It was a real stunt.“
6. Best at Being the Worst
January 18, 1982: the day Stefano DiMera became an enduring thorn in the side of Salem’s citizenry. Stefano’s portrayer, Joseph Mascolo, has ridiculously never even been nominated for a Daytime Emmy, but he’s earned something better: the undisputed crown as soapland’s all-time greatest villain, and, for Stefano, a seemingly endless supply of nefarious plots and resurrections — The Phoenix always rises! — to help him keep DOOL in chaos for many years to come.
7. And Those Were the Days of His Life
Salem lost the patriarch of its core family on June 21, 1994, the day Alice Horton went upstairs and found that her beloved husband, Dr. Tom Horton Sr., had died in his sleep. Tom’s portrayer, Macdonald Carey, began his run as Tom in the series premiere, and remained with the show until his death from lung cancer in March 1994. His voice is still heard in the show’s iconic intro, saying, "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.”
8. Daddy Issues
How much did Bo Brady hate wealthy, shady businessman Victor Kiriakis? So much that he nearly shot him during a fancy party in 1986. The only thing that saved Victor: Bo’s mom, Caroline, screaming, “Bo, don’t shoot… he’s your father,” her non-subtle and very public revelation that she’d had an affair with Victor, and that Bo’s beloved “Pop,” Shawn, was not his biological dad.
9. They Did It!
August 22, 1984: On the famous Oak Alley plantation in New Orleans, Bo and Hope had sex for the first time, with Peabo Bryson and Roberta Flack’s “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” playing in the background. The setting remains such a classic in Days history that Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso, along with several castmates, visited New Orleans to help with recovery efforts after Hurricane Katrina.
10. They “I Do” It
The Kiriakis-DiMera mob family feud took a toll on Victor and Maggie’s efforts to be together, as did her guilt about falling in love with someone with Victor’s past (or anyone who wasn’t her beloved, late husband Mickey), but more than 35 years after Daytime Emmy winner Suzanne Rogers began playing Maggie, she became a married woman once again, marrying Victor during a snowstorm in November 2011.
11. The Magic Doughnuts
Alice Horton (Francis Reid) was always available for two things: making her signature doughnuts, and lending a helping hand or sympathetic ear to her troubled friends and family (of which there were plenty). The two were frequently combined, in fact, with the wise Alice inviting those in need of some advice to the Horton home for doughnut-making or doughnut-eating, all the while stealthily slipping in some words of wisdom. Fans can whip up their own batch of Alice’s treats, via a recipe from the 1997 Days of Our Lives cookbook.
12. A Horton Family Christmas
No matter what else was going on in their lives — drama, always — Alice and Tom Horton’s loved ones gathered at their home, where each person has his or her own, personalized ornament that was hung on the tree. It was a tradition started by Tom Sr.’s mother, and it continued as a way to make sure friends and family who couldn’t be there in person for some holidays would always be there in spirit, and DIY-ed ornament. As Jack Deveraux, husband of Horton granddaughter Jennifer, once said, “Apparently, if you get your name on a Christmas ornament, you’re in for life.”
13. The Beginning
The series’ first scene, back on November 8, 1965, involved a character still on the show today: 16-year-old Julie Olson was busted while trying to steal a coat from a department store. That troublemaking teen would grow up to become Julie Williams (Julie Olson Banning Anderson Williams Williams, to be exact… divorces), played throughout the last 47 years by daytime legend Susan Seaforth Hayes.
14. The Expansion
April 21, 1975: Days of Our Lives becomes the second daytime soap to expand to a one-hour running time (now-defunct Another World was the first).
15. Reel Life, Real Life
January 12, 1976: Bill and Susan (Seaforth) Hayes become the first soap stars to be featured on the cover of Time magazine. Married in real life, the on-screen couple — as Doug and Julie Williams — got married after Doug divorced Julie’s mom, Addie, who also gave birth to Julie’s younger sister, Hope, one half of DOOL supercouple Bo and Hope.
16. Roman Brady Looks Familiar
When Roman Brady returned to Salem in 1998 (brought back by cray cray Kristen to help break up John and Marlena), he looked familiar… because he was being played by Josh Taylor, an actor who had previously played health club owner-turned-lawyer owner Chris Kositchek on DOOL. Chris, and Taylor, disappeared from the scene in 1987, but Taylor — who also played Dylan’s dad on Beverly Hills, 90210 continues to play Roman today. In the vintage YouTube clip below, the two Romans meet briefly, as Taylor, in his last episode as Chris, shares a scene with Drake Hogestyn, who was then playing Roman Brady.
17. Oh! Brother!
Perhaps it was best that Chris Kositcheck did go MIA in Salem, because his past included one of the most painful times in Salem history. The town’s first (yes, of course there have been more) serial killer, The Salem Strangler, was obsessed with Marlena, and despite personal protection from cop Roman (that’s when they first fell in love), Marlena became The Strangler’s victim in 1982… or so it seemed. The victim was actually her twin, Samantha (played by Deidre Hall’s real-life twin, Andrea Hall-Lovell), and The Salem Strangler was revealed to be Chris’s younger brother, Jake, played by Heroes and Heroes Reborn star Jack Coleman.
18. The Queen Debuts
June 21, 1976: ElektraWoman and DynaGirl and Emergency! alum Deidre Hall made her first appearance as kind-hearted psychiatrist Dr. Marlena Evans, the reigning queen of DOOL and daytime TV in general. Marlena has been married and divorced numerous times, has been presumed dead and (wrongly) presumed to be a serial killer, she’s been possessed, kidnapped, and poisoned, she’s a mom, grandma, and great-grandma, and — so far — she remains the only Salem-ite to levitate. The character and her wedding to John Black inspired Mattel to create a Marlena Evans Barbie doll in 1999, and, as of August 2015, Daytime Emmy nominee Hall has played Dr. Marlena in more than 4,000 episodes of Days of Our Lives.
19. Future Primetime Stars
In the early years of Roman Brady’s time in Salem, his pre-Marlena daughter, Carrie, was played by an actress Full House fans know very well: Andrea Barber, aka Tanner family neighbor Kimmy Gibbler. Carrie, whose mom is Roman’s first wife, Anna, grew up to become half of supercouple Carrie and Austin. Barber, meanwhile, is not the only Days star to go on to primetime success. Supernatural star Jensen Ackles, Melrose Place and 90210’s Rob Estes, Star Trek: The Next Generation and Breaking Bad alum John de Lancie, Pretty Little Liars’s Ashley Benson, Witches of East End’s Eric Winter, and Real Housewives of Beverly Hills cast members Lisa Rinna and Eileen Davidson have also had memorable roles on Days of Our Lives, while M*A*S*H Emmy nominee Mike Farrell, Celebrity Apprentice alum Vivica A. Fox and That ‘70s Show’s Mila Kunis made early-career appearances on DOOL.
20. The Brady/DiMera Feud, Explained
Convoluted, yes, but after so many years — and so many deaths, faked, temporary, and real — it was a relief to Days viewers to finally get any explanation for why Stefano DiMera has always been so obsessed with causing pain to the Brady family. Turns out Brady aunt Colleen, sister of patriarch Shawn Sr., had many years ago fallen in love with Stefano’s father Santo, in Ireland, with her younger brother Shawn and Stefano spending time together as pals. But when Colleen, who’d been planning to become a nun, got serious with Santo, Stefano revealed to Shawn that Santo’s wife was still alive — he’d told Colleen she was dead. Colleen, heartbroken, pregnant, and not wanting to bring shame to her family, faked her death so Santo could honor his commitment to his family, but he was so heartbroken over the loss of her that he became a bitter, nasty man who made the rest of Stefano’s childhood a misery. Stefano blamed the Bradys for the whole scenario, and many a nefarious plot was born from his need for retribution. Colleen, played by Partridge Family mom Shirley Jones, revealed to her family in 2008 that she’s given birth to Santo’s son and put him in an orphanage, which led John Black to briefly, mistakenly believe he was Colleen and Santo’s offspring.
21. I’m Buried
Another of Days’s most infamous plots had crazy Vivian Alamain (Louise Sorel) shooting drugs into rival Carly Manning, so Carly would appear to be dead and Vivian could bury her alive. She also stuck a transmitter inside the coffin, so she could taunt Carly once she awoke and realized she was trapped six feet under. Carly survived, and Vivian spent some time in a sanitarium, but her real comeuppance came years later, when she planned to repeat her buried alive plot — this time on romantic rival Maggie — and instead was locked inside a sarcophagus herself.
22. The Cruise of Deception
The summer of 1990 on Days was all about this event, a rarity in that it was a plot to torture several Salem-ites, yet it wasn’t designed by Stefano. Instead, it was the handiwork of Ernesto Toscano, a former friend of Victor’s who wanted revenge against Victor and sought it partially via Bo. He lured several Salem residents, including Bo and Hope, aboard a cruise ship, and then set a bomb to go off. They escaped and followed Ernest to a nearby island, where he then lured them into a cave, where he had Hope suspended over a vat of acid. He made Bo beg for her survival, then — it appeared — dumped Hope into the vat anyway, leading everyone to believe Hope had melted in the acid. But…
23. Swamp Girl
…unbeknownst to Bo and his friends, Hope was not the woman suspended above the acid vat. Ernesto had swapped in a woman named Greta Von Amberg, who Bo later found in a New Orleans swamp, scarred… from acid burns. All cleaned up from swamp living, and after plastic surgery corrected her scars, beautiful Greta learned she was actually a Princess whose mother had died. The throne would be hers, then, but only after she battled Sami Witch and Satan in a virtual Garden of Eden.
24. Princess Gina
As for Hope, she didn’t fall into the acid vat or die. She was, instead, being held hostage by Stefano — you didn’t think he’d gotten out of the evildoing biz, right? — at Maison Blanche in New Orleans, where he implanted a chip in her head that gave her the memories of Gina, a princess and art thief he would use to retrieve some of his stolen art work later.
25. Comedy Supercouple
He was a psychic and inventor with a long streak of bad luck in love, and she was a witch with a passion for hats and would later become a talk show host and wedding planner. Together, Eugene (John de Lancie) and Calliope (Arlene Sorkin) were daytime’s only comedy-minded supercouple, from his love advice column that required him to dress in drag to her wedding gown, which lit up when he kissed her at the altar. They even appeared on The Newlywed Game, which included an appearance by host Bob Eubanks and some of that game show’s trademark risque word play.
26. Doggie I Dos
Calliope once planned a doggie wedding… that’s not a dog-themed wedding, or even a wedding that includes a human couple’s dogs. She planned a wedding where the dogs were the marrieds, and humans and pooches were among the honored guests, who witnessed the bride being carried down the aisle to the tune of “How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?”
27. Scrambled Eggs
More cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs behavior from Vivian: So determined was she to break up Kate and Victor and snag Victor for herself that she stole Kate’s fertilized eggs and had them implanted in her body. One of the eggs became Kate and Victor’s son Phillip, but it was Vivian who gave birth to him.
28. Dead Sami Walking
Sami has done a lot of crazy, spiteful, selfish things in her life, and a good deal of them, especially in her younger days, came at the expense of her family. Perhaps that’s why they didn’t look as upset as you might expect while they witnessed her execution. Sami was punished for a murder she didn’t commit, and though she did die, moments later Lucas busted in and confessed to the crime, sending Sami on a fast trip to the ER, where she was miraculously brought back to life.
29. The Death of a Child
One of the show’s most heartbreaking storylines ever revolved around the 2006 death of Bo and Hope’s young son Zach, who was run over by a teenager who was texting while driving. Making the story all the more tragic: The hit-and-run driver was Chelsea, Bo’s daughter with Billie.
30. The Aliens Have (Not) Landed
In 2002, twins Rex and Cassie landed in Salem in a pod during a meteor shower, leading to the conclusion they were aliens. The most surprising reveal: they weren’t. They were Bradys, the offspring of Roman, and Kate Roberts.
31. The Patch
It was a pivotal moment for a supercouple in the making: After finding Steve “Patch” Johnson badly beaten down at the Salem docks, Kayla, sister of Patch’s BFF Bo, helped Patch back to his apartment and began treating his wounds. There had already been some chemistry between tough guy Steve and the woman he would eventually call his “Sweetness,” but their supercouple fate was sealed when she tried to tend to his wound under his eye patch. He snarled at her and then begged her not to look at what was underneath, but she persisted, and didn’t flinch in the slightest while gently caring for him. He was stunned, and grateful, for her lack of reaction at the wound, which the audience didn’t see. “The producers would never go for anything gory or grisly, or showing the eyelid sewn shut or anything like that,” Steve portrayer Stephen Nichols told TV Guide. “After all that mysterious buildup, it would have to be something pretty horrible. Better that we used our imaginations. Besides, that scene was all about Kayla’s reaction to what she was seeing. And Mary Beth [Evans’s] performance was — as always — absolutely extraordinary.”
32. Our Two Dads
Sami Brady’s twins, Johnny and Allie, were born in 2006 to daddy Lucas… and E.J. While Will is definitely Lucas’s son, only one of the twins, Allie, is his biological child. The other is the offspring of E.J., meaning Stefano is the grampy.
33. Thankyouverymuch, Mama
It’s not like E.J.’s life began under anything resembling the usual circumstances, either. His mom is wacky Susan, the Elvis-obsessed Kristen lookalike who thought Elvis had come back to life and impregnated her. Of course, the culprit was Stefano, who drugged and inseminated Susan with his sperm, and dressed in an Elvis costume to make her think The King was her babydaddy. E.J’.s real name: Elvis Aaron DiMera.
34. The Plane, The Plane
After so many years of Stefano’s machinations, Marlena’s feelings were all mixed up, and she found herself torn between John Black and Roman Brady, whose identities at any given time were mixed up with each other. But she was still committed to Roman when she and John had sex for the first time, a passionate romp aboard a private plane in 1993. More than 20 years later — and a plethora of ups and downs in between — Marlena and John remain happily (for now) coupled.
35. The Bachelor: Salem
It may seem like a small town, but Salem has everything, including its own version of love search reality series The Bachelor. It was called Love Is Blind, and yes, of course it involved a blindfold. The bachelor, by the way, should have been familiar to viewers of another real-world reality show: The Real World. Love Is Blind bachelor Philip Kiriakis was played by Kyle Brandt, a cast member of The Real World: Chicago, Season 11 of the MTV reality drama.
36.The Queen of the Night
Stefano persists in pursuing Marlena Evans, his dream woman, the one he refers to as his “Queen of the Night” (and he calls her that often, and to her face). And that’s inherently creepy on its own, but then there was the 1994 storyline in which Stefano took the “night” idea to a whole new level. Staking out the apartment next door to Marlena’s, Stefano constructed a secret passageway — through an armoire — by which he could sneak into Marlena’s apartment during the night, and share ballroom dances with her. She wouldn’t remember the “dates” the next day, because Stefano had altered her mind. But this particular installment in his ongoing obsession with the good doc is unforgettably ookie for Days fans.
37. Who Is John Black?
The world may never know. He was introduced in 1985 as The Pawn, a man suffering amnesia and a face swaddled in bandages. Since then he’s been almost permanently on the receiving end of Stefano’s evildoing, while also enjoying an active love life that includes marriages to Marlena, Isabella (“Izzy B”), and Hope. At various points in his DOOL timeline, John thought he was Roman Brady, a DiMera, and the nephew of Shawn Brady Sr. Sadly, the identity of his parents remains a mystery, and John Black is currently… John Black.
38. Bo, Hope, and Buble
It was 2003, and Hope asked Bo what would have happened if they’d never met. He answers that they were destined to be together, so he knows they would have met somehow. In his dream scenario, he and Hope meet cute, at a nightclub, where resident crooner Michael Buble sings “That’s All” as they dance.
39. The Donald Does DOOL
October 24, 2005: Long before he was a serious presidential contender — the good old days — he was a guest star on Days, playing himself and pimping the success of another NBC program, The Apprentice. Arianne Zucker’s Nicole Walker even tried to land a job with Trump, to no avail. He probably would have fired her eventually, anyway. Other celebs making cameos on Days: Smokey Robinson, Kathy Griffin, Clay Aiken, Heather Mills, Al Jarreau, and LeAnn Rimes.
40. Do-not!
Could it be?! Could Dr. Marlena Evans really be The Salem Stalker, the town serial killer? It appeared to be so, with her final victim, Alice Horton, dying via a plate of her own delicious, legendary, deep-fried doughnuts in 2004. There was more to the story, though…
41. Melaswen Island
Marlena wasn’t a serial killer, and the people she had supposedly killed weren’t really dead. It was all part of a plot by the DiMeras, who sent all the “dead” to Melaswen Island… or, spelled backwards, “New Salem,” where the Salem-ites’ homes had been meticulously recreated so they could live mirror lives, under Tony/Andre’s control.
42. Broken Hearted
Sources outside the family weren’t the only ones conspiring the keep Bo and Hope apart in the beginning. Hope’s dad, Doug, thought motorcycle-ridin’ bad boy Bo wasn’t the right match for his spoiled daughter. Just as Bo and Hope began to celebrate her 18th birthday by falling into bed together for the first time, Doug walked in and caught them, and immediately suffered a heart attack. Hope, feeling guilty about her dad’s near-death experience, vowed to stay away from Bo forever, but since everything is sped up in soapland, forever didn’t really last very long.
43. Holding Out for a Hero
Ask any lifelong Days fan for one of their favorite moments from the show, and this one is guaranteed to make their top five: May 31, 1984, Hope is about to marry scummy politician Larry Welch, until Bo shows up and “kidnaps” her so they can speed off on a motorcycle and go somewhere to talk. The soundtrack for the ride: Bonnie Tyler’s “Holding Out for a Hero,” and later, at the park, James Ingram’s “Whatever We Imagine,” both songs that are tied to the Bope storyline.
44. The Stayla Wedding
Not to be outdone by her big bro and his romantic antics, Bo’s sister Kayla and his best friend Steve sealed their love in grand style, too, and with plenty of drama. Not only did the couple get married on a yacht, but Kayla, who’d temporarily lost her ability to speak, regained her voice just in time to say her vows to Patch/Steve.
45. Sami, Stan… Stan, Sami
Is there no low to which Sami won’t sink? Nope. She’ll even work for Tony DiMera, as she did in 2005. When Sami portrayer Alison Sweeney went on maternity leave, her character remained active on the show with a little extra hair and makeu … for the actor (Dan Wells) who played “Stan,” the thief Andre/Tony talked Sami into transforming herself into.
46. Dr. Drake Ramoray
One of the greatest TV crossovers ever saw primetime meet daytime when Friends character Joey Tribbiani landed a role on Days of Our Lives, playing ladies’ man Dr. Drake Ramoray. Nevermind how hilarious it was that Joey was playing a neurosurgeon… his friends, especially DOOL fan Rachel, thought his new gig was super cool, even when he explained his particular acting method: Smell the Fart Acting.
47. Sister, Sister
Sami, Sami, Sami. She tricked Austin, her sister Carrie’s boyfriend, into thinking they’d slept together when she drugged him. He also thought her son, Will, was his son. But Carrie found proof of the truth at the last minute, and brought it to the church in time to expose Sami’s wicked ways and stop Austin from marrying Sami. Carrie and Austin were married less than a month later.
48. The Eileen Davidson Show
She was long overdue in getting a Daytime Emmy (she finally won one for Days in 2014), because Davidson was playing as many as five different characters on the show, including plotting Kristen, wacky imposter Susan, and Susan’s siblings, Penelope, nun Mary, and brother Thomas (yep, she played him, too). The actress, who also stars on The Young and the Restless and The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, brought wicked ways, humor, and boatloads of crazy to the roles, making her, literally, one of the hardest working women in daytime. P.S. Among Kristen’s many misdeeds: drugging priest Eric, raping him, and filming the whole thing, which led him to be stripped of his priest duties.
49. No, Will
October 9, 2015: There’s no happily ever after for Will Horton, one of the show’s beloved characters, because The Necktie Killer — the latest in a long line of Salem serial killers — put Will on his victim list. Even sadder: Will had just made a phone call that might have led to a reconciliation with estranged husband Sonny, when he found killer Ben’s necktie weapon. Ben walked in just as Will made the discovery, and soon viewers were mourning the young man they’d watched grow up on screen (with a little help from SORAS, Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome).
50. The Boys Are Back in Town
Just in time for the show’s big 5-0, two of the most loved character in Days history return: It’s the bromance of Bo and Steve. Steve didn’t believe Bo had simply left his family behind with no communication, so he went on a mission to find him and return him to Salem before ex-wife Hope married Aiden. Steve had his suspicions about Aiden, too, and without spoiling the soap’s most recent episode, let’s just say it is perfect timing that Steve and Bo made it back in time for Oct. 9’s official 50th anniversary episode… lives may depend on it.
Days of Our Lives airs weekdays on NBC; check local listings for time and channel.
