JULIE & "DAYS" CELEBRATE 48 YEARS ON NBC...SUSAN SEAFORTH
HAYES CELEBRATES 45 YEARS IN THE ROLE!
The character of Julie Olson has been on "Days of Our Lives"
since the day it premiered on November 8, 1965. In fact, Julie was the star of
the first two scenes ever shown on "Days." The series opened with Julie trying
to impress her two friends, Carol and Diane, by stealing a mink stole
from Bartlett's Department Store. As they try to walk casually out of the
store, a detective watching the store for recent crimes catches them. The
scene fades to black and, for the first time ever, these words are spoken: "Like
sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives." Upon returning from
its first commercial break (a commercial for Ocean Spray Cranberry Relish), the
detective is questioning Julie. When he asks her what her full name is, she lies
and says: "Julie Horton", becoming the first character ever to mention the name
Horton on "Days." As Julie turns around to give a sly smile to Carol and Diane,
the scene dissolves to an exterior of the Horton House and the introduction of
Julie's grandparents, Tom (Macdonald Carey) and Alice Horton (Frances
Reid).
The mink stole that
Julie stole in the first-ever scene on "Days." Julie (Charla Doherty) is
questioned at the police station.
48 years have passed since those scenes aired at 2:00PM on the East Coast on Monday, November 8, 1965. While much has changed in Salem in those 48 years, three things remain the same from that first episode: Macdonald Carey's voice is still heard each day saying "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives", the Horton House set is still used, and the character of Julie is still on the show.
Charla Doherty and Macdonald Carey pose for a promotional
photo taken on the police station set during the first episode taping on October
29, 1965.
The "three faces of Julie" from 1965-1967: Charla
Doherty, Kathy Dunn and Cathy Ferrar.
Three years had passed since "Days"
debuted in November 1965. It was now November, 1968 and head writer Bill Bell
decided to give Julie a fresh start with a fourth actress. Julie had been away
from Salem since February, living in San Francisco. 25-year-old Susan Seaforth,
who had tried out for Julie in the original casting call in 1965, decided to
give it another try and audtioned again. Fittingly, when trying out to be the
fourth Julie, Susan had just appeared in four different roles on "Dragnet" in
1968. Here is what happened at the audition, as described by Susan herself
in her autobiography "Like Sands Through the Hourglass": "All the actresses
reading the audition scene would work opposite Denise Alexander (Susan)...Julie,
older now, pregnant out of wedlock, attempts to terrorize her archenemy Susan
into having a heart attack. In the verbal duel, Susan survives and Julie brings
on her own labor pains. There would be no screen test, so this time it was
do-or-die in the casting office. Denise and I tattered the scene...I once asked
Bill Bell what he remembered about my performance that morning: 'Your smile', he
admitted.'...Wanting it so much, I felt an almost out-of-body experience when
(my agent) called, this time full of good cheer because Betty Corday had chosen
me and the job would start immediately...I was the fourth ingenue to attempt the
role and everybody understood I was on trial, especially me."
Susan Seaforth: "The Early
Years"
LEFT: 12-year-old Susan with Billie Burke (best known
as Glinda the Good Witch in "The Wizard of Oz") in the 1955 play "Mother Was a
Bachelor."
RIGHT: Susan, now 14, in a guest spot with the
star of "The Loretta Young Show" in 1957.
Susan (then a cast
member of "General Hospital") congratulates Dick Clark on "American Bandstand's"
seventh anniversary, August 15, 1964.
Susan appears as Carol
West on "The Young Marrieds" in 1965.
An article from the December 8, 1968 San Antonio (TX) Light
announces Susan's arrival in Salem.
On December 3, 1968, Susan taped her first episode, # 780. In her
first scene, Julie calls Alice from San Francisco and decides to leave
California and return home to Salem in time for Christmas. The episode aired on
Wednesday, December 11, 1968. Now 45 years later, Julie (and
Susan) tries her best each year to be home to celebrate Christmas at
the Horton house.
Click here for Susan's first episode script, episode # 780, from 12/11/68
The cover page of episode # 780, Susan's first-ever
"Days" episode.
Julie & Alice
Chat
Episode # 878
Air Date: May 1, 1969
Julie's first love interest on the show
was Scott Banning, who was played by Mike Farrell. After leaving "Days", Farrell
would become famous for his long-running role on "M*A*S*H." In February 1970,
Bill Hayes was cast as con man Brent Douglas, a prison mate of Bill
Horton's. Brent was eventually released from prison, changed his name
to Doug Williams, and moved to Salem. After a few years on the show together,
Bill and Susan began dating, and on October 12, 1974, they got
married. Two years later, on October 1, 1976, using the same wedding
vows they used in real life, Doug and Julie were married.
Doug & Julie's First
Kiss
Episode # 1189
Air Date: July 23,
1970
Susan & Bill on their wedding day, October 12,
1974...A trade ad from September 1976, in the form of a wedding
invitation, alerts viewers to Doug & Julie's upcoming
wedding.
The wedding party at Doug & Julie's first wedding, which
aired on October 1, 1976. From left to right: Brooke Bundy (Rebecca), Suzanne
Rogers (Maggie), Rosemary Forsyth (Laura), Mary Frann (Amanda), Susan Seaforth
Hayes (Julie), Bill Hayes (Doug), Frances Reid (Alice), Macdonald Carey (Tom),
Robert Clary (Robert), Edward Mallory (Bill), Peter Brown (Greg), John Lupton
(Tommy) and Richard Guthrie (David).
Doug
& Julie's First Wedding
Episode # 2740
Air Date: October 1,
1976
Doug and Julie broke up, got
remarried, and, in the end, stayed together through many trials and
tribulations. They left the series in March, 1984. Two years later, in April
1986, Doug reappeared in Salem (with no explanation as to where Julie was; in
real life, Susan was appearing as Joanna Manning on "The Young and the
Restless"). He stayed in town for a year until April, 1987 when his daughter
Hope and son-in-law Bo departed on an around-the-world cruise. Then in January
1990, Julie reappeared in Salem, this time without Doug. It was later disclosed
that she and Doug had broken up and divorced. For three years, Julie was a
single woman, dating, amongst others, Victor Kiriakis and Chip Lakin. On her
final contract appearance on January 28, 1993, Doug showed up unexpectedly and
she moved with him to Switzerland. They returned for Christmas in December 1993
and announced that they had gotten remarried in Switzerland. They've stayed
married since then and show up from time-to-time in
Salem.
Susan Seaforth Hayes holds a special
record on "Days of Our Lives." She is the only actor to have appeared
on "Days" for the six different decades it has been on the air (1960s,
1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s). Congratulations to Susan on her 45
years in Salem and to "Days of Our Lives" on its 48th anniversary!
LEFT: The Horton clan in 1975: Bill Hayes (Doug), John
Clarke (Mickey), Frances Reid (Alice), Susan Flannery (Laura), Macdonald
Carey (Tom), Edward Mallory (Bill) and Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie). RIGHT: Bill
& Susan appear on the cover of Time Magazine, January 12,
1976.
LEFT: Susan with Mark Tapscott, who portrayed one of Julie's
earlier love interests, Bob Anderson, in 1973...CENTER: A promotional photo
celebrating the sixth anniversary of
"Days" in 1971. Macdonald Carey (Tom) is
surrounded by
six actresses holding one candle each, to signify each
year the show was on. From left: Denise
Alexander (Susan), Maree Cheatham (Marie), Susan Flannery
(Laura), Frances Reid (Alice), Heather North (Sandy)
and Susan Seaforth (Julie)...RIGHT: Susan and
Macdonald Carey (Tom) promote the expansion of "Days" from a half-hour to
one-hour show in April, 1975. Susan is holding the small hourglass (representing
the half-hour version), while Mac holds the large hourglass (representing the
one-hour version).
Doug & Julie's
Second Wedding
Episode # 3940
Air Date: May 22,
1981
LEFT: Doug and
Julie's second wedding in 1981. The wedding party included Suzanne Rogers
(Maggie), Frances Reid (Alice), Macdonald Carey (Tom) and Gregg Marx
(David)...CENTER: Susan and John Aniston (Victor), Julie's love interest in the
early 1990s...RIGHT: Susan and Bill with executive producer Ken Corday at the
40th anniversary party in 2005. It was thanks to Ken's mother, Betty, who cast
Susan in 1968 and Bill in 1970, that she and Bill met and eventually
married.
Doug sings "The
Most Beautiful Girl in the World" to Julie
Episode # 7188
Air Date:
January 4, 1994
Doug & Julie
Sing "Always"
Episode # 11681
Air Date: September 27,
2011
An autographed photo of Bill & Susan from 2006. Susan has
been playing Julie on-and-off for 45 years, while Bill celebrates his 44th
anniversary of playing Doug in February, 2014. The couple celebrated their 39th
wedding anniversary in real life on October 12, 2013. Susan summed it up best
in the October 5, 1999 issue of Soap Opera Digest: "The magic was
always Julie with Doug. Julie wasn't too magical until Doug came along, and I
don't know if she ever has been without."