“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives . . .”
For over 45 years, daytime serial fans have heard that familiar opening that heralds the beginning of another weekday episode of Days Of Our Lives.
Set in a town called Salem, the series originally centred on the Horton family, which consisted of Dr Tom Horton and his wife, Alice, and their five children: Tommy (a doctor), Addie, Mickey (a lawyer), Marie, and Bill (also a doctor).
Other regular characters were psychiatrist Dr Laura Spencer (who married Mickey Horton), David Martin, Susan Martin, Kitty Horton (who was married to Tommy), Sandy (Tommy and Kitty’s daughter), Tony Merritt and many others.
In 1970, Bill Hayes joined the cast as a former nightclub singer, Doug Williams, who fell in love with Addie Olson’s daughter, Julie (Susan Seaforth). One of the most watched episodes of the show’s history was the wedding of Doug and Julie on 1 October 1976.
The TV wedding was made even more exciting for viewers because they knew that Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth had actually been married two years earlier in October 1974.
Doug and Julie’s on-again-off-again marriage gained the show an increasing number of viewers over the coming years.
By the 1970s, Days was up to date with storylines including pregnancy via rape, uterine cancer, and interracial romance, and the show earned both the cover of Time and an Emmy in 1978 for Outstanding Daytime Drama.
Over the years there have been literally hundreds of additions to and changes in the cast, and only a very few of the original characters from the original show remain.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, popular actors on the series included David Dowd, Alison Sweeny, Lauren Koslow and Arianne Zuker.
Dr Tom Horton Macdonald Carey
Alice Horton
Frances Reid
Tommy Horton
John Lupton Addie Horton Olson Pat Huston (1)
Patricia Barry (2) Mickey Horton John Clarke Marie Horton Maree Cheatham Bill Horton Paul Carr (1)
Ed Mallory (2)
Christopher Stone (3) Dr Laura Spencer
Floy Dean (1)
Susan Flannery (2)
Susan Oliver (3)
Rosemary Forsythe (4)
Jamie Lyn Bauer (5) David Martin Steven Mines (1)
Clive Clerk (2) Susan Martin Denise Alexander (1)
Benye Gatteys (2) Kitty Horton
Regina Gleason Sandy Horton Heather North (1)
Martha Smith (2)
Pamela Roylance (3) Doug Williams
Bill Hayes Julie Olson/Williams
Susan Seaforth
