Peacock
Filming the death of Days of our Lives’s Doug Williams, the longtime on-screen husband who had been portrayed by her late real-life husband, Bill Hayes, was an emotional undertaking for Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie).
Once More, With Feeling
“It stirred up a lot and that was hard,” says Seaforth Hayes. “But the people who are closest to me at this moment in time were there for me standing by. Deidre [Hall, Marlena] was watching [the scenes] in the booth and saying, ‘There’s tears in her eyelashes. I don’t think that’s a good shot.’ So they did another take.”
It is easy for Seaforth Hayes to single out the most challenging scene to enact. “The hardest moment was going into the room after Doug Williams had passed, and there was a body double in the bed,” recounts Seaforth Hayes. “I was talking to the body double as though it were Billy, who had just gone. Now it was Doug who had just passed. So that was hard.”
Albeit heartbreaking to live through such a monumental loss again for the cameras, Seaforth Hayes praises the soap for how well they handled Doug’s death and subsequent funeral. “I was very pleased. Very pleased,” she emphasizes. “The whole cast and crew had my back, for sure. Billy was beloved by everyone. This man never made an enemy. Nobody didn’t like him. The better they knew him, the more they liked him. And I liked him most of all.”
Numerous cast members from yesteryear were brought back for the farewell tribute to Doug, such as Stephen Schnetzer, who portrayed Julie’s brother, Steve, to Maree Cheatham, who played Julie’s aunt, Marie, to name a few “I was excited to see all of them that came back,” notes Hayes. “I was particularly excited to see Gloria Loring [Liz] and getting to hear her sing again [at Doug’s funeral]. We were allowed, budget-wise, to have one piece of music at the funeral.”
That piece of music, which Seaforth Hayes performed at the soap’s recent Day of Days event with her personal assistant, Amy Shaughnessy, and Hall, is the classic “Always (I’ll Be Loving You).” “It’s significant for the show,” notes the actress. “And it’s significant for Doug and Julie.”
Seaforth Hayes incorporated music and singing into her late husband Bill’s funeral as well, and she feels it really enhanced his celebration of life tribute. “The family was great,” says Seaforth Hayes. “The contribution of the people that I had asked to perform overwhelmed me. They were so good.”
In addition, Seaforth Hayes took to the podium and spoke about the man she’d loved so deeply and was married to for 50 years, after meeting him on the DAYS set back in 1970. Although the service was videotaped, “I haven’t been able to look at it yet,” shares Seaforth Hayes. “Maybe sometime I will. I spoke at my mother’s [writer/actress Elizabeth Harrower] funeral, too. I’ve never been able to look at the tape of that either.”
No matter, Seaforth Hayes holds the memory of her late mother and late husband’s services forever in her heart. “Billy had been a member of [First Christian Church of North Hollywood] for 45 years,” she says. “The enthusiasm and the love that he received from that church was in the room. It was a very positive experience.”
Peacock
Filming the death of Days of our Lives’s Doug Williams, the longtime on-screen husband who had been portrayed by her late real-life husband, Bill Hayes, was an emotional undertaking for Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie).
Once More, With Feeling
“It stirred up a lot and that was hard,” says Seaforth Hayes. “But the people who are closest to me at this moment in time were there for me standing by. Deidre [Hall, Marlena] was watching [the scenes] in the booth and saying, ‘There’s tears in her eyelashes. I don’t think that’s a good shot.’ So they did another take.”
It is easy for Seaforth Hayes to single out the most challenging scene to enact. “The hardest moment was going into the room after Doug Williams had passed, and there was a body double in the bed,” recounts Seaforth Hayes. “I was talking to the body double as though it were Billy, who had just gone. Now it was Doug who had just passed. So that was hard.”
Albeit heartbreaking to live through such a monumental loss again for the cameras, Seaforth Hayes praises the soap for how well they handled Doug’s death and subsequent funeral. “I was very pleased. Very pleased,” she emphasizes. “The whole cast and crew had my back, for sure. Billy was beloved by everyone. This man never made an enemy. Nobody didn’t like him. The better they knew him, the more they liked him. And I liked him most of all.”
Numerous cast members from yesteryear were brought back for the farewell tribute to Doug, such as Stephen Schnetzer, who portrayed Julie’s brother, Steve, to Maree Cheatham, who played Julie’s aunt, Marie, to name a few “I was excited to see all of them that came back,” notes Hayes. “I was particularly excited to see Gloria Loring [Liz] and getting to hear her sing again [at Doug’s funeral]. We were allowed, budget-wise, to have one piece of music at the funeral.”
That piece of music, which Seaforth Hayes performed at the soap’s recent Day of Days event with her personal assistant, Amy Shaughnessy, and Hall, is the classic “Always (I’ll Be Loving You).” “It’s significant for the show,” notes the actress. “And it’s significant for Doug and Julie.”
Seaforth Hayes incorporated music and singing into her late husband Bill’s funeral as well, and she feels it really enhanced his celebration of life tribute. “The family was great,” says Seaforth Hayes. “The contribution of the people that I had asked to perform overwhelmed me. They were so good.”
In addition, Seaforth Hayes took to the podium and spoke about the man she’d loved so deeply and was married to for 50 years, after meeting him on the DAYS set back in 1970. Although the service was videotaped, “I haven’t been able to look at it yet,” shares Seaforth Hayes. “Maybe sometime I will. I spoke at my mother’s [writer/actress Elizabeth Harrower] funeral, too. I’ve never been able to look at the tape of that either.”
No matter, Seaforth Hayes holds the memory of her late mother and late husband’s services forever in her heart. “Billy had been a member of [First Christian Church of North Hollywood] for 45 years,” she says. “The enthusiasm and the love that he received from that church was in the room. It was a very positive experience.”