68 Fun Facts About Days of Our Lives

Days of Our Lives premiered under which president?

Lyndon B. Johnson was in office when the soap debuted on November 8, 1965; it struggled in the ratings for three seasons, then climbed into daytime's top three by 1972.

Unlike the Massachusetts town of witch-trial fame, the Salem of Days of Our Lives lies in which state?

Illinois: the soap's Salem is an invented middle-America city, built so that one family of doctors, the Hortons, could carry both hospital drama and family saga.

Which timepiece fills the opening titles of Days of Our Lives as its famous first line is spoken?

An hourglass has opened the soap since 1965, and the actor who speaks the line over it died in 1994; his recording still starts every episode.

Which original cast member played Dr. Tom Horton and read the opening narration until his death?

His introduction originally continued 'This is Macdonald Carey, and these are the Days of Our Lives'; that second line was retired after he died in 1994, but his voice still opens the show.

Which future Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star originated bad girl Billie Reed on Days of Our Lives in 1992?

Lisa Rinna left in 1995 and twice reclaimed the part after another actress had played Billie, in 2002 and in 2012; she was back as Billie again in 2021.

Horton matriarch Alice Horton was famous around Salem for making what treat?

Donuts were Alice's trademark and once her weapon: she fed a drug-laced batch to a wrongly jailed friend, then helped Bo Brady spring him on the way to hospital.

Which actress played Alice Horton from the 1965 premiere until 2007?

Frances Reid died in 2010 at 95; the show then let Alice die off screen that June, after her family had gathered to say goodbye.

Days of Our Lives crime boss Stefano DiMera is known by which nickname?

The Phoenix earned the name by returning from apparent death again and again over three decades, like the mythical bird that rises from its own ashes.

Charles Shaughnessy, later Maxwell Sheffield on The Nanny, spent eight years on Days of Our Lives as which secret agent?

Shane Donovan's romance with Kimberly Brady made the pair one of daytime's 1980s supercouples; a year after Shaughnessy left Salem in 1992, he was starring opposite Fran Drescher.

After leaving Days of Our Lives in 2001, Joseph Mascolo played Massimo Marone on which CBS soap?

The Bold and the Beautiful revealed his character to be Ridge Forrester's biological father; after five years he went home to Salem and Stefano.

Which grieving Salem resident finally shot Stefano dead in January 2016?

Hope Brady shot him at the DiMera mansion, and a police colleague helped her hide the body in a building slated for demolition.

Before Days of Our Lives, Joseph Mascolo played developer Len Peterson in which 1978 sequel?

Jaws 2 put him on cinema screens three years before a Days head writer saw him play a real-life mob boss in a 1981 miniseries and created Stefano DiMera especially for him.

When Marlena became possessed by the devil in the mid-1990s, who performed the emergency exorcism?

John Black, then led to believe he was a priest, drove the devil out of Marlena; when she was possessed again in 2021, her son, a real priest, came home to help.

What pet name did Bo Brady famously give his great love on Days of Our Lives?

Fancy Face stuck so firmly that the couple gave the name to their boat, on which they left Salem in 1987 to sail around the world with their young son.

Which Days of Our Lives head writer devised both the demonic-possession story and the Salem Stalker murders?

James E. Reilly gave up the job in the late 1990s and created the supernatural soap Passions, then was hired back in 2003 to lift the ratings while still running his own show.

The 2003-04 Salem Stalker was eventually unmasked as which beloved character?

Marlena Evans was no killer after all: a vengeful DiMera had brainwashed her, and the townspeople she had 'murdered' were found alive on a tropical island.

The Salem Stalker's supposed victims were found alive in which far-off place?

Melaswen is 'New Salem' spelled backward: a replica of the town on a tropical island, built by a vengeful DiMera to hold the neighbours everyone thought murdered.

Which lounge-singer character did Bill Hayes originate in 1970 and play until 2024?

Doug Williams arrived as a convicted con man who had shared a prison cell with a Horton; Hayes's performance led the writers to build the part up, and he played it for 54 years.

In 1976, married Days of Our Lives co-stars Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes shared the cover of which magazine?

Time put the pair on the cover of an issue about soap operas; they had met on the set in 1970 and married in 1974, two years before their characters did.

Long before Salem, Bill Hayes topped the Billboard charts in 1955 with which song?

The Ballad of Davy Crockett spent five weeks at number one in his version, which climbed higher than the recording by Fess Parker, the actor who played Crockett on television.

Susan Seaforth Hayes, on Days of Our Lives in each of its seven decades, plays which character?

Julie Olson Williams was already a character in the 1965 premiere, played by a different actress; Seaforth Hayes inherited the part in December 1968 and later married, in real life, the co-star who played her great love.

Which actress originated farm girl Maggie on Days of Our Lives in 1973?

Suzanne Rogers, a former Radio City Rockette, spent her first two and a half years in the role on crutches, because Maggie arrived unable to walk after a car accident.

Drake Hogestyn joined Days of Our Lives in January 1986 as a mystery man known only by which name?

The Pawn went to Hogestyn after he screen-tested with Deidre Hall; their chemistry made him her leading man, and he was still on the show in 2024.

Drake Hogestyn's amnesiac mystery man of 1986 was first revealed to be which presumed-dead Salem policeman?

Roman Brady he stayed for five years, until the original actor returned in 1991 and the writers turned Hogestyn's version into a different man with a new name.

Before acting, Drake Hogestyn spent two seasons as an infielder in the farm system of which Major League team?

New York Yankees: the St. Louis Cardinals had drafted him too, but he signed with New York, and an injury after two minor-league seasons turned him toward acting.

Marlena arrived in Salem in 1976 practising which profession?

Psychiatrist Marlena appeared to be strangled to death in 1982, but the victim proved to be her twin sister, played by Deidre Hall's real-life twin, Andrea.

Deidre Hall starred as which Saturday-morning superheroine for Sid and Marty Krofft in 1976?

Electra Woman lasted a single season of 16 short episodes, while the soap role Hall began that same year has kept her on screen, on and off, for five decades.

Kristian Alfonso was a competitive athlete in which sport until a leg injury forced her to give it up?

Figure skating was her first ambition; when a crushed leg ended it, she signed with Wilhelmina Models as a teenager, and that work brought her to NBC's notice.

Stefano DiMera once reprogrammed Hope to believe she was which titled alter ego?

Princess Gina was a real art thief and Hope's exact double; Stefano loaded her memories into Hope so that she could steal art for him.

What did Bo Brady ride into Salem in 1983?

A motorcycle carried Bo into town, and later carried the woman he loved away from the altar as she was about to marry a sleazy politician.

Which actor stepped in as Bo from 1992 to 1995 while Peter Reckell was away?

Robert Kelker-Kelly's Bo was half of the Hottest Soap Couple at the 1995 Soap Opera Digest Awards, opposite bad girl Billie, yet within months Reckell returned and took the part back.

Steve Johnson, Bo Brady's Merchant Marine friend turned rival, is better known in Salem by which nickname?

Patch covers the eye he lost in a knife fight with Bo over a woman; he arrived in 1985 as a hired thug and ended up half of one of daytime's best-loved supercouples.

While Alison Sweeney was on maternity leave in 2005, Sami stayed on Days disguised as a man named what?

Stan was the writers' answer to her absence: rather than recast Sami or shelve her revenge plot, they sent her undercover as a man, played by actor Dan Wells.

Alison Sweeney won a special fan-voted Daytime Emmy in 2002 with what title?

America's Favorite Villain was decided by viewers voting online; five years later the soap's schemer became the encouraging host of NBC's The Biggest Loser while still playing Sami.

Chandler Massey won three straight Daytime Emmys for Younger Actor as which character?

Will Horton brought Massey the award in 2012, 2013 and 2014; a recast Will was then murdered, and in 2017 the show raised him from the dead with Massey back in the part.

Years before Supernatural, Jensen Ackles played which Salem character from 1997 to 2000?

Eric Brady, Sami's twin, earned Ackles three Daytime Emmy nominations in a row; when the character came back in 2012 he had a new face and had become a priest.

On Friends, Joey's Days character Dr. Drake Ramoray was killed off in what way?

Fell down an elevator shaft: the writers' revenge for Joey's boast that he made up his own lines. In 2012 the real soap sent Jack Deveraux to his death the same way.

Which Oscar winner played the Friends soap actress whose character's brain revives Drake Ramoray?

Susan Sarandon played a soap diva who learns from Joey himself that her character is being killed off for his benefit; furious at first, she ends up working with him to keep her character's legacy alive.

Jennifer Aniston's father John Aniston played which Days patriarch from 1985 until his death in 2022?

Victor Kiriakis had ruled Salem for a decade when Friends gave Joey a fictional job on Days, so Jennifer Aniston's sitcom spent years spoofing her own father's show.

On Friends, Joey accepts which fictional award for a co-star played by Days star Alison Sweeney?

A Soapie: Joey loses in his own category, then goes up to collect one on behalf of a co-star, whom Sweeney plays as a fictional soap actress rather than as Sami.

In 2022 Days of Our Lives left broadcast television to stream exclusively on which service?

Peacock became its only home in September 2022, after 57 years on NBC; by 2024 the soap's audience there rivalled that of the service's biggest hit, Love Island USA.

Which program took over the network time slot Days of Our Lives vacated when it moved to streaming in 2022?

NBC News Daily, a live hour of news, filled the slot; the switch left just three daytime soaps on American broadcast television, none of them on NBC.

On December 2, 2024, Days of Our Lives celebrated which episode milestone?

15,000th: the milestone arrived in the soap's 60th anniversary season, the product of a new episode almost every weekday since November 1965, about 250 a year.

Which soap went to an hour just before Days of Our Lives?

Another World went to an hour in January 1975 and Days followed in April; in 1979 the same show tried 90 minutes a day, then went back to an hour the next year.

How long after its 1978 best-drama Daytime Emmy did Days of Our Lives win another?

35 years passed before the 2013 win, and then the prize came twice more in five years, in 2015 and 2018.

The creators of Days of Our Lives wanted a theme that sounded like 'Sunrise, Sunset', from which Broadway musical?

Fiddler on the Roof was a show the Cordays had just seen; songwriters Boyce and Hart had two attempts rejected before a third, built on organ music from old radio soaps, won approval.

Co-creator Ted Corday died of cancer roughly how long after Days of Our Lives premiered?

Eight months after the premiere he died of cancer; his widow, Betty, took over as executive producer and held the title until her own death in 1987.

What is painted on each ornament the Hortons hang on their Christmas tree every year?

A family member's name goes on each one, a ritual begun by Tom and Alice; being handed an ornament of your own means the Hortons count you as family.

Which radio-era soap pioneer was the first story editor of Days of Our Lives?

Irna Phillips had worked closely with both men behind the new soap: co-creator Ted Corday had directed her As the World Turns for most of its first decade, and her protege William J. Bell became head writer in 1966.

Head writer William J. Bell left Days of Our Lives in 1975 to concentrate on which CBS soap he had created?

The Young and the Restless had launched in 1973, so Bell wrote both soaps for two years; even after leaving he stayed on Days as a story consultant until 1978.

Which sketch series ran the parody 'Days of the Week' with Martin Short and Catherine O'Hara?

SCTV played it as a serial within the show, with John Candy as a scheming doctor and Rick Moranis as a dying rock star rushing to the altar.

A 1976 magazine cover story claimed that which Supreme Court justice slipped away from deliberations to follow Days of Our Lives?

Thurgood Marshall was named as a devotee in a cover story about daytime soaps, though he took umbrage at the often-repeated claim that he spent his working hours watching them.

Coverage of which sport left Days of Our Lives years behind the US on Australia's Nine Network by 2004?

Cricket took over Nine's summer schedule every year, so the soap slipped further back each time; in 2004 the network caught up with a one-hour special covering four years of plot.

Which 2021 limited series sent Days of Our Lives couples hunting stolen gemstones?

Beyond Salem ran one episode a day for five days; its 2022 sequel reunited Peter Reckell and Kristian Alfonso in the roles that had made them a supercouple.

What was the title of the holiday film Days of Our Lives released for streaming in December 2021?

A Very Salem Christmas follows Sami's son, a screenwriter racing a Christmas Eve deadline, who turns his own family and friends into the cast of a feel-good holiday movie.

Which villain buried Dr. Carly Manning alive in the shocking 1993 storyline?

Vivian Alamain used herbs to put her rival into a death-like coma, had her buried, and then taunted her through a speaker when she woke underground.

Eileen Davidson played several look-alike characters on Days of Our Lives; which one bore the baby EJ for Stefano DiMera?

Susan Banks was hired because she was Kristen's double: Kristen had miscarried in secret and needed a baby to pass off as her own, and the boy, named for Elvis, grew up to be EJ DiMera.

Which 1990 Days of Our Lives storyline trapped Ernesto Toscano's enemies at sea?

The Cruise of Deception ended with the ship destroyed and its passengers cast up on Toscano's island, where Jack and Jennifer first became lovers.

Which classic film did Bo and Hope's 1984 plantation storyline pay homage to, timed for the Olympics?

They dressed as Scarlett and Rhett to keep viewers tuned in while ABC's soaps were pre-empted for the 1984 Games.

Which character arrived on Days of Our Lives in 2011 as Justin and Adrienne's openly gay son?

Sonny Kiriakis, played by Freddie Smith, arrived already out and confident. His friendship with Will Horton led Will to face his own sexuality, and the two married in April 2014.

Corday Productions sued which co-producer of Days of Our Lives in 2019, alleging it favoured a rival soap?

Sony Pictures Television. Corday sought over $20 million, saying its partner starved Days of overseas sales to protect a soap Sony owned outright, and left Corday to absorb the yearly deficits.

Which Days of Our Lives actress, cast as Nicole Walker in 1998, sued Corday Productions and Albert Alarr in 2024?

Arianne Zucker alleged harassment by Alarr and retaliation by the producers. He had been fired in 2023 after an investigation, and the suit was settled in October 2025.

On Days of Our Lives, Jack Deveraux kidnapped Jennifer Horton from her own wedding and drove her away in what?

A fire engine. Jack had refused to fight for Jennifer until the day she was to marry Emilio; he then took her to a cabin outside town, where she waited in vain for him to say he loved her.

Which fictional soap, whose opening echoes Days of Our Lives, cast Moe in The Simpsons episode 'Pygmoelian'?

It Never Ends opens with a narrator intoning 'Like the cleaning of a house, it never ends.' Moe plays Dr. Tad Winslow until he reads that the character is to be killed off and reveals the future plots on air.

A 1998 magazine profile said which newsmaker's high school yearbook page included a tribute to Days of Our Lives?

Monica Lewinsky. The profile, headlined 'The Days of Her Life', said her senior yearbook page mixed quotes from Wordsworth and Ezra Pound with a paean to her favourite soap.

On Days of Our Lives, which Salem hangout did Shawn and Caroline open after their fish market collapsed?

The Brady Pub. Shawn suffered a heart attack when the fish market failed, and the pub he and Caroline opened became the family's second home, with the couple living upstairs.

Which future Pretty Little Liars star played teenage Abigail on Days of Our Lives from 2004 to 2007?

Ashley Benson says she quit the soap because its producers would not let her make the cheerleading film Bring It On: In It to Win It; Pretty Little Liars followed three years later.

Which Brady moved back to Salem with husband Austin Reed in Days of Our Lives' 2011 reboot?

Carrie Brady came home from Zurich for the relaunch, nearly wrecked her marriage by falling for Rafe, and within a year had moved back to Switzerland, pregnant with Austin's child.