Interviews
Y&R’s Peter Bergman Talks 30 Years Of Jack Abbott, His Co-Stars, And His Gratitude
When you think of the world of daytime drama, you can’t get any better than this man. And, this week, three-time Daytime Emmy winner, Peter Bergman celebrates his 30th anniversary in the pivotal and now iconic role of Jack Abbott on CBS’ The Young and the Restless.
To mark the occasion, viewers are in for an emotional standalone episode on Monday, November 25th, when Jack’s sister, Traci (Beth Maitland) hands him the completed manuscript of the memoir she has been working on about the Abbott clan, and lets Jack be the first to read it. As he goes through it, Jack recalls the ups and the downs of his life. Get ready for some flashbacks and have the hankies ready!
Throughout the years, we have witnessed Jack do anything possible to keep control of the family business (Jabot Cosmetics). We have watched his longstanding feud with Victor Newman (Eric Braeden), and how Jack spiraled out of control to a pain pill addiction. As for Jack’s love life, well, that has not always been too successful. There have been many wives and many divorces through the years. But for Jack, it’s all about family … from his sons, to his siblings … to his mother and father, and while there has been often rivalry, there has also been deep love and affection. All of this and more has offered 21-time Emmy nominee and soap vet, Bergman a palette to bring his honed acting skills and passion for the genre to each and every episode in which he appears.
Many a soap fan also knows that Peter got his soap star in New York as Dr. Cliff Warner on ABC’s All My Children, but who knew back then that a career-defining role was eventually going to be waiting for him in Hollywood.
Michael Fairman TV chatted with Peter as he reflects on his time in Genoa City from: his beginnings on Y&R replacing another talented actor, Terry Lester, to his Abbott family co-stars; to what this milestone means to him, to how he felt about taping the episode in his honor, and what life lessons he has learned along the way.
While we have had the good fortune to interview Peter many times over the years, this was an extra special conversation that we hope you will enjoy as we salute the one and only Mr. Bergman.
How have you liked all of the attention that has come your way surrounding your 30th anniversary on Y&R? I know you well enough to know you don’t often like all the pomp and circumstance. However, it’s been great to see you get the acknowledgements through: your own upcoming special Y&R standalone episode that airs Monday, your visit to The Talk recently, the satellite media tour you just did with CBS affiliate markets around the country, interviews with the press, and that very cool photo shoot spread in CBS Watch!
PETER: (Laughs) You know, it’s so funny. My wife, Mariellen said to me more than once in the last couple of weeks, “All of this stuff keeps coming up, and you’ve not made a big deal of this at home,” and it’s true. I feel like we just celebrated 25. That seems like just 2 years ago. But, here we are again. Approaching all of this, CBS, Matt Kane (publicist, Y&R) and Melissa Burton (publicist, CBS) said, “So, what do we want to do? A cake and a party?” I said, “No, no, no. I feel like we just did that. Let’s just go low-key.” So, their version of low-key is somewhat different than my version of low-key. (Laughs) I have my own episode, and have been on talk shows galore, and have done interviews with the likes of you, and everything over 30 years. Actually, I have to be honest, it has been great fun. It’s surprising how much fun I’ve had. Some of the conversations are just about wonderful memories that I have been forced to look at and cherish. So here are a couple insights from that. I was asked, “What did you see in 30 years of tape?” I saw a lot of storypoints that we could talk about, but I also saw all of these friendships that I have made and that I value so much. I remember when I first got to the job. I was this New York snob thinking, “What am I doing in this God-forsaken, cultural vacuum of a town (referring to Hollywood)?” Oh, if only I had just embraced it from the moment I got here. People were probably being exceedingly friendly and welcoming to me, and I didn’t even see it. I was so busy being at malcontent. It lasted for a long time. I kept our apartment for 7 years in New York. It was so clear though, that Y&R was becoming one of those gigs. But, I still held on to that apartment, just in case, because once this thing is over, I am out of here! (Laughs)
Truth be told, when I moved out to L.A, from New York I felt the same way. I was ready to hightail it back the first chance I could. I also should have embraced it earlier. Looking back on it now, what would you have done differently?
PETER: Oh, if I could do it all over again, the first day, I would have sold the New York apartment, bought a surf board, bought a set of golf clubs, joined a tennis club, embraced California, reached out to my cast members, welcomed them into my life. I didn’t do any of those things, and I am a little embarrassed by that because look at what it tuned into. I have joked before that I was dragged kicking and screaming to the best thing that has ever happened to me. These past couple of weeks have been a reminder that that’s actually true.
I remember when you first took over the role of Jack Abbott. You were a recast taking over the part last played by Terry Lester. What I always loved about all of our conversations, or conversations that I’ve seen you do with others, is that you always say that you feel a connection to those performers who come onto Y&R or any other soap, who have to step into the shoes of a character previously played by another actor.
PETER: That’s right. I do indeed. I am their best friend. I make sure I find anyone who finds themselves in that situation and I have a conversation with them; for instance: Mark Grossman (Adam, Y&R) just the other day. I said, “Mark, you’ve been here long enough. You’ve now established Adam. You don’t have to look back at what anyone else did with this character. Now we have to tell Mark Grossman’s version of Adam,” and he did welcome that advice because yeah, it’s a hard thing to do. It’s a hard thing to step into a role that’s been played by someone else before
Knowing that, was there trepidation on your part once you got the role of Jack?
PETER: Oh, yeah. I’m telling you, every prop person, every set decorator, every lighting person knew more about Jack Abbott than I did. It was daunting. It was really daunting. I’d try something, “Eh, I’m going to try this,” and they’d cut it short and go, “No, no,” and they were right! They were helping to guide me towards making this my own, but we do this in baby steps. I’m just amazingly grateful. This has been a time of gratitude, and it has surprised me.
When you found out that Y&R was going to air a 30th anniversary episode in honor of you and the character of Jack Abbott, what was your reaction to that?
PETER: My first reaction was some reluctance, “Is that going to be interesting at all?” and my second reaction was, “Wow! That’s pretty damn flattering.” I’m genuinely honored and flattered by that. That really touched me.
In the anniversary episode that viewers will see on Monday, was there a scene that you did that just either gut-punched you … or made you think about something that transpired over the years differently, or was just so emotional for you?
PETER: There were several that gut-punched me. There were a few emotional highlights of stories, and emotional peaks of stories in there. If I had to pick one thing to take away from it, and this is kind of curious because I was surprised by this. I watched my relationship with so many different people and thought about how they’ve changed or grown. I watched scenes with Phyllis, and thought, “This is probably Jack’s most painful loss.” There is something just inherently oil and water with them. This old money, somewhat straight-laced guy, and this crazy-ass girl from the other side of the tracks, like no woman he ever met at the country club. I watched those scenes, and I thought, “Wow, that is terrific,” and I thought of it from Jack’s perspective, and I thought, “These two people never got out of love. It just got too painful between them.” That really stood out to me. There were scenes that I saw a lot of Jack exposed in. He covers himself pretty well with lots of people. He was pretty exposed for a while. He doesn’t give it away to just anybody. I watched those scenes and there was an emotional honestly in there that was kind of startling.
Jack has had been married several times, and had five divorces along the way. Some of the women in his life have included: Sharon, Nikki, Luan, Patty, Jill, and Phyllis.
PETER: That’s right. There was Patty. Nikki a couple of times. There were a few women, and every one of them changed Jack. The Jack that I watched in the progression of this show… … the Jack when I first got there … was a pretty selfish guy. He was out for himself and pretty much through Nikki and then through others, learned compassion. Jack earned empathy in a way he hadn’t before, and we watched him build a conscience in the progress of telling Jack’s story.
At this point, Jack needs to have a woman in is life that can be one of the great loves and relationships of his lifetime. Do you think he’d be prepared for that now?
PETER: Oh yes. Strangely enough, I think he’s more prepared for that now than ever before. Part of Jack’s problem always with these women is that all of these women paid for Dina’s sins. He expected every one of them to leave. It was almost a foregone conclusion. The most important woman of his life left when he was 14, and one by one all these other women left him.
Is there someone in a primetime series, motion pictures, daytime, the theatre, who would you love to see play your love interest on Y&R?
PETER: Who would I love to see play my love interest? Gosh, I wish I had an answer to that. I think just bring her on. I’ll make it work. I think that’s a side of Jack that we haven’t gotten to see for a while, and I agree with you. I think now, he actually might be ready for a two-way relationship that isn’t all about him, that is based on some truth, that is based on looking out for someone else as much as he looks out for himself. I think he is more ready for that now than he has ever been. We’ll see if they are ready to invest in that, and if that is something they’re ready to see.
You’ve had 21 Daytime Emmy nominations in acting categories, but I want to nominate you for “Best Chair-Throwing in a Daytime Drama Series”.
PETER: (Laughs) You can only do it in one take. They don’t have several sheets of glass, so it had better work when you do it.
Remember; when you did that now classic chair throw in the showdown between Jack and Victor (Eric Braeden)?
PETER: Yes, The first one was with Eric Braeden. My favorite part of that story is Mike Denney was directing it, and I pulled Mike aside as we were blocking it. I said, “Wouldn’t there be just crazy wind at that level, that high up? Wouldn’t the wind be nuts?” and Mike had like three fans brought in, and I looked over, and Eric Braeden’s hair was everywhere. Mine had blown from one part of my scalp to the other. (Laughs) It was this wind storm that made it all the more dramatic. I loved the finished product of that, and I got to have a little hand in it.
And the second was more recent when Jack finds out about Ashley’s duplicity and throws the chair threw the glass at Jabot
PETER: The second chair throwing through a window with Ashley was just pure animal, anger, disgust, revulsion, everything black in Jack coming out that way, and that stupid glass shouldn’t have been there in the first place, but we put that in. (Laughs)
I can’t wait for the next chair throw!
PETER: I’m practicing just in case!
I’m going to name a few cast members of the Abbott clan, and if you could just give me a few words about working with each of them through the years that would be great. Let’s start with Beth Maitland (Traci).
PETER: Beth Maitland, the beating heart and soul of the Abbott family, the conscious of the Abbotts, the keeper of the family secrets, she knows everything, and she’s kept it to herself. A generous, kind, thoughtful, hard-working, and really responsible friend.
Eileen Davidson (Ashley) …
PETER: Eileen Davidson… exotic, smart as a whip, and a lot funnier than most people know. She makes me laugh until I cry. She is at once beautiful and funny, and that is a lethal combination.
Jerry Douglas (John) …
PETER: Jerry Douglas… just a sweet, sweet man who has always had such ease in playing my father that it made it easy to be his son. He was a generous actor that way.
Jason Thompson (Billy) …
PETER: Jason Thompson … naturally cool. There are two things that Jason has that seem to be contradictory. He is cool and at the same time warm-loving and…. just sweet. Kind. That doesn’t happen. There is a cool about Jason that has always been there. It just comes totally naturally to him, and at the same time you see this love and warmth and genuine kindness.
Marla Adams (Dina) …
PETER: Marla Adams, that sweetheart of a woman who loves to break into song at a moment’s notice, just makes me smile, and from the moment she came back is a daily reminder to be grateful for work, to be grateful for this job. She is a walking reminder that we are lucky, lucky actors, and she is a very talented woman.
Michael Mealor (Kyle) …
PETER: Michael Mealor, a 28-year-old man with the soul of a 50-year-old man. He is so evolved. He is so bright, asks smart questions. Michael is a wise, wise man for his age and experience. He constantly surprises me. He constantly amazes me, and all of that with a sense of humor is a cool thing.
What do you think your longtime castmate, the late Kristoff St. John (Ex-Neil) would say to you if he were here for your 30th anniversary with Y&R?
PETER: Oh, Kristoff St. John was always so generous with accolades, with commendations, with compliments. I think Kristoff would look at this as a great thing for me, and a great thing for him, and a great thing for the show. He was just that generous. I miss him on a regular basis. That was a generous, generous heart, and a tragic end to a vibrant life.
In story, and just in time for your 30th, Jack is back as the CEO of Jabot. Billy has resigned, and now upon learning Theo (Tyler Johnson) is family, Jack gets Theo to stay in Genoa City and not go to Paris to work with Ashley and become part of the Jabot team. Will Jack thrive this time as CEO?
PETER: Yes, Jack is back to taking the reins at Jabot. I think that is as it should be. I think it is very hard for the audience or anyone to see, “Wait Jabot without Jack? I’m not sure what that is.” So, yes, I’m happy to be back and happy to be working regularly with Michael Mealor and Hunter King (Summer) and the whole gang over there, and now Theo. Tyler Johnson is just fantastic. What a really neat guy… a young philosopher who is well-read and has this curious, curious mind that makes us all smile.
When did you know that the Victor/Jack feud was lightning in a bottle?
PETER: I think it snuck up on me. Ten years in, I realized, “Wait a second, this actually is a rivalry for the ages.” I knew very early on that Victor Newman’s presence in Jack’s life made Jack a more interesting character. I fully understood that and a great credit to Eric Braeden and what he and I got to establish together (what he established first of all with Terry Lester and what he and I got to continue). So, this enduring rivalry is a now part of, I think, television history. I don’t know if there is any rivalry that has lasted this long on one show … ever.
Which of these Jack nicknames is your favorite? “Jackie”, which his family calls him, “Jackie Boy”, which John Abbott called him, “Jacko”, which Brad Carlton called him, and “Goddamn Jack Abbott” which is what Victor called him! (Laughs) And, there is of course, “Smiling Jack” as the character has been referred to over time.
PETER: I hear the name “Jackie”, and it is only used by my on-screen sisters and so that makes me smile. They call me “Jackie” a lot. “Smiling Jack”, I never fought that, but “Jackie” always feels good.
You know when people say, “Peter Bergman” the words associated with that are: “class act”, “respect”, “gracious” and “one helluva an actor” So in closing, what would you want to say to the fans that have supported you and loved your character for 30 years on this show?
PETER: I am so grateful, and genuinely surprised with the way the audience has connected with my friend Jack Abbott. I am so grateful that they have allowed Jack to grow and change. I am so grateful that the audience always wants to know Jack’s side of the story, and just those things make it possible for me to do the greatest job that anyone could ever have. I have the greatest job thanks to all of those qualities in the people who watch the show.
Share your thoughts on 30 years of memorable performances of Peter Bergman and your favorite Jack Abbott moments via the comment section below. But first, check out the promo for Monday’s standalone episode of Y&R in honor of Bergman, a video shared with international broadcasters and the media of the milestone, and one of Peter’s Daytime Emmy-winning moments.
Petter deserves high praise for his Jack role..
30 years WOW half a lifetime, he is very committed.
but– (always a but lol)
His character is so wimpy..
Jack is a sucker
The best word to describe the Jack character is-
…..GULLIBLE …
The Abbot family is BLAH in comparison to the rockin’ Newman family..
Anyways..
Jack wouldn’t be Jack without Victor who wouldn’t be Victor without Jack.. (figure that one out lol)
CONGRATULATIONS PETTER !! FOR 30 GREAT YEARS!!
Y&R WOULDN’T BE what it is WITHOUT YOU !!
He has such a distinctive look & voice & even though he’s played Jack on Y&R for so long I still, every time I see his face I can’t help but think of Cliff & Nina on All My Children. I can hear him on that show! A part of me will always think of him as Cliff who I loved so much as an 18 yr old, ha. Y&R was lucky to get him & he’s been lucky to stay there! ALL GOOD!
Gloria most definitely the best chemistry he ever had was with Taylor Miller/Nina !!! They were what in those times they called a Super Couple!
He is who you think he is, a nice, warm individual who somehow got to shine in the gloom and doom of Hollywood! Peter, I wish you 30 more years of anything you wish for!
What a classy guy. Peter is fabulous and Jack. Congratulations on 30 years at Y&R!!!
I love him; and I loved him as Cliff on AMC.
Congratulations, “Jackie.”
Watching the episode today, the writers missed a perfect potential storyline. Rather than Theo being the son of a dead unseen brother, he should have been the John who received the heart transplant from Jack and Niki’s baby… That would have made the entire Summer connection even more interesting…
great actor and a class act
Congratulations Peter. You took Jack Abbott and made him your own. You are Jack Abbott. May you have many more years on Y&R
Days Of Our Lives
Days of our Lives Star Blake Berris Chats On the Everett Lynch/Bobby Stein Mystery, Working with His New Co-Stars, and the Last Christmas Episode with Bill Hayes
On Days of our Lives, the return of Blake Berris is making for some very intriguing drama, with the audience guessing just which way the story will go.
When Berris arrived back on Days of our Lives, after previously playing Nick Fallon, he was taking on the new role of Everett Lynch, who has a past with Stephanie Johnson (Abigail Klein) and Jada Hunter (Elia Cantu). Only, as it has been revealed, the past he had with Jada was under the name “Bobby Stein,” who from what we can tell was far from a nice guy.
Blake visited the Michael Fairman Channel for a livestream interview this week, where fans in the live chat were weighing-on what could be the truth about the guy – is he a split personality suffering from Dissociative Identity Disorder? Did the accident that cost him a year of his life in a coma, never happen? Recently, someone set fire to the beloved Horton house. Fans are suspecting it would have been “Bobby” who is working for Clyde Weston (James Read). Others believe that Everett/Bobby could actually be Clyde’s son. With upcoming therapy sessions with Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) about to start, things are about to get more juicy in Salem.
Here are just a few excerpts from our conversation with Blake on a myriad of Everett/Bobby subjects. Make sure to check out the full interview for more.
Did you know that they were going to make Everett Lynch a Jewish character? This is only the second time in the history of the show that they have even had a Jewish character on the canvas. Didn’t they reveal this at the Horton family Christmas episode?
BLAKE: No, they never asked me. I am half-Jewish on my dad’s side. There was never like, ‘You’re Jewish, right? We can call you Jewish on the show?’ At the Horton Christmas, “They made a real point of it, yeah.”
And now the new ‘character’ is “Bobby Stein” …
BLAKE: “Right, and that suggests more Jewish, and then Lynch must be coming from somewhere else, maybe the mother. I was so curious because I think the show has been historically, I’m gonna say, Catholic more than like Wasps. With the Bradys there’s this sort of Irish influence, and then the DiMeras, that’s Italian. So, we’ve got Catholics sort of on both sides that are dominant. Now I, “represent”.
What has it been like working with Abigail Klein?
BLAKE: I think she is extraordinary. We start off sort of frosty, or she’s frosty with me, like she doesn’t want to let me in. And then, for a while things are going really well. I just could not adore Abigail more. She’s such a good actor. I could always rely on her to bring me back into a scene and be there in this emotionally, supportive way.
Everett and Chad seemed to be becoming friend-ish, when all went awry when at the PCPD interrogation room, Everett let him know about Elia and Bobby Stein, and Chad let him have it for worming his way back in to Stephanie’s life.
BLAKE: Billy would call us the ‘disgusting brothers’ and that’s a reference from Succession, because all of a sudden they’re just so chummy with each other. It’s like all of a sudden we just had this like ‘Bernstein and Woodward’, sort of dynamic duo. I think that Everett really started to think of Chad as a friend and feels sort of disappointed, and he feels, “Oh, it’s that easy? I just needed to have some other identity and now you’re a fair-weather friend?”‘
In recent scenes, Jada sees Bobby Stein for the first time, and we see you and Elia Cantu share scenes with each other for the first time. What is it like working with Elia?
BLAKE: She’s fire, man. She comes in hot and she tells you the way it’s going to be. I think early on, we were trying to suss each other out and the more we worked together, the more comfortable you get with somebody. I think actors do this sometimes with each other; if there’s spice on screen, you like to keep some of what you have on-screen in your (real-life) interactions because it helps … it helps the work. Eventually, we just sort of wore each other down and we’re like, ‘I actually totally get you, and you’re great.'”
Did you know that they were going to make Everett Lynch a Jewish character? This is only the second time in the history of the show that they have even had a Jewish character and didn’t they reveal this at the Horton family Christmas episode?
BLAKE: No, they never asked me. I am half-Jewish on my dad’s side. There was never like, ‘You’re Jewish, right? We can call you Jewish on the show?’ At the Horton Christmas, “They made a real point of it, yeah.”
And now the new ‘character’ is “Bobby Stein” …
BLAKE: “Right, and that suggests more Jewish, and then Lynch must be coming from somewhere else, maybe the mother. I was so curious because I think the show has been historically, I’m gonna say, Catholic more than like Wasps. With the Bradys there’s this sort of Irish influence, and then the DiMeras, that’s Italian. So we’ve got Catholics sort of on both sides that are dominant. Now I, “represent”.
You were on set and in the annual Horton Christmas episode which sadly marked the last for Days of our Lives legendary Bill Hayes, who passed away in January of this year. What do you recall of that tape day?
BLAKE: It was the Christmas episode when we were watching Susan (Julie) and Bill, say ‘Merry Christmas.’ And there was something about it that just felt like it could be the last time. I mean, it wrecked us all on set. Bill gets so choked up and there was something really profound about the moment. They kiss each other as they have so many times before on the show. It was just beautiful. It felt beautiful to be there for that last Christmas. He’s just such an icon. Every time I’d see him, he was so with it … he knew my name, he knew his lines. What an incredible, incredible man.
Fans will get to see Everett in therapy sessions with Dr. Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall)? Would you say she is helping the guy?
BLAKE: Deidre’s always making jokes about Marlena, ‘She’s the worst therapist in the world’ (Laughs) I remember in the first therapy session, we almost couldn’t get through the scenes because it’s just so clear that Everett has a litany of very profound psychological issues that he is going to have to work through. He’ll keep coming back. This guy’s gonna pay the bills!
Viewers are waiting to see how they mystery of Everett Lynch/Bobby Stein plays out. What can you say as a tease for what’s to come?
BLAKE: As far as a tease, I would say, you have all these characters sort of, trying to wake up the ‘sleeping giant’ in a way. I think it’s safe to say that like if you poke a bear, the bear might wake up.
Watch the livestream chat with Blake in full below.
Now let us know, what do you think is going with Everett/Bobby? What has happened to him in his past? Share your theories in the comment section below, and make sure to catch Days of our Lives next week on Peacock for more to his story.
Interviews
Y&R’s Melody Thomas Scott Talks on 45 Years as Nikki Newman, the Keys to Playing Drunk, And Those Genoa City Relationships
February is ‘Nikki Newman Month’ in soapland as the The Young and the Restless iconic Melody Thomas Scott celebrates her 45th anniversary in her leading role.
My how time flies! Nikki has had numerous marriages, and some to the same man, battled her addiction to alcohol too many times to count (and we loved it all), and faced so much heartache in the process.
Currently, on all-new episodes of the top-rated CBS daytime drama series, Nikki can’t quite get a grip as Jordan (Colleen Zenk) is out there and in the middle of her next master plot to make Nikki suffer, all the while Nikki is drinking again. Thanks to the heinous plot concocted by Jordan and Claire (Hayley Erin) that revealed itself last November.
In a special conversation for You Tube’s Michael Fairman Channel, Melody shared her thoughts on a myriad of subjects including: her current story, those long tape days at Victor and Nikki’s weddings, why she plays drunk better than anyone on television, plus we take a mini-deep dive into Nikki’s past.
Y&R fans were stunned when the powers-that-be had Nikki kidnapped and then hooked her up to an IV of booze. Just how much did Melody know of the story going in? She elaborated, “I knew Nikki would be terrorized. That’s all that I knew. I thought that sounded like great fun. I didn’t know for a little bit that she was going to fall off the wagon in the process of it. And then when I heard how it would happen, I was thrilled to bits. I did kind of want to have a little leader (or crawl) down at the bottom of the screen saying, ‘Hey, people don’t put an IV with vodka in your arm because that will kill you.’ But, poetic license, I suppose.”
Melody also weighed-in on if she thinks Nikki will stop drinking anytime soon, expressing, “She just can’t get out of this. Then of course, Jordan’s not letting her out very easily. Just when Nikki thinks she is mentally strong enough to never take another drink, well, of course she does, because something else happens. I think it’s also a learning point for people who are watching the show who may have an addiction problem. Now, I could be wrong, but I think it’d be highly unusual for somebody to be just mentally strong to be able to stop.”
If you wondered if Melody enjoys playing a drunk Nikki, look no more, “I do. That’s simply for selfish reasons,” she shared. “That’s for my enjoyment. I take great pleasure in it. It’s fun for me, and just the process of pretending to be drunk. I love the end result. I try not to do too much because there’s nothing worse when an actor is overplaying drunk. So you have to kind of keep it a little bit underneath (the surface). However, sometimes because of Jordan, Nikki does get much sloppier than I normally would play it.”
In recent episodes, it seems that Jack (Peter Bergman) and Nikki are gravitating more to each other, as both are drawn together through their shared experiences with addiction. Victor (Eric Braeden) is not happy that his arch-nemesis is helping Nikki try to stay sober. Could Melody see Jack and Nikki becoming romantic again? “I love Peter. I mean, Peter was my second favorite husband on Y&R. It would be wonderful, but I don’t know if the fans would go for that,” she explained. “They’re so invested in Niktor that I think they would really be upset about that unless Victor did something really crummy, then I could buy that.”
One of the more ‘out there’ stories during Melody’s 45-year run, was when Nikki was paired with Crazy Edward, and he took her home to meet his mother … who was in an urn! You would think maybe Melody didn’t like the story .. but think again! “Bill Bell (co-creator, Y&R) was writing the show in those days, and Bill kept that information pretty tight. I don’t remember us knowing even a week in advance. Maybe, we would get our scripts, three or four days in advance and that was it. You knew nothing about future story, but I loved the story,” she raved. “It was almost Hitchcockian, shall we say. The actor who played Crazy Edward, Paul Tulley was so magnificent and such a sweetheart. We loved working with each other so much, but man, when that red light came on the camera, he scared the you-know-what out of me. He was absolutely terrifying. But then, the minute the scene was over, we’re fooling around and laughing and everything. He was so good. So good!”
According to Melody, the pairing of Victor and Nikki was not something she, nor Eric Braeden, initially thought would made sense: “I was a little terrified when I heard that he and I would be doing scenes. I thought, ‘What, what?’ He also wondered, ‘What am I going to be doing working with that young kid, that snotty kid?’ We had no idea what Bill Bell saw. He had a vision with us and somehow knew that we would have chemistry. It didn’t take Bill long to show us in the scripts why he put us together. Then, we started to see it. Although, it was hard to imagine at first, certainly we knew it worked by the time Nikki had baby number one during the ‘Who’s the father?’ storyline. Nikki and Victor weren’t even married yet. So, we did figure it out pretty early on.”
From her early years as Nikki Reed, Melody reflected back on some major story points in her character’s history, relating, “I actually did like her in the very beginning when she was just a little brat living with her sister and her father, who of course ended up trying to rape her… and she had hit him over the head with a lamp … and he died. I did not care for the stripping storyline at all. Only because I knew that I didn’t have the natural dancing ability. I wasn’t fluid enough to really look good up there stripping. I know they hired wonderful choreographers and everything for me, but I just didn’t feel worthy of being up there … I guess is what it was. Of course, now I look back on it and I think, ‘Oh, I guess it wasn’t too bad.’ Later, there was a strip she did in the Colonnade Room. At the time, she was married to Jack. Victor’s sitting there with some other woman and she’s drunk. I saw that scene recently, and I thought it was great. I didn’t at the time, but looking back, I thought, ‘Wow, that was good.'”
Watch the full 45th anniversary conversation with Melody below.
Now let us know, are you enjoying Nikki being back on the bottle? Would you want to see Jack and Nikki try their relationship one more time? What has been your favorite storyline of Melody’s over the last 45 years on Y&R. Let us know in the comment section.
Days Of Our Lives
Days of our Lives Legendary Susan Seaforth Hayes Talks on the Horton House Fire Storyline, Mourning the Loss of Husband Bill Hayes & His Near-to-Final Performances
It has been an emotional time for longtime fans of Days of our Lives and beloved veteran, Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie Williams). On-screen, the iconic Horton home was burned to the ground in what appears to be a storyline-dictated decision that shocked many. In real life, Susan is mourning the loss of her husband and DAYS enduring favorite, Bill Hayes (Doug Williams), who passed away at 98 in January. Over the weekend, during the 2024 SAG Awards In Memoriam tribute, Hayes was remembered along with other motion pictures and television stars whom we lost over the past year.
Since the Peacock streaming soap opera tapes months ahead of air, the Horton home fire and its aftermath are currently playing out in all-new episodes with more on this story featuring Susan to come. Bill Hayes also appeared in several of these episodes making it all the more touching and heartfelt.
When Julie came back to the Horton home to see what remained of it after the fire, Days of our Lives fans were treated to a heart-tugging episode that streamed last Wednesday, February 21st. In it, newly-taped scenes of a young Tom (Zach Chyz) and Alice (Sydney Kathrann Smith) Horton telling the story of how they came to live in the house to raise their children, juxtaposed with Julie and Doug (and members of their family and friends), surveying what’s left of the beloved house, brought many a tear.
Michael Fairman TV talked with Susan Seaforth Hayes for this very candid and heartfelt conversation to get her feelings on the Horton house fire, and being given the opportunity to have a storyline at this point in her storied career. In addition, Susan provides some insight on what it was like for her ailing late husband to tape scenes at DAYS shortly before his death, what the series plans to do about writing off the character of Doug while honoring the legacy of Bill Hayes, and how she knew she had the greatest love affair that anyone could hope for in their lifetime, which in turn, has inspired all of us.
I was shocked when they decided to burn down the Horton house. Were you at first devastated … and did you know that there would be a big story surrounding it?
SUSAN: I did not know how big a story was with it. I knew that many years ago, another regime had planned on trashing the set and getting rid of the set because nobody cared about the Hortons anymore. It was stopped by one person, and I was eternally grateful for that. This time I thought, “Oh, my goodness! I guess I’ll be meeting people for a cup of coffee at the Horton Square. No home, no roots, no reason to be called in,” and thinking that’s the end of Julie. That’s the end of Doug and Julie. Then, when they began to structure a story around it, I think all of this came up during the writer’s strike. So of course, I was curious to see how this was going to turn out. I enjoyed the aftermath, because in the aftermath, and a little bit before the fire, if you saw the show, I get to talk a bit about the history of the household and the people in it.
In the special episode that aired last Wednesday, Julie gave Leo (Greg Rikaart) the family tree history of the Hortons for his story in the Spectactor.
SUSAN: I’ve had a couple of good long soliloquies about the past. I’m fated to be the character that does that because I’m the one still standing. I must say, I do enjoy doing them. Emotionally, all I have to do is rerun some of the actors and my own family in my mind and the emotion starts to come, you know, the emotion starts to flow.
Julie talks to Maggie (Suzanne Rogers) immediately after the fire. She is upset that the Horton family Christmas ornaments are gone. Fans were not happy that they could possibly have burned up. Thank God! There was a happy ending when they were located and unscathed, or there would have been hell to pay!
SUSAN: I knew that they were in the prop room and that they still existed. But how much they were going to put a story around their loss, I did not know. We don’t get to ponder the plot. We just get to show up and start doing it. I think on this particular matter, something as important as a structure of the original set of the show, there’s been quite a bit of interest. So, I can appreciate that.
I was thinking, ‘Did they decide to burn the house down, because they were finally retiring the old Horton home set?’ What was the purpose of it?
SUSAN: They’ve done everything to make quicker set changes, which is remarkable and very efficient right now. The set designer said, “I’ll be interested in your input,” which was nice. The one thing that I loved that had been done, didn’t work. You couldn’t shoot into it. It was a federal mirror over the mantle. I loved it. The size was perfect. I was just delighted. And then, we tried to shoot it, and because of the roundness of the mirror, you got a perfect view of camera one and camera three. So, it came down.
This is Julie’s project to renovate the home. She’s determined to bring back all the memories and redo it?
SUSAN: Absolutely, which is another nice note to play for my character. She’s determined to make the house something that her grandparents would recognize and still feel comfortable in.
What did you think of the episode that just aired where the show incorporated flashbacks of a young Tom and Alice Horton?
SUSAN: Well, I set it up. They had their own their own lovely scenes. I read them, and I’m sure the audience was charmed.
What do you remember when you first came to DAYS, and you were in that house, in that set?
SUSAN: What did I notice about the set? I noticed that it was a strange shade of green. (Laughs) It was explained to me that that dull color meant that your face would pop on color TV. I understood that. I loved the little window up the staircase. I’ve always loved that. And at one time, there was a model of the house that sat on the set on its own little pedestal, a little playhouse of the exterior of the house. Whenever the house was on (and remember this is when we were a half-hour and practically live, but not live, because there was no editing), there would also be the sound of a barking dog whenever we reached the Horton house neighborhood. We never saw the dog, but I’m sure his name was “Spot”, and I’m sure he belonged to someone.
You shared so many scenes with Frances Reid (Alice) and MacDonald Carey (Tom) in the Horton living room set and up till they passed. Did they get along well with Bill? Looking back, how was your relationship with them?
SUSAN: They loved him. Well, Mac and Billy had worked together before in theater. Mac was very kind to me at the beginning and helpful. Frances was as well. As Frances got older, she got a bit testy. When someone says, “You’re not going to read the line like that … are you?” It catches your attention. (Laughs). I got peeved at Frances from time to time, but her intent was always to make everything as good as it possibly could be. I saw her come back from her stroke. learn to talk again, learn to do it all again. Not do it easily, but to do it at all was wonderful, and the same with Mac. In his last shows, he was very frail, but we’re actors. We liked being there.
During the taping of the episodes surrounding the Horton house fire, Bill was mostly in them with you. How was Bill doing at the time you taped these scenes?
SUSAN: He was okay. He was up for it. He had difficulty moving at that point. So, they restricted his movement a lot. Bill always enjoyed coming to work a lot, and it was extremely difficult for him because he was blind, and didn’t move very well. And now, to do a scene with people who may or may not, have rehearsed with you, who may or may not, give you the exact cue, and when they are attempting to have you look each other in the eye, you can’t see who’s eyes they are, that was the hard part. The easy part was working with him, which was lovely and was a gift. It was a gift from Corday Productions that he was able to work within three weeks of his death, which I thought was super and extraordinary.
That is amazing. Did Bill understand everything that was going on at the time of the tapings?
SUSAN: Absolutely. He understood what was going on. He just couldn’t see it or touch it.
The timing couldn’t have been easy for you with Bill’s declining health, and that the show was going to burn down the Horton home where you shared so many scenes and memories.
SUSAN: Well, it hasn’t been my greatest stretch. But I knew that life would be like this. I’ve had five decades of an absolutely wonderful, blessed marriage and a chance to work and a chance to live in my own home and travel, all good. And now, we’re going to have the epilogue. And the epilogue is the hard part, seeing rapid change around you and losing the people that were the center of your life. I’ve just been very fortunate to have cultivated some wonderful friendships, and to have a wonderful large family of Hayeses.
You do realize that you and Bill were the gold-standard of what we all should be lucky enough to have in our lives. What an incredible, beautiful, passionate, loving marriage that the two of you had. You don’t see marriages like that anymore. We were all just in awe of the two of you. To us, it was the greatest love affair. You got to have that which is so extraordinary.
SUSAN: I know, and it was all Bill. I mean, any idiot could have been married to Bill Hayes and been deliriously happy. The guy was so perfect in every way that you really would have to pick something and blow it out of proportion to ever complain about any of his traits of character. He was just all good character, goodwill, and good humor. I just followed along and tried to live my life for him, with him, and follow his style, which I hope to carry on. I hope to be as good to people as he was to people, and, not be selfish.
I always remembered how the two of you would come to the studio with your suitcases, ready to work no matter what material, large or small, they gave you. You showed up. You just had such great work ethic and you don’t see that as much anymore.
SUSAN: At the moment, it’s hard to find it everywhere. I think it’s probably generational. You cannot get too angry at people that are still holding up their phones in the one rehearsal that we have. I think it’s more convenient to receive your work electronically, but somehow it doesn’t seem quite as real. You don’t have a script in your hand anymore unless you print one up yourself. Sometimes you haven’t met the person you’re working with. Well, that’s not unusual, but no rehearsal at all, that’s kind of marvelously new.
Does Julie lean on anybody for emotional support as she tries to rebuild the Horton home. Who’s there for her?
SUSAN: As far as I can tell, nobody. I’m supposed to be the wise woman, and Marlena (Deidre Hall) is supposed to be the other wise woman. I haven’t had any scenes with Marlena for help. I would think Marlena would be the person I would be going to for grief counseling, for friendship, for all of that. I haven’t seen it in the scripts, yet. I’m still deeply entwined with Chad’s (Billy Flynn) storyline.
How is Billy Flynn to work with?
SUSAN: A pleasure. Billy Flynn has grown a lot as a human being and as an actor since I’ve known him. I’m really enjoying his company and really enjoying doing scenes with him. We rehearse and then we get on other subjects and laugh and talk and inform each other. We’re interested in a lot of the same things. He’s a new parent. He’s really devoting himself to that, to that experience in the best possible way. So, I’m lucky.
Do Julie and Chad try to figure out who set the fire?
SUSAN: Oh yeah.
I kept thinking about how Julie got burned in the kitchen fire years ago and her face was scarred, At the time, your mother Elizabeth Harrower was writing DAYS and wrote that for Julie. Did you hate that story?
SUSAN: Well, I know where the story came from. It came up from something in mother’s own life. I knew the people involved, and I wasn’t crazy in love with the idea. Then, when it was supposed to go for six weeks and went on for months and months, I was concerned. Mainly, I was concerned that my face was going to be affected because of the appliance, the scars, that I was wearing. I was told by a dermatologist, “You’re going to have a little beard after this. Ripping your face every single day to get this off is going to be hard on you.” But, I seem to have survived.
Has the show even addressed with you how they plan to handle writing-off the character of Doug Williams, and how they want to honor Bill?
SUSAN: Only in the smallest way. I had a conference call with the producers and our head writer last Friday. I was informed about the immediate, immediate future. I’ve also been promised that they’re going to keep me busy. It’s a cast of over 40 people. I’ll be happy to show up and to be included.
I was just hoping that whatever they decide to do with the character of Doug that they were going to run it by you, first.
SUSAN: They have, and they have been very sweet about it. I’ve got to tell you, this regime, they have a sign up on the wall now, that says, Things we expect on this stage.” The first one at the top of the list is “kindness.”
Have you watched your work back all these years? I know some actor’s never like to watch the scenes they taped.
SUSAN: I think you learn by watching yourself, if you have an open mind, and if you are not hypercritical, or dismissive. I cannot be dismissive of a character that has given me such a wonderful life. I’m still interested in Julie, perhaps I wouldn’t have been if I’d been on the show for three years and never returned to it. But I’m quite interested in her now, and what she has to offer as a member of this ensemble.
Julie’s ties to the whole history of Days of our Lives from this point on are very important. How do you feel about that?
SUSAN: There are those that don’t care about the history of the show. I know that. I know there are those that only care about continuing with something snappy to keep eyes on the screen through action, adventure, drama, death, kidnapping, missed opportunities, all that, which I suppose that’s what the audience craves. But, that’s not just what the show can do. What the show can do so well is character. There’s a lot of people over 70 who are still on the show now. I’m the oldest one, but I’m not the only one. We’re coming up on the 60th anniversary. I don’t think the show is worn out. And if it is, it’s had a remarkably successful six decades.
Lamon Archey (Eli) is back on DAYS for a stint. What has it been like to work with Lamon as his on-screen grandmother?
SUSAN: I think he’s terrific and visually he is so beautiful, so appealing. I think both Eli and Lani (Sal Stowers) are very appealing as characters. I’m delighted to be connected to Eli as a family member. That was a lucky break for me.
Do you think DAYS fans are going to continue to be emotional in the aftermath of this fire and all the story that comes out of it? Do you think we’ll be touched by what Julie goes through to get the remains all cleaned up for a new house?
SUSAN: I think anybody in America who’s gone through a disaster, and have unfortunately had the disruption of their home, will be sympathetic and interested in how it all turns out. It’s a nice note to play. We haven’t had to do that very often. We just go from one lovely apartment to another without much discussion. I think this is the one set that meant a lot to people. I was very sorry to lose “Julie’s Place,” as it turned into kind of a sandwich shop. I still loved having a business, a tangible place to be, and an alternate place for people to meet.
Upon reflection, what was your favorite scene with Bill? Was it when Julie and Doug got married on-screen, or was it something else that was much more intimate?
SUSAN: I think our last scene is going to be more important, emotionally. I think the first wedding was beautiful, but the material around the time of our second wedding, when Brenda Benet (ex-Lee) came back on the show and Doug stood up to her and says, “I’m not going to be manipulated anymore,” was also strong. There has been a lot of very important times – when Doug was killed-off by James Reilly, and we met in the tunnel of light. That was a day. That was a difficult day, which I certainly can’t revisit right now emotionally. When Julie found out Doug had run off and married her mother, Addie, that was a day. It was a day because, I went to the producer at the time, Jack Herzberg, and said, “Is this it? Am I not going to work with him anymore?”And he said, “Right! That’s it. You’re not working with Bill Hayes anymore.” We were not married at the time, and I thought I was going to go through the floor! That wasn’t a happy day.
In terms of Bill’s final day on the set with you, did you know that it was his last, and what would turn out to be his last scene?
SUSAN: Well, they didn’t know. But I knew. I had been allowed to rewrite it. So, I can’t tell you Bill’s last line now, of course, but I will in time.
What do you think about the sentiments shared by Susan on her late husband, and this storyline? How do hope the show properly honors Bill and Doug Williams when the series writes-off the character? Are you enjoying the Horton house fire story arc or does it upset you too much? Share your thoughts via the comment section below.
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