With nearly 50 years of storylines and moments to choose from, it seems almost impossible to name one favorite Days of our Lives moment. But in celebration of the NBC soap's upcoming golden anniversary, several of the show's most popular stars have tried.
"Mickey had promised Maggie that, if she got out of that hospital bed and was able to walk, he would take her dancing -- and he gave her a beautiful pair of red shoes to get her motivated," Rogers told TV Insider of the scene. "I think that's when the audience fell in love with Maggie. Mickey was established from the beginning of the show -- the fans adored him -- and suddenly he has amnesia and he's in love with this crippled girl who lived on a farm. Would Maggie be accepted by the viewers? Those were the days when the show was just half an hour long and only had a core group of actors, maybe 10 or 12. It was really rare to bring on anyone new. In fact, a new face on DAYS was a very big deal!"
"She wants to take care of him -- which means touching his face and taking off that patch -- but he's thinking, 'Oh, no you don't! Back off, baby! You're not looking under there! Nobody looks under there!'" the actor recalls. "But Kayla was persistent and what she saw didn't gross her out or make her scream and run. She accepts Steve completely, and there's nothing more romantic than that."
As fans may recall, the camera never actually showed what was under the patch. "The producers would never go for anything gory or grisly, or showing the eyelid sewn shut or anything like that," Nichols says. "After all that mysterious buildup, it would have to be something pretty horrible. Better that we used our imaginations. Besides, that scene was all about Kayla's reaction to what she was seeing. And Mary Beth's performance was -- as always -- absolutely extraordinary."
Thus, she chose three: the 1984 scene of Hope and Bo (Peter Reckell) at Oak Alley Plantation, her 1998 Princess Gina scenes, and Zack's death in 2006. "I consider [them all] a great gift," she says.
"It was the first time DAYS gave me anything serious to do," Dattilo recalls. "I had to be super-dramatic in front of most of the cast and I really wasn't sure if I could pull it off. Up until then, I was the funny guy with the one-line zingers, the amateur who occasionally managed to steal a scene... I remember getting that script and seeing Lucas' lines -- 'I did it! I killed Franco!' -- and thinking, 'Man, this is great!' But my next thought was, 'Damn, I hope this confession doesn't mean I'm leaving the show!' But Lucas couldn't let Sami die. She was the love of his life and she always will be."
Langan was able to juggle the shooting schedule, hoping to capture the inferno in one take. "It was epic," Hall recalls. "We had the fire marshals there, extinguishers at the ready, and everyone but me and the minimal crew were ordered off the stage. So the church goes up in flames, I stand there with my arms spread out in triumph, enjoying the evil glory of it all, and the whole time I'm listening so hard for Tom to say, 'We have it.' I'm, like, 'Tom, please say it, please say it! And finally he does. 'We have it!' And, without missing a beat, I leaped over everything in the way, ran to my dressing room, grabbed my bag, and headed off to the hospital in my fire-retardant clothes. And, yes, I got there in time for the birth of my son. A happy ending!"
What has been your all-time favorite DAYS moment? Did any of the stars' picks surprise you? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below, on our message boards, or by submitting Feedback.
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