The NBC daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives has been broadcast for more than 50 years. For nearly as long, actor Bill Hayes has played the character Doug Williams. He was first introduced to the show’s viewers as an ex-convict trying to make good as a lounge singer.
In typical soap opera fashion, Doug Williams was involved in a series of complicated romantic entanglements. Eventually, though, he fell for Julie, played by actress Susan Seaforth. Then, with life imitating art, Hayes married his onscreen sweetheart Seaforth. Their offscreen romance received much media attention in the 1970s. They were the first “super couple” of daytime drama, landing a place on the cover of Time magazine.
The character of Doug Williams continued to make recurring appearances on Days of Our Lives, with actor Bill Hayes reprising the role of Doug well into his eighties.
You can see hundreds of scripts from the long running television show in the Bill Hayes Days of Our Lives scripts at UW’s American Heritage Center.
For more information, visit the American Heritage Center site.