Bill Hayes, Days of Our Lives Star, Dies at 98

Bill Hayes, an actor and singer best known for his longtime role on the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives, has passed away. The Hollywood Reporter brings word of his death, with a rep for the series confirming that he died on Friday, January 12. He was 98-years-old.

Hayes starred on the series alongside his real-life wife, Susan Seaforth Hayes, appearing off-and-on from 1970 through 2023, his final episode of Days of Our Lives premiered on December 22 of last year. Throughout his time playing the role of Doug Williams he appeared in over 2000 episodes of the series, including an uninterrupted string of appearances in 24 consecutive years from 1999 to 2023. Bill Hayes would be nominated twice for Outstanding Actor at the Daytime Emmy Awards, in 1975 and 1976. He and his wife were both awarded Lifetime Achievement Awards at the 45th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. The pair also penned an autobiography about both of them, naturally titled “Like Sands Through the Hourglass.”

In a statement, Days of Our Lives executive producer Ken Corday said: “I have known Bill for most of my life, and he embodied the heart and soul of Days of Our Lives. Although we are grieving and will miss him, Bill’s indelible legacy will live on in our hearts and the stories we tell, both on and off the screen.” 

Acting wasn’t the only thing that Bill Hayes was known for either though as he sand the song “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” which was first heard on the ABC television series Walt Disney’s Disnelyand (a precursor to The Wonderful World of Disney). The track later recorded by Hayes would go on to top the Billboard charts. Another version of the song was later used in the feature film Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier. 

(Cover Photo by: Evans Vestal Ward/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)