‘Days of Our Lives’: Peter Reckell Shares Heartfelt Tribute to Bill Hayes
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Following the passing of Days of Our Lives legend Bill Hayes on January 12, his co-star, Peter Reckell, has shared a heartfelt tribute video, noting, “I was very fortunate to share a small part of his amazing history.”
Reckell, who has played Bo Brady on the long-running daytime soap since 1983 (with a brief hiatus between 1992 and 1995), posted the touching video on his website, where he shared his experiences of working with Hayes on set.
“You ever have that feeling where you meet someone and just wanna be part of their family? Well, that’s the way it was with Mr. Bill Hayes for me,” he said. “He would just open up his heart and let you in, and you’d just wanna hang there in his warm embrace.”
“And I was a very fortunate person that I got to spend an awful lot of time with him,” he continued. “I mean, working together, there would be days where [there was] a lot of sit-around-and-wait, so I got a chance to share some special moments with him. I would just try to get him talking because he had some amazing stories, you know, about his family.”
Reckell recalled the stories of Hayes’ annual family gatherings, explaining, “He said he always had this huge, huge family get-together every summer in a place that I’d love to go because I grew up in Michigan.”
Hayes portrayed Doug Williams for 53 years on Days of Our Lives, with Reckell’s Bo being his son-in-law for many of those years.
Towards the end of his video, Reckell started to get choked up. “I get lost for words,” he said. “But he is gonna be missed. Condolences to that huge family of his and, of course, to Susan [Seaforth Hayes, his wife of 51 years] and to everybody who loved him.”
He concluded, “I thought I knew a lot about him, but seeing all the remembrances of his beautiful life, I just was very fortunate to share a small part of his amazing history. Bill, rest in peace.”
