Daytime TV Performers of the Week: Susan Seaforth Hayes & Maree Cheatham Celebrate the Horton Family as ‘DAYS’ Turns 60

Days of our Lives pulled out all the stops to make sure that the show’s 60th anniversary week tugged on all our heartstrings. The week began, appropriately, with original cast member Maree Cheatham reprising her role as Marie Horton, and her niece, Julie Olson Williams, played by Susan Seaforth Hayes, who joined the show in 1968.

The two women sat down with Tate (Leo Howard) and Holly (Ashley Puzemis) to give the couple a history of their family, as the Dr. Tom Horton (the late Macdonald Carey) free clinic was going to be celebrated later in the week.

Cheatham played the part of Marie for about the first eight years of the show. Her next appearance came 21 years later, and she’s returned for family events over the years ever since. But no matter how long Marie’s been off the canvas, Cheatham picks right up where the character left off. She is fully immersed in Marie’s backstory, and the Horton family.

“So many memories,” Marie wistfully recalled, holding a photo of her late parents, Tom and Alice (Frances Reid). “In some ways, it feels like a lifetime ago. And, then, in other ways, it feels like it was just yesterday Mom and Dad were standing right here, right here on this spot.”

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Next, Marie recounted encountering her brother Tommy (John Lupton), who had amnesia and plastic surgery (!), when he went by the name Dr. Mark Brooks. She shared with Tate and Holly that nobody in the family knew about Tommy’s predicament, but confessed that she had fallen for her brother, not knowing his true identity.

Performances like Cheatham and Seaforth Hayes’s are unique to the world of daytime drama. This isn’t a nighttime show or a movie in which past events are referenced or shown in a newly created “flashback.” DAYS brought the receipts in the form of actual scenes that aired decades ago.

Cheatham brought just enough wistful sadness to the tragic irony Maire experienced when she fell for her own brother. It was long ago, but the pain that followed was clearly still a part of Marie’s makeup.

Some family secrets were a bit too personal to share with Holly and Tate. After the duo left, Marie and Julie gently explained to Jeremy Horton (Michael Roark) about his grandfather, Bill (Ed Mallory), forcing himself on Dr. Laura Spencer (Susan Flannery), his grandmother, who later married Mickey (John Clarke), Bill’s brother. For years, Mickey believed that Michael was his son.

“The truth did not come out for years,” Julie compassionately informed Jeremy. “It almost tore the family apart.”

The Bill/Laura/Mickey triangle, specifically how it related to Michael’s paternity, was one of DAYS‘s most popular storylines, eventually driving to the show to the top of the ratings.

Seaforth Hayes’s Julie and Cheatham’s Marie weren’t simply recapping expository dialogue. Their characters were emotionally recalling one of the Horton family’s darkest secrets. The fact that the characters are played by the same actors who were on the show at the time gave the modern scenes extra gravitas.

Julie and Marie told the full story, pointing out that Bill and Laura were later married, and Mickey found happiness with Maggie (Suzanne Rogers).

“You know, Jeremy, all families have secrets, even the best of families,” Julie said with a heartfelt tone to her voice. “You learn and you grow, and you find out in time that it’s not about sweeping things under the rug. It’s about not letting the past define you as you move forward with your life, Jeremy.”

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Mid-week, the walk down memory lane continued as Julie recalled to Maggie the popular ’70s storyline in which her beloved Doug (Seaforth Hayes’ late real-life husband Bill Hayes) wed her mother, Addie (Patricia Barry).

Such romantic entanglements within families are commonplace on today’s soaps, but the Julie/Doug/Addie story was as groundbreaking as it was scandalous back in the 1970s. “I thought that that was the worst day of my life,” lamented Julie as the flashback in which she learned Doug and Addie had wed cut back to the present. “I was wrong.”

Later, Addie conquered leukemia, but she succumbed to injuries after being hit by a car. Julie ended up becoming her half-sister Hope’s (Kristian Alfonso) step-mother after she wed a widowed Doug. “Who would have thought out of such great tragedy would come such great love,” Julie noted.

In the next flashback shown, Doug asked Julie to marry him, and she heartily accepted. Back to the present, Maggie commented that Doug and Julie were soulmates.

“We still are,” Julie simply said. “His love, his spirit. That’s all that keeps me going…he’s still a part of me. The best part of me. That’s never going to change.”

Any time Julie speaks of Doug, viewers know that it’s also Seaforth Hayes speaking of Hayes. Her performance is a heartfelt reminder that death may end a life, but not a relationship.

At the end of the week, Julie and Marie joined the rest of the Horton family at the dedication of the Dr. Tom Horton Free Clinic. Cheatham’s Marie took to the podium, and with heart and humor, she honored her Tom, not only as a doctor, but as a father. Julie, likewise, paid tribute to Tom.

“In times of need, you will all have a safe haven, where you will find healing, stability, safety, and, most of all, kindness,” shared Julie, referring to the clinic, “the qualities that my grandmother, and my mother [Addie], and my grandfather treasured most. God bless you!”

While Julie was talking about the Tom Horton Free Clinic, Seaforth Hayes was also describing the feeling that viewers have for Days of our Lives. Brava to Cheatham and Seaforth Hayes their heartfelt performances!

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