Bill Hayes, actor and singer whose 2,141 episodes of “Days of Our Lives” over five and a half decades constituted the daytime drama version of an ultramarathon, and whose 1955 best-selling single, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” remains marked in the memories of the baby boom generation, died on January 12 at his home in Studio City, California. He was 98 years old.
His wife and longtime co-star, Susan Seaforth Hayes, confirmed his death.
For soap opera fans, Hayes was a staple of weekday afternoons from the days of rabbit-ear antennas to the streaming era.
He began his tenure on the long-running NBC show in 1970. His character, Doug Williams, was a smooth and slippery conman who, after being released from prison, found himself walking through the maze of plot twists, betrayals and big revelations. That day after day he drew viewers to the fictional Midwestern town of Salem.
While his character would eventually abandon his antisocial ways and become a pillar of the community, Hayes initially had fun playing a man with a past.
“You never knew if he was helping a lady cross the street and being nice or unhooking her bra as they crossed the street,” he said of his character in the book “Days of Our Lives: A Complete History of the.” Long-running soap opera,” by Maureen Russell.
The plot point that really made things work was Doug's romance with Julie Olson, a beautiful young troublemaker played by Susan Seaforth, his future wife. They would soon become a power couple in the world of soap operas, both on and off screen.
The couple married in real life in 1974 and their characters did the same two years later, in an episode that attracted 16 million viewers. He also drew thousands of fans to the show's studio in Burbank, California, to greet them.
Such was its reach that in 1976 the couple, in their on-screen appearance, even appeared on the cover of Time magazine, with the slogan “Soap Operas: Sex and Suffering in the Afternoon.”
“It was the script that brought the couple together,” the article said. “Emotionally exhausted by a messy divorce that left him raising five teenage children, Bill came to 'Days' in 1970 looking for just a friend.” (Mr. Hayes and his first wife, Mary, had divorced in 1969.)
“But then,” Seaforth said in the interview, “we started doing love scenes. “It was just about the ball game.”
The pair also formed a touring nightclub act, and Time noted that they were “harassed when they appeared in public,” with Mr. Hayes in particular receiving attention from female fans.
“They treat me like I'm Robert Redford,” he said.
William Foster Hayes III was born on June 5, 1925 in Harvey, Illinois, near Chicago. He was the second of three children of Betty (Mitchell) Hayes, a schoolteacher, and William Foster Hayes II, an executive at World Book, the encyclopedia company.
Growing up listening to his father sing baritone with a vocal quartet, Bill aspired to be a singer.
After graduating from Thornton Township High School in 1942, he enrolled at DePauw University, in Greencastle, Indiana. With World War II in full swing, he enlisted in the Navy and trained as a fighter pilot, although the war ended before he could be called up for active duty. duty.
He returned to DePauw and graduated with a liberal arts degree in 1947. He later earned a master's degree in music from Northwestern University.
Turning her gaze to show business, Hayes made her mark on stage in a national tour of the musical “Carousel” and on Broadway in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Me and Juliet,” among other productions. In 1949, he made his television debut, then in his childhood, as a singer on “Fireball Fun for All,” an NBC variety show hosted by veteran vaudeville act Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson.
In the early 1950s, Mr. Hayes appeared on “Your Show of Shows,” the variety show that featured Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca.
But it was a television show in which he did not appear that gave him the opportunity to record a hit album. In 1954, Disney sparked a youth craze with its “Davy Crockett” series, and the television frontiersman's signature coonskin cap became a must-have for children.
After seeing the show, record producer Archie Bleyer decided that its title track, sung by a vocal group, had potential as a stand-alone single for a solo performer.
“He called me and said, come on, I have a song,” Hayes recounted in “World by the Tail: The Bill Hayes Story,” a 2017 documentary about his life that he produced with his grandson Dave Samuel. “We met that night at 10 o'clock in an RCA recording studio, did one take, one track, one take. It was a successful album.”
The song became the best-selling single in the country for five weeks, starting in March 1955. Davymania seemingly knew no limits: the show's star, Fess Parker, and singer Tennessee Ernie Ford would score hit singles with their own renditions. .
In addition to his wife, Mr. Hayes is survived by his daughters, Carolyn Huff and Margaret Jackson; his sons, Thomas and William Foster Hayes IV; 13 grandchildren; and 30 great-grandchildren.
Over the years, Hayes appeared on other television shows, including “Matlock” and “Frasier.” He and his wife filmed their final scene together on “Days of our Lives” just weeks before his death.
“The last scene I got to play with him is about how much we love each other,” Seaforth-Hayes said in a phone interview, “and I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to hover over the words 'Have I Ever Told You?' How much I love you?' And Doug says, ‘No, you never did.’ That was something Billy and I would say often in life.”
