DAYS of Our Lives star Bill Hayes' wife has opened up about the difficulties she's faced since his death. The actor, 98 when he died earlier this year , appeared in his final episode of the long-running soap opera on July 11. Susan Seaforth Hayes , 81, opened up about the devastating loss of her husband, Bill, in January in an interview with TV Insider .
The couple met on the set of the show in 1970 and was married for 50 years. They played husband and wife duo Doug and Julie Williams on Days of Our Lives . "I'm magnificently supported by all the people that love Bill that I knew, and then all the people that I didn't even know who love Bill," Susan told the outlet.
"People come up to me in the street, I get actual mail from people, I see lots of comments on the Instagram page and the various platforms. I thought I was the one that understood him and love him so much, but I wasn't the only one, and that's been very gratifying." Despite receiving an outpouring of love from fans, Susan has confessed that she's been "very lonely" without Bill.
She lives with her daughter Anne Schoettle and Days of Our Lives director David Shaughnessy. Still, Susan admitted she spends a lot of time alone. "We still say adios around five o'clock in the afternoon, so I fill the next 12 hours or more with other things than companionship," she said.
"There are so many treasures from Bill's career that I'm still searching in my heart for where I should put them [so] that they'll have the most impact and mean the most to people." Susan added that she needs "to finish the novel that Billy and I were working on for nearly 10 years." Days of Our Lives paid tribute to Bill on the show.
Bill's final episode , which aired on Friday, showed the actor and his on-and-off-screen wife sharing a sweet moment together. Days of Our Lives has been airing since 1965. Here are a list of celebs who have appeared on Days of Our Lives.
Fans have been watching Bill on Days of Our Lives since 1970, when the soap opera first introduce his character Doug Williams – a convict-slash-lounge singer. He received two Daytime Emmy Award nominations, in 1975 and 1976, for Outstanding Actor in a Daytime Drama Series. Bill had a regular role on the show until 1984, followed by recurring stints in 1986 and 1987, 1993, 1994, and 1996.
He returned to the show full-time in 1999 only to be "killed off" in 2004 by Dr. Marlena Evans ( Deidre Hall ). Bill returned to the TV show after his on-screen death turned out to be a hoax, and viewers were elated to see him alive and on a tropical island.
In October 1974, Bill married his on-screen wife Susan, who began playing Julie Olson Williams in 1968. The pair has long been considered one of television's first super-couples. They are the only soap opera characters to appear on the cover of Time Magazine.
They were featured on January 12, 1976. Susan has also appeared on The Young and the Restless , The Bold and the Beautiful , and Sunset Beach, which was a short-lived soap opera series..
