Bill Hayes, one of the longest-running stars on Days of Our Lives, dies at 98

Bill Hayes, the beloved daytime television actor who starred as Doug Williams on Days of Our Lives for more than five decades, has died. He was 98. 

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of our beloved Bill Hayes,” a representative for the Peacock soap confirmed to EW in a statement. A cause of death was not given.

“I have known Bill for most of my life, and he embodied the heart and soul of Days of Our Lives,” executive producer Ken Corday said. “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.” 

Born in Harvey, Ill., in 1925, Hayes enjoyed success on the stage and screen throughout his career. A talented singer, he made his television debut performing on Olsen & Johnson’s 1949 comedy series Fireball Fun-for-All before landing a recurring role as a vocalist on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows in the early 1950s. In 1953, he made his Broadway debut in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Me and Juliet and, over the years, would go on to star in multiple stage productions, including Bye Bye Birdie, Anything Goes, and Camelot.  

Hayes originated the role of convicted con artist–turned–lounge singer Doug Williams on the hit soap opera Days of Our Lives in 1970. Doug would become one of the longest-running characters on the show, appearing in more than 2,000 episodes over the next 53 years. 

His character’s story arc — which saw Doug fall in love and begin dating Julie Olson (Susan Seaforth) — was one of the series’ most popular plot lines in the ‘70s. Off screen, Hayes and Seaforth struck up a romance of their own, getting married in 1974. Their super-couple characters followed them down the aisle two years later, tying the knot on the show and even spawning a Time cover story about the popularity of soap operas in 1976.

Hayes and Seaforth would leave and return to the series over the course of the next five decades. In 2018, they were both honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards for their work on the sudser at the Daytime Emmy Awards.

In addition to his acting career, Hayes was a gifted singer. His version of the single “The Ballad of Davy Crockett,” which was featured on the ABC television series Disneyland, went on to top the Billboard charts in 1955 and has since been covered by artists including Mary Wilson, Tim Curry, and They Might Be Giants. 

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