DAYS: Behind the Scenes, Articles/Photos

[Contessa Donatella]

I call that episode, the one up above,  "The Night Renee Dumonde Dimera threw a party & told the whole town off"

Now, I can't wait to hear her talk about Brenda Benet.

 

[j swift]

Not our usual type of discussion, but colorful nonetheless.

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https://radaronline.com/p/exclusive-sex-addict-annalynne-mccord-danny-cipriani-split-kinky-past-rugby/

The British Tabloids have had a field day with these two.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Wait.. she a sex addict and she seems To be into some kinky stuff?

Where do I apply? Lol

[janea4old]

AnnaLynne McCord has been open about her mental health issues. She says she has/had DID in real life.  Just check her instagram for links to her past interviews.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Oh damn. I didn’t kept up with her after 90210. That’s heavy 

[Contessa Donatella]

If suicide is in any way a trigger for you or if you are feeling doubt about your life, you may want this information:
In USA:  988 Lifeline
Dial  988 on your phone.
Free, 24/7/365, confidential support.
Call or text the 988 Suicide Crisis Lifeline,
or visit their online chat:   https://chat.988lifeline.org     

And, even more information can be found here:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vQ6M_RlrUI_yDiVfbtSZEXB9Dc26YqFntaN8mVOgMz9RsHfv0DVqcwqa8Rm1Z9T3GqaHjPfOX_XEjcM/pub

There is a video on YouTube with the title, Spotlight On Interview, Philece Sampler, ex-Renee Dumonde DiMera Banning Marshall, October 2015. 

    On DAYS she played Renee from 1981-84. The first thing she said in the interview was that she relates to Sally Field, when she said, "You like me. You really like me." except that Philece is saying, "You remember me! You really remember me!" She has not done this kind of interview since 1989. She shares that she has stayed in touch with Gregg Marx all these years. He now does singing engagements & she often attends. When she left DAYS, the show was 2 weeks ahead on taping. She found out her character was being killed off through rumor on the set. She marched into Al Rabin's office & asked if it was true. He told her to sit down. She shares that Lee & Renee both got labeled as bitches but they were just really misunderstood. In the story at first she thought Lee was her older sister, not her mother.
    She tells about this one scene. Lee has left a letter for her. This is how she found out she was a DiMera. Marlena reads it to her. The scene was just over 7 minutes & they did it in one take, no cuts, no edits. This happened to be shortly after Brenda Benet's tragic death & Philece was really crying, not acting. Deidre had to keep it together because she had to read the entire letter. But, afterward, she was having trouble because she too was all choked up. In reality it was all just too raw & too real. 
    The day that they found Brenda, the actress who played Jessica called everyone & told them to come to her house & they were all told, there, that afternoon, because they didn't want any of them to hear it on the evening news.     
    Brenda Benet's 7 year old son had died in 1981. She & her husband Bill Bixby had divorced in 1980. They found her at 3:30 in the afternoon. She had shot herself. April 7, 1982. She was 36 yrs. old. The tragedy of her life touched the whole cast, crew, everyone. I've posted before, here, a tribute Bill Hayes wrote about her.
    Near the end of the hour they talked about Philece's career as a voice actor for animation. She did one of her voices, a little boy named Lester. 
 

[asafi]

The whole Renee/Tony/DiMera storyline had so much more to give. They really cut it short with that Salem Slasher murder. And man, hearing how tight the cast was - gathering at someone's house to break that awful news about Brenda before it hit the media... that's real family right there.

[Contessa Donatella]

When she said that, I was stunned. But, then I thought about it & it was kind of great that they did it that way. Such compassion, such thoughtfulness, and you are right to call it family.

Also, I got a real kick out of the show being two weeks ahead!! 

[JAS0N47]

Yes, 4/7/82, the day she died, they were exactly 2 weeks ahead:

DAY   AIRDATE              #          TAPE DATE

Wed    4/21/1982        4173        4/7/1982
Thu    4/22/1982        4174        4/8/1982
Fri    4/23/1982        4175        4/9/1982
Mon    4/26/1982        4176        4/15/1982
Tue    4/27/1982        4177        4/13/1982
Wed    4/28/1982        4178        4/14/1982
Thu    4/29/1982        4179        4/12/1982
Fri    4/30/1982        4180        4/16/1982
Mon    5/3/1982        4181        4/19/1982
Tue    5/4/1982        4182        4/20/1982
Wed    5/5/1982        4183        4/21/1982
Thu    5/6/1982        4184        4/22/1982
Fri    5/7/1982        4185        4/23/1982
Mon    5/10/1982        4186        4/26/1982
Tue    5/11/1982        4187        4/27/1982
Wed    5/12/1982        4188        4/28/1982
Thu    5/13/1982        4189        4/29/1982
Fri    5/14/1982        4190        4/30/1982
Mon    5/17/1982        4191        5/3/1982
Tue    5/18/1982        4192        5/4/1982
Wed    5/19/1982        4193        5/5/1982
Thu    5/20/1982        4194        5/6/1982
Fri    5/21/1982        4195        5/7/1982
Mon    5/24/1982        4196        5/10/1982
Tue    5/25/1982        4197        5/11/1982
Wed    5/26/1982        4198        5/12/1982
Thu    5/27/1982        4199        5/13/1982
Fri    5/28/1982        4200        5/14/1982
Mon    5/31/1982        4201        5/17/1982

As you can see from the taping schedule, Lee had to be written out of the 4/26/82 episode, so they pushed the tape date of it from 4/12/82 to 4/15/82.

4176...4/26/82: 
Cast: Tom, Alice, Julie, Doug, Marie, Liz, Jessica, Renee, Jake, Tony, Roman, Stefano, Cat/animal. (Lee written out of episode)
Sets: DiMera Study, Winnebago Camper, Horton Living Room, Shady Rest Motel Room, Liz's Bedroom, Jake's Room, Doug & Julie's Bed (Limbo), Phone Booth (Limbo).

Edited January 23 by JAS0N47

[JAS0N47]

Update on Salem Spectator website:

The hosting company of the Salem Spectator website randomly deleted the entire website a few days ago. If you have visited there before, you know what a fun and nice board it was to post on. It was probably the longest-running board that I had been posting on. They had over 20 years of summaries which I think were all lost in the deletion. I checked on Internet Archive and it doesn't seem to have much saved beyond the main index page. 

[Contessa Donatella]

Never thought about it but it makes sense. They would have to write the recently deceased actor out of at least one or a few episodes. It's just so sad. 

Is there no reason stated?

 

[JAS0N47]

I never knew they had a Facebook page until someone messaged me today and pointed me to it, but on the Salem Spectator Facebook page was this post:

"Ladies and gentlemen, I come to you with a humble and saddened heart today.  Some time on or about January 22nd, 2025, the Web hosting company (hostgator.com) that we have relied upon for over a decade arbitrarily deleted the web hosting for salemspectator.com, to include all files, data, and intellectual property.

Put simply, while we could go to another web hosting company and start completely over from scratch, we are "unburdened by what has been".  Nothing of what we built over the last 20 years exists any longer."

[Contessa Donatella]

OH NO, that is so awful. I had a sorta similar experience. 4 years of my life & all gone in one fell swoosh.

[Maxim]

I hate when things like this happen. Especially when it's 2025... and it's shouldn't be happening. And I'm so sad that the internet archive doesn't have it. 

[j swift]

I saw these maps on Reddit and loved them

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