R.I.P.: Bill Hayes Has Died

[Vee]

A life well lived. RIP.

[AMCOLTLLover]

Knew this was coming but still upsetting.. He lived a long and healthy life and was phenomenal!

rest in peace 

[vetsoapfan]

This is devastating.

May he rest in eternal peace.

[AbcNbc247]

Not the best news to wake up to. Bill and Susan were so close to their 50th anniversary.

I actually have tears in my eyes right now as I type this. He really was one of those national treasures that you thought was gonna live forever. 

Days won’t be the same without him.

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Edited January 13, 2024 by AbcNbc247

[Taoboi]

+ 1

[reallyhateskateonlost]

Very sad to hear this.

The last time I saw Days was when Dick Van Dyke was on and they had a scene. Dick is 98.

[Contessa Donatella]

So was Bill. He recently had his 98th birthday. They had a cake with his face on it. I thought that was a funny cake! 

[gimmetoo]

So brilliant !  Cleary he loved to entertain...RIP Bill

[Contessa Donatella]

And, here he led them. 

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[BeeLol]

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[dragonflies]

OMG RIP to a legend. my heart goes out to Susan and his family

Wow is this really Bryan Cranston? from the deadline article about Bill's passing

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[jam6242]

It may be.  He told the same story when Bill received the Lifetime Achievement Emmy.

[Khan]

Several weeks ago, I said DAYS needed to reunite Doug and Dougie while they still had the chance.  Now, that chance is gone.

Getting me to cry for two people whom I've never met is not easy...but here we are.  I'm reading the news of Bill Hayes' passing, and the tears are literally streaming down my face and onto my shirt that reads "Keep Calm and Date a Big Guy."  You can't begrudge a man for living every single one of his 98 years to the fullest, but man, does this one hurt.

In a way, it's tough for me to separate "Doug and Julie" from "Bill and Susan," just because the two seem so intertwined.  After all, Bill and Susan met IRL around the same time that Doug and Julie did on the show, and they married roughly around the same time as well.*  So, it's almost like you can't talk about the one without talking about the other as well, know what I mean?

DAYS' longtime EP/director Al Rabin once said that the essential ingredient for every couple on his show was the belief that one loves the other more than they love themselves.  Never was that more true than it was for Doug and Julie (and for Bill and Susan).  All Susan had to do was to look up at Bill with those gorgeous, closeup-ready eyes of hers, and all Bill had to do was to return her look with one of his own - with eyes that remained impish and charming to the very end - and you just knew.  Julie never would ache for anyone as deeply as she ached for Doug, and Doug never would recognize the best parts of himself the way he recognized them in Julie.

Doug and Julie weren't soaps' first supercouple, nor were they its' most influential, but for me and for generations of others, they were its' most gratifying, because they proved to us all that love always wins.

My heart goes out to Ms. Hayes, to her and Bill's loved ones, to everyone at DAYS and to fans of the couple and their love story (both on-screen and real-life) everywhere.  May we all find that someone who cares for us and makes us want to be our best selves for them the way Bill and Susan Hayes always were for each other.

 

 

*We'll just ignore the forced break-up, the remarriage, the second, forced break-up, the years apart (on-screen, not off) and the truncated reunion that rushed Susan off the show in the early '90's.  (Damn that stupid show, lol).

[Contessa Donatella]

This morning early I typed up Bill's description of the first time he met Susan. Re-reading more in their book, it is clear that from that very first instant, he couldn't take his eyes off of her! Their story is a real life fairy tale! 

Real life marriage 1974, on the show 1976, Bill Bell was hesitant to marry them because of the supposed "boring" factor. 

[AbcNbc247]

Tea for Two was one of my favorite moments of the year.