Acting couple to show off new autobiography

Jan. 5--For Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes, life is an ongoing love story. Actually, it's two ongoing love stories. There's the one they've played on "Days of Our Lives" for 30 years. And the one they've starred in every day in real life since 1974. If you're a fan of daytime TV, you may know them better as Doug and Julie on "Days of Our Lives," a couple who have stuck it out through break-ups, breakdowns, demonic possessions and even murder. Yes, it's been a wild life for Doug and Julie of Salem. But Bill and Susan have had an even wilder ride. And they've learned to love every minute of it -- onscreen and off. This zest for adventure has propelled them both -- separately and together -- through the sometimes sticky, sometimes murky world of show business. Both have had outstanding careers -- Bill starring on "Your Show of Shows," scoring a No. 1 record with "The Ballad of Davy Crockett," and appearing onstage in nearly every musical and nonmusical theater production out there; Susan loaning her talents to both radio and TV, always cheered by her coworkers as the consummate character actor and performer. But it's the love they've found along the way that has brought the pair to their most recent role -- as authors of "Like Sands Through the Hourglass," a dual autobiography that traces their careers, their backstage experiences on the set of "Days," their life lessons, and, most of all, their love for their craft, their fans and each other. "There's so much written today that is negative," said Bill. "I think we have a positive love story to tell." And they'll be sharing the details and answering questions about that love story in person -- along with some of your most burning "Days of our Lives" queries (maybe...) -- starting at 1 p.m. Saturday at Barnes & Noble at University Town Centre, where they will be signing copies of the book and chatting with fans. Susan and Bill said they were first approached by a mutual friend about writing a book together. "So we went to separate corners of the house in our terry cloth robes and started writing on our yellow legal pads," Susan explained. "We wrote every day, all day, for five months," Bill added. "It was fun. I'd be at one end of the house with my legal pad and she'd be at the other end with her legal pad and after a while we'd exchange them. Sometimes we'd see things very differently." Susan said she learned a lot about her husband through reading what he'd written. "After 30 years of marriage and so many years working together, I discovered that the man sitting across from me at the dinner table could still be a mystery," she said. Thanks to Bill's devotion to saving items from the past -- he still owns all his and Susan's old scripts, with notes on them, as well as all the programs from every play the two have starred in -- remembering the small details and little stories readers enjoy most was easy. 

"We wrote it so that it would be entertaining to someone who has never seen a soap and never cared about them," Susan said. "That's very true," Bill said, not skipping a beat. "We wrote a story that's about life." And while the two have made many stops signing copies of their book -- in Palm Springs, Sarasota, Beverly Hills (to name a few) -- Morgantown isn't just another point on their tour. Both Hayeses have a special bond with Morgantown, having performed a number of times with West Virginia Public Theatre -- from as far back as the days of the tent in the Lakeview parking lot. Which is why they're making a special trip Saturday. In a recent 80th birthday tribute to Bill, WVPT founder and artistic director Ron Iannone wrote, "Anyone who has listened to Susan hold forth on the need for live theater, especially live theater in new places, knows that there beats the heart of a true believer in the art, the craft and the beauty of the stage thing called 'magic time' that teaches as well as entertains. "I don't know what we would have done or what we will ever even hope to become with Bill Hayes rooting for us as we grew out of the tent and into the University's theaters ... Or, more precisely, drawing upon more than 50 years of experience to pass on to the newcomers, and some older, the necessity of actors taking care of each other out there on stage, respecting the audience, being a professional, taking care of the material -- and most of all, perhaps -- enjoying the moment." But Bill and Susan's connections with Morgantown, and indeed West Virginia, go even deeper. Thanks to Iannone's urging, Bill earned his doctorate in education from WVU in the 1990s. He also learned, through his genealogical studies, that he has a great number of relatives in Lewis County, who the couple make it a point to visit often. Even if you've only ever talked to Bill and Susan for a while, it's easy to see they truly do enjoy the moment. Every moment. No matter how far-fetched or difficult the storyline may be. On "Days" or off. "Life goes on, why not experience it?" Susan said. Both agreed their most unusual experience on television so far was when Doug ceased to experience life at all -- at the hands of Salem Serial Killer Marlena Evans. According to a passage in the book, both actors found the scene painful. Susan maintaining that it was, indeed, difficult to watch her beloved murdered; Bill admitting that it was personally stressful, but also hard to imagine what his poor wife must be feeling. But, as can only happen on a soap, it later turned out Doug wasn't dead at all. All of Marlena's victims turned up, alive and well, but imprisoned on a desert island. "We still haven't figured it out yet," Susan said with a laugh. 

"We didn't know until the last minute (that we weren't really dead)," explained Bill. "It was exciting in a morbid way. But it really got people all over the country thinking about death." "It was all about loss," Susan added. " 'I'm so glad you didn't die' is something you don't get to say to someone very often in real life." It's an opportunity many would like to have, however, and Susan said she felt lucky to have experienced it. Fortunately, however, not all the storylines are quite so crazy or so sad. Sometimes onscreen, they just get to love each other. Just like they do offstage, they said. Every day. Even Deidre Hall, whose alter ego Marlena was responsible for Doug's violent death (albeit faux), has weighed in kindly on the couple's first writing effort, writing this review of the book, "Deeply personal, startlingly candid, touching and hilarious. Above and beyond anything ever written about true-life love or the drama behind the scenes of daytime drama." 

----- Copyright (c) 2006, The Dominion Post, Morgantown, W.Va.

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