Daily Drama News Nuggets: Alison Sweeney Talks Drake Hogestyn and DAYS Milestone, Tamara Tunie to Belt a Tune On BTG, and More

Alison Sweeney’s Hurricane Sami will soon touch down in Salem, bringing with her all the requisite drama Days of our Lives fans demand. While cooling her heels behind-the-scenes at the sudser’s 60th season photo shoot, the actress spoke with Access Hollywood about the momentous milestone and reflected on the passing of Drake Hogestyn (John Black).

Daily Drama News: Alison Sweeney On Drake Hogestyn And DAYS Milestone

“It’s so hard. We miss Drake so much and I think about him all the time. When we first found out, the first person I texted was Christie Clark, who plays Carrie, and I texted Martha Madison who plays Belle, and Eric Martsolf who plays Brady, because we are his ‘kids.’ His real-life family is so beautiful. Victoria [Hogestyn’s spouse] and his children are just incredible people, but we felt that way, too.

“Sami had a really conflicted relationship with John. She was so mean to him the entire time I was on the show. They kind of made up, but Sami was never nice to him. I think that’s something people identify with, and that’s regret. Hopefully, and this is what Days of our Lives has always done – it gives people something they can relate to.”

On the subject of DAYS Diamond Anniversary, a teary-eyed Sweeney offered: “It makes me emotional that I am here celebrating the shows 60th anniversary. It blows my mind.”

In related news: Sweeney announced on Instagram that she’ll be starring opposite As the World Turns grad Ashley Williams in an upcoming project:

Daily Drama News Nuggets

* Ahead of her (Off)Broadway debut in the Joy Behar helmed My First Ex-Husband, Susan Lucci (ex-Erica Kane, All My Children) made the talk show rounds and taught Good Morning America‘s Michael Strahan a lesson in the fine art of the soap opera soak:

* Vernee Watson (Stella Henry, General Hospital) stays booked and busy, which is good for her purse, but not so much when it comes to her alter-ego’s love life.

The actress recently revealed to Soaps.sheknows that, “We had talked about this guy in Europe… me falling in love with somebody while I was in Europe. But I was working so much on Bob Hearts Abishola that we couldn’t develop it.”

And then there was the time TPTB were thinking about pairing Stella with her sister’s husband. “But I just thought that morally, I would never do that as Stella.”

But hope still springs eternal — and Watson isn’t asking for much when it comes to a hypothetical leading man.“He better be cute, whoever it is. I think Stella would enjoy that.” Make that cute and conflict-inducing.

“If it’s somebody that Curtis has a problem with or doesn’t trust or something, I think that would be interesting. There have to be problems, like maybe I find out that he has a wife somewhere or some kids that I didn’t know about or something. If there wasn’t drama, there wouldn’t be a soap opera.” Too true. Too true!

* During a recent sitdown with TVLine‘s Andy Swift, Tamara Tunie (Anita Dupree) teased that fans will indeed hear her sing in upcoming episodes of Beyond The Gates. The news that she’d actually be required to belt some standards was broken to Tunie after she signed on the dotted line, necessitating the leading lady to dust off “the chops.”

Tunie’s play daughter, Daphnée Duplaix AKA Nicole Dupree offered: “I might be the only person on the show who doesn’t sing professionally. Everybody is amazing,” prompting Tunie to add: “Not everybody.”

You can view the full exchange via the embed below:

Meanwhile, Karen Huger, ‘The Grande Dame’ of The Real Housewives of Potomac and a recent BTG special guest star — she’s the country club patron who snappishly welcomed Hayley to Fairmont Crest — was officially sentenced to two years in prison, with one year suspended, and placed on five years probation for her ongoing drunk driving case. For details of the March 2024 incident, click HERE.

* A very happy (slightly belated) birthday to pioneering gabfest hostess Sally Jessy Raphael, who turned 90 on February 25 As noted by People, Raphael was the first female to host an audience-participation, issue-drive talk show, beating Oprah Winfrey by nearly three years. The eponymous talker aired from 1983 to 2002.