Louise Sorel is back in Days of our Lives and back to making (not-so) merry mischief for one-time hubby Victor Kiriakis’ kith and kin — and while the late, great John Aniston isn’t around to slice Vivian with one of his trademark putdowns, his spirit is still very much felt…just as it was the last time Sorel put in a visit.
Louise Sorel On John Aniston’s Lingering Presence
The actress recently shared with Soap Opera Digest that, “When I came back [in 2023], I had an incredibly strange experience. They put me in John’s dressing room, and that was chilling for me. I’d had the room next to him, but they put me in his room, and it was emotional.
“That was the room that John had for years, and he was such a sweetheart. He was just so witty and gentle and lovely to work with, but gone. And you just have to deal with it. You have to put it somewhere. I’ve lost very close friends recently, and it’s a horrible loss. And then we go on.”
Always the intuitive one, Sorel cottoned on to the fact that a very special someone was soon to replace her in that hallowed space. The last day I worked, I came into my room, which had just a couch, a table and a chair in it, and there was a bed in there. I thought, ‘Wait a minute. That can’t be for me. I don’t need a bed. I’ve never had a bed in my dressing room.’ Then I thought, ‘Somebody important must be coming here.’ ”
And that special someone was a future Daytime Emmy Award winner — not to mention a beloved Hollywood luminaire — Dick Van Dyke. Unfortunately for Sorel, she never got an audience. “I was finished and gone before he started.”
One thing that did take her by surprise was the exit of onscreen son Brandon Barash, alias Stefan O. DiMera. In a second sit-down with the outlet, Sorel rued: “There was not much chatting. He went in, sat on the couch, and Ivan knocked him out. Then I was shocked because he got up and said, ‘I’d like to thank the crew.’ And I went, ‘What?!’ I didn’t know it was his last day. That was a shock.
“Unfortunately, you miss people that you would have liked to have been friends with because [things move] so fast. But that’s just the way it is.”
Do you have a favorite memory of wackadoo Vivian and her less-than-obliging hubby? Let us know in the comments section below.
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