Susan Seaforth Hayes, known to millions the world over as Julie Williams, was the latest guest on judge-cum-author-cum-internet/TV personality Harvey Brownstone’s eponymous interview series.
Susan Seaforth Hayes On Harvey Brownstone Interviews
As the only actress to appear in each of the NBC sudser’s seven decades on air, Susan Seaforth Hayes could but enthuse about the “miraculous” and “wonderful” milestone awaiting DAYS this November: its sixtieth anniversary.
The soap has become “very important to her in the last few months” in light of the loss of her real-life beloved, Bill Hayes, whom she starred opposite for decades. DAYS she assures “has handled that bad news rather beautifully” and she’s been consulted every step of the way. ” I’m very grateful that the reality of my own loss, and the loss that the fans will experience will be translated into an emotional and realistic storyline.”
Just as she and her husband incorporated elements of their offscreen wedding into the ceremony broadcast to enraptured devotees, Seaforth Hayes’s Julie will recite passages from the same eulogy she delivered at Bill’s celebration of life.
And while it’s no surprise that a great deal of the episode was devoted to the greatest love story that traversed the TV screen, Seaforth Hayes’ storied career — the high highs and the low lows — was also thoroughly examined and she freely shared her opinions on a wide variety of topics.
Read on for some highlights of the alternately hilarious and heartwrenching Q&A:
The most important career advice her mother ever gave her: “Always sit up straight — which I have a tendency not to do — and never look like you’re bored on set.”
On the year that her mother toiled at DAYS as headwriter: “[It was] one of the hardest…either one of us ever experienced. It was amazing. Because everybody knew it was [my] mom that was writing, the cast and numerous people would come up to me and say, ‘You know Susan, that story your mother has given me, I’m having a little difficulty with it. Do you suppose you could tell her? Well, I never told my mother how to do anything, so it was a stressful year — but a great year.”
Celebrity then vs now: “Today there is no safe place to get away from the public. There is no place to hide. And the protective veil of keeping your mystery is all gone…There is no studio system to hide or protect bad behavior…”
Susan Seaforth Hayes’ message to her fans: “Thank you for all the letters, and the good wishes, and the emotional support that I feel regarding my husband’s passing. Thank you for the love, the applause, the laughs. Thank you for becoming, in many cases, very close friends; very close and treasured friends. Thank you for your enthusiasm, which lights up an actor’s [own] enthusiasm.
“Thank you for expressing doubts, fears, love, parallels, telling me your stories, and listening to ours. You are the treasures of a technological age where people can be in touch, can let each other know how they feel. Never neglect that. Never resolve to be alone with a book. Or alone with a good idea. Share it. The world needs it. The world needs all the love you have to give.”
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