Look at that gorgeous cake, and that gorgeous couple — circa 2023! (Image via Instagram)

My mom watched soaps for only a brief spell in the '70s, but I vividly recall being entranced by Days of Our Lives couple Doug and Julie Williams, played by real-life spouses Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth Hayes.

The two met when he joined the series in 1970, were wed in 1974, and their characters exchanged vows in 1976. They and the show were so white-hot the couple graced the cover of Time. Guess how many other soap stars have done that?

I was so grateful to meet Bill & Julie at the PDS gala in 2012 — was such a kick to meet an iconic couple I grew up with. (Image by Matthew Rettenmund)

Hayes, who died at 98 on the 12th, was a towering figure in soaps, and his passing comes within a year of so of many other momentous deaths in that genre, both of legends like Ellen Holly and far younger, gone-too-soon cases like Billy Miller.

Along with his soap roots, he is noteworthy for having appeared on TV in 1949 (we must be coming to the end of folks who appeared on pre-1950s TV), for appearing on the Great White Way an incredible 70 years ago in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Me and Juliet, and for having had a no. 1 smash hit single with “The Ballad of Davy Crockett” (1955).

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RIP, Doug.