Beloved Days of Our Lives (DOOL) veteran Bill Hayes has lived a wonderful life, and he’ll be the first to admit it.
So it’s only fitting that a documentary film about his life be titled World by the Tail.
“It comes from something I said once during an interview,’” says Hayes “I was describing my life. I’ve got family. I have a career. I’ve had great jobs. I said, ‘I’ve got the world by the tail.’”
To Grandfather with Love
Filmmaker Lee Levin jumped on those words for the title of the film, which is available to view free at.
The project is the brainchild of Hayes’ grandson, David Samuel, who initially proposed it to his grandfather.
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“David started to look around for a film maker about five years ago,” recounts Hayes. “He found Lee Levin and asked him to do a documentary of his grandfather. Lee and I met. We talked at Dupar’s [restaurant] a couple of times, and he began to lay out his ideas.
“We finally figured out who might be interviewed to contribute to it. We looked for old family movies and photos, and old programs and photos from my past. He finally put it all together and did a beautiful job.”
His Career of Careers
The 80-minute film contains highlights from Hayes’ career as well as “interviews with a dozen-and-a-half friends of mine from former shows [I worked on],” notes the actor, including Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Judy Johnson from Your Show of Shows; Shirley Jones, Shirley MacLaine and Carol Lawrence from the Broadway musical, Me and Juliet; and Elliot Gould from Once Upon a Mattress.
“Those were exciting times,” continues Hayes. “Your Show of Shows was the number one show on television in the early 50s.
“My experience on Broadway was wonderful. The day that I recorded The Ballad of Davy Crockett was a big day. That record sold…continue reading on the next page —>
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