Soap Hub Performer of the Week for DAYS: Susan Seaforth Hayes

Veteran actors are a soap’s secret weapon – and DAYS has an absolute dynamo in Susan Seaforth Hayes’s Julie Olson Williams. For going toe-to-toe with the Devil – and more than holding her own – Soap Hub presents Seaforth Hayes with Performer of the Week honors.

Susan Seaforth Hayes – Performer of the Week

Seaforth Hayes shone bright in scenes opposite her real-life spouse Bill Hayes – especially the one in which Julie warbled the old standard I’ll Be Loving You, Always in an attempt to bring Doug Williams out of his drug-addled state; but the actress’s tour deforce came once a possessed Marlena Evans Black (Deidre Hall) darkened the Horton family’s Thanking Dinner.

Seaforth Hayes steered Julie through a gamut that included self-recrimination – “If I had listened to what Doug said about you in the first place, none of this would’ve happened, Marlena.” – steely determination, and outright obstinance in the face of pure evil – “Not today Satan!”

And no Days of our Lives fan watching will soon forget that on-the-spot exorcism that rosary brandishing Julie attempted. “I have a power too,” she warned the odious, lying trickster standing before her, “a power that you have forsaken eons ago. It’s the power of love! God is love Satan. And God stands with those who love.”

It may not have been the Thanksgiving that the Horton family – or indeed one that DAYS fans – were expecting, but it was a day that proved that love – unbreakable, everlasting, love – can and will prevail…and so too will Susan Seaforth Hayes and her much-beloved character.

Honorable Mention: Stacy Haiduk

Susan Banks may be recuperating from a self-inflicted stab wound, but it’s nice to know that her funny bone and heart of gold were spared. “You’re my baby boy,” she tenderly explained to EJ DiMera (Dan Feuerriegel), “I’d do anything for you. Maybe even vote for a Democrat.” The scenes in general, and the situation in particular, were all a bit humorous to be sure, but Haiduk managed to imbue it all with the utmost sincerity.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Salem, check out all the latest that’s been posted on DAYS spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.