Although Days of Our Lives fans have been distraught over the death of star Drake Hogestyn, who played the heroic John Black, they are excited for the return of Alison Sweeney as Sami Brady. Sweeney and Sami have been synonymous since 1993, and her coming back to Salem will certainly shake things up, especially for EJ, who keeps mentioning her name. John was Sami’s stepfather, and the two had a close bond both on and off-screen. Coming back for the soap’s 60th anniversary, she recollected how Hogestyn touched her life.
Their Relationship Was Conflicted
Access Hollywood interviewed Sweeney and after talking about when she was first on the show, the conversation turned to Hogestyn. Sweeney stated, “It’s so hard we miss Drake so much and I think about him all the time.” She recalled that when the news broke about Hogestyn’s untimely death, she immediately texted Christie Clark (Carrie), as well as Martha Madison (Belle), and Eric Martsolf (Brady), “Because we are his kids.”
She remarked that Hogestyn’s real-life family was wonderful, and his on-screen family loved him just as much as them. After a clip played, Sweeney noted, “Sami had a really conflicted relationship with John. She was so mean to him the entire time I was on the show.” She felt that because Sami couldn’t ever be nice to John, she would have some regrets upon his passing and viewers could relate to that.
READ THIS: Get a look at what’s next on DAYS.
He Was a True Hero
Sweeney explained that kind of storytelling “is what Days of Our Lives has always done: give people something they can relate to.” She also stated that nearly all of her memories of Hogestyn are funny because he would tell hysterical tales. She reminisced about a story involving her real-world clumsiness while holding a champagne glass. Because of her knack for dropping things or falling, people cautioned her to be careful.
READ THIS: Revisit the time John cleared Sami from a crime.
However, at one point, she dropped and broke a champagne glass in a scene, and Hogestyn came to her rescue. “Drake made me sit down, and [he] picked the glass out of my shoes and just jumped into dad mode…into hero mode…and saved me before anyone else could even move, and that’s just [the] tiniest story of like a million of the things Drake did every day to help people.”
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