Deidre Hall has played Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives for 50 years, but one story still floats above the rest, quite literally. Her 1994 possession plot shocked viewers, tested the show’s nerve, and gave Hall an image that never really left her. Looking back now, she can laugh about the devil, the levitation, and the strange honor of being remembered for both.
Key Takeaways
- Deidre Hall initially called Marlena’s possession story “so ridiculous,” but insisted DAYS fully commit to it.
- She really rose from the bed during the secretive levitation scene, which took only one or two takes.
- Hall joked that “Deidre Hall: Possession” may appear on her tombstone.
Marlena’s Possession Asked Deidre Hall to Go All In
Hall spoke to People about learning that Marlena was responsible for the chaos spreading through Salem. Producers called her upstairs before Christmas break and explained the twist. Her first response was wonderfully plain: “It’s so ridiculous. It was a lot.”
She agreed to do the story, but she wanted the show to commit fully. “Please do it well,” Hall recalled telling them. “Please don’t cheap out on it.” For a plot involving demonic possession and burning Christmas trees, restraint was never going to carry the afternoon.
That decision helped turn the storyline into one of DAYS’ most famous chapters. Hall treated Marlena’s ordeal seriously, even when the material asked her to glare, growl, and terrify half of Salem. The absurd setup worked because she never played it as a joke.
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Deidre Hall Really Rose Above the DAYS Set
The levitation scene required more secrecy than a DiMera kidnapping. The studio was cleared, monitors throughout the building were turned off, and the device creator supervised the shot. Hall confirmed, “I actually did levitate.”
They filmed the moment in one or two takes, and Hall admitted it was a little scary when the mechanism lifted her from the bed. Lighting and music finished the effect for television, but the physical rise was real. No camera trick rescued her from that particular workday.
The scene became so famous that Hall now expects it to follow her forever. “It’ll be on my tombstone, ‘Deidre Hall: Possession,’” she joked. Ryan Gosling later praised the performance as an acting lesson, and Hall invited him to visit the DAYS set, where her people are apparently still talking to his people. That is quite a legacy for a doctor who usually spent her afternoons helping Salem recover from everybody else’s terrible decisions again.
