Days of our Lives Star Deidre Hall’s Fun Crossover Into ‘Hacks’

Deidre Hall took time from playing Marlena on Days of Our Lives to play herself on the MAX series, Hacks. The beloved soap star went into detail about how the part came about and the differences between herself and Marlena.

Delighted To Guest Star

In a recent episode of Hacks, titled “The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular,” Hall — who plays Marlena on DAYS — guest-starred as herself in an intriguingly meta role. The series centers around a Las Vegas comedian named Deborah Vance, who is played by Jean Smart. Hall’s name was dropped in a prior episode of the show’s third season, and then she appeared in person in the seventh episode as the mom of Jimmy LuSaque, who is Deborah’s manager.

Recently, Hall talked with Soap Opera Digest about how her guest spot materialized. “It came about because of [Co-Creator and star] Paul Downs [who plays Jimmy]. Paul’s mother was a big fan of DAYS and a big fan of Marlena’s,” she said, adding, “And so he was put in front of a television set since he was a little kid. When this episode came up, there was a lot of conversation about who would be Arbuckle [another character in the script]. And so they thought, what an amazing move to have Christopher Lloyd [from Taxi and Back to the Future] do it. ‘Gosh, could we get him?’ And then his mother said, ‘Why don’t you get Deidre Hall [to play his mom]?'”

Hall was blown away by the fact that the series creator’s mother wanted her and couldn’t say no. However, she wasn’t familiar with the show but had mentioned to a friend that she would be appearing on it. Her pal, Catherine Butterfield, was not only a fan of the series, but also a friend of Smart, so she and Hall watched several episodes together to familiarize the soap actress with it.

Marlena And Hall Have One Noticeable Difference

Of her part, Hall remarked, “I play myself — [the] person, not Marlena. I play the mother of [Jimmy], and he walks in the kitchen one day as I’m always cooking, unlike Marlena. He brings home a friend [Lloyd’s Larry Arbuckle] and it’s a casual introduction, and I look up and look at him and go [in a seductive voice], ‘Oh, well, hello.’ And he says [also in a seductive tone], ‘Oh, well, hello.’ So we just began playing a whole different level of the scene, which was great fun and adorable.” She was glad that the creators of the series allowed the veteran actors to improvise that scene, and praised Lloyd, stating, “He is just so game, he’s so ready. He so participates.” 

Downs co-executive produces and created the show with his wife, Lucia Aniello, and Hall was dazzled by their creativity, vision, and openness to ideas and suggestions, calling them “masterful.” But Hall stated that playing herself wasn’t much of a stretch, “Because I was playing from myself as myself, obviously, but that’s also how I play Marlena. So you won’t see a whole lot of variety there — except that, as we all know, Marlena cannot cook. And this character is a phenomenal cook. Very cute.”

Hall didn’t actually get a chance to meet Smart during the shoot but previously met her when she hosted a book signing event showcasing Butterfield’s novel, The Serpent and the Rose. Hall also admitted that as great as Hacks is, she was surprised when numerous people told her they loved it when she mentioned she was going to be a guest star, remarking, “It’s on everybody’s radar.”