This Daytime LEGEND Would Have Been 105 Years Old This Week!

“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the Days of Our Lives.”

To this day, these are the words that DAYS fans hear at the start of each show and those words are brought to you by Macdonald Carey, the legendary actor who played Salem patriarch, Dr. Tom Horton.

Carey was born on this day in 1913 in Sioux City, IA. After attending drama school in Wisconsin, he chose to become an actor and began his career in theater and on radio. He eventually made it to Hollywood and soon found work in countless films, including The Streets of Laredo and The Great Gatsby.

But, he had a special place in his heart for soaps, having starred in the radio soap Stella Dallas before his Hollywood career took off.

When he landed the role of Tom on DAYS in 1965, he never expected it to last, but said he couldn’t find movie work at the time, so he thought he’d give television a try.

Of course, he went on to become a daytime icon and played Tom for nearly 30 years. When he died in 1994 only six days before his 81st birthday, his loss was felt throughout the daytime world. But, his voice and his words have lived on through the first part of the 21st century.

Salem and soaps still miss Macdonald Carey and everything he contributed to the industry over the years and Soap Hub honors him on this day.

For a taste of how wonderful he was as the Horton patriarch, watch the videos below.

Days of our Lives (DOOL) airs weekdays on NBC. Check your local listings for airtimes.