Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall (John and Marlena, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) — Day of DAYS 2017

Enjoy highlights from the OutTakes interview with Drake Hogestyn and Deidre Hall (John and Marlena, DAYS OF OUR LIVES) at the Day of DAYS Universal CityWalk fan event, November 11th, 2017.

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WE ARE COMING UPON THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE PASSING OF JOSEPH MASCOLO (STEFANO). ANY SPECIAL MEMORIES OR STORIES YOU COULD SHARE WITH US ABOUT HIM?

Drake: I’ve got a hundred of them. That’s really hard. I loved Joe a lot. He was bigger than life. He loved life. He’d come rolling into the studio; and he’d have Pavarotti playing on the stereo of his car. And he’d be behind the wheel and conducting a symphony and he’d be singing his brains out in that baritone voice. And he’d get out of his car and say “DRAKE! I need to talk to you about Stefano! About something that you’re doing as John Black and we have to take care of this right now!” He’ d say “Drake, I’ve got to talk to you about Stefano and something that’s gone on as John Black” and as soon as we walked through the door of DAYS OF OUR LIVES, he turns into Stefano with the booming voice. And he stays in character all day long until he walks out through the threshold and then he has Joe’s voice. And that is from old school. That you are in character. That’s what you’re taught the very first day in acting, Columbia Pictures 1976 was you will be in character all of the time; and that was Joe. God love him. We just did a scene in the Dimera mansion; and I always walk up to his portrait. His portrait’s up on the wall like this…and I always walk up to the portrait and fist bump him. Loved that guy.

Deidre: I have never heard Joe speak in his own voice. We weren’t social friends and I didn’t walk him to his car. I think one of the loveliest things you could say about Joe is look who chose to marry him. I mean Patty’s an extraordinary woman. She is beloved by all of us and trusted by all of his. She was our head of publicity for a long time. And I thought, “She married Joe! Wow!” That’s high marks.

HOW WAS IT PLAYING COMEDY AS “HATTIE” THIS YEAR?

Deidre: Too much fun. We play so much drama; and I am fiercely devoted to comedy. I love comedy. If we could do a pratfall in every scene, I would be the happiest girl in town. So getting to play Hattie and especially working with Judi Evans…it was irreverent and hilarious. We would sit in the dressing room and just scream. In fact, there was a moment where I met her in the prison visiting room; and I walked in and I said something that they couldn’t use on the air. We stopped; and I said, “Why did we stop?” And they said, “You can’t say that.” I said, “Of course, I can say that. It’s Hattie!”

See the entire YouTube interview with Drake and Deidre here: