Sigh. The matriarch of Salem has passed away.
Frances Reid, who played Alice Horton on Days of our Lives ever since the show’s premiere in 1965, died on Wednesday at the age of 95. She hadn’t appeared on the show in more than two years, but she was still officially a cast member until her dying day. (I believe she had a lifetime contract.)
I’ve mentioned several times on this blog that I grew up on Days of our Lives. My mom has watched it on and off from the beginning; I used to look at it occasionally while she watched, and then when I was 12 years old I got more interested and decided to tape it every day and watch it after school. I became obsessed: I’d draw a family tree of the show, memorize the order of the cast list in the closing credits, and for a while I wrote down each episode’s developments on a separate index card. When I was 14, I even got to visit the set and watch a rehearsal. A few weeks later we got a script of that episode in the mail, signed by much of the cast. I still have it.
I’ve watched the show on and off over the years. A few weeks ago I tuned in for a few days, because I’d heard that they were killing off Mickey Horton, one of Tom and Alice Horton’s five children. (John Clarke, who played Mickey for most of the show’s run, retired a few years ago.) I’m sure there will be a tribute episode for Alice soon, so I’ll have to watch that, too.
All of the original cast members are now gone. Macdonald Carey (Tom Horton, Alice’s husband) died in 1994, and now Frances Reid is gone, too, and Mickey Horton is also gone.
It’s a sad day in Salem.
I used to watch Days of Lives when I was a kid, too. My mother watched a few soaps and this was the one I got hooked on. It’s been many, many years since I’ve tuned in, though.
And your story about visiting the set is awesome! Funny, I thought the soaps were filmed in New York for some reason.
For years, until recently, about half the soaps were based in New York and half in Los Angeles. But now the only one left that tapes in New York is One Life to Live. Guiding Light ended last year and As the World Turns ends in September, and All My Children recently relocated to L.A. Days of our Lives, General Hospital, The Young and Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful have always taped in L.A. It’s sad that there’s only one New York soap left — the soaps used to be a great opportunity for young actors to get their start in between theater gigs.
I’ve wondered what will happen once most of the soaps are gone- so many acting/production jobs disappear. Where will young actors train?