Beloved ‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Bill Hayes Dies

Actor Bill Hayes, who starred as soap opera character Doug Williams on “Days of Our Lives” has died at 98.

Hayes died peacefully Friday morning surrounded by family, his representative Gregory Mayo said, according to the Los Angeles Times.

“It is with a heavy heart that we share the passing of our beloved Bill Hayes,” a representative of the series, now on Peacock, said in a statement.

“One of the longest-running characters on ‘Days of our Lives,’ Bill originated the role of Doug Williams in 1970 and portrayed him continuously throughout his life. He and his wife, Susan Seaforth Hayes, remained the foundation of the Williams-Horton family spanning more than 50 years,” the statement said.

“I have known Bill for most of my life and he embodied the heart and soul of ‘Days of Our Lives.” Although we are grieving and will miss him, Bill’s indelible legacy will live on in our hearts and the stories we tell, both on and off the screen,” executive producer Ken Corday said in a statement.

“Bill Hayes meant the world to me — he is simply the best that a person could ever hope to be. He was not only a client, but a trusted friend and mentor. Bill will indeed be missed,” Mayo said.

Long before he came to the soap opera world, Hayes was a singer who sat atop the Billboard charts in 1955 with “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”

In a 2017 interview with