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Susan Hayes (Julie Wiliams)
Susan Seaforth Hayes, professional actress by trade, is a historian by desire. Her degree from Los Angels City College is in history, and the stack of books at her deskside reflects an intense interest in the American West and diverse Native American cultures. Had she not been so talented an actress, she probably would be teaching today, or writing history books. But it seems that Susan was destined to spend her life on stage and in front of the cameras. Her initial theatrical experience was at the age of four, playing ‘Trouble’ to Dorothy Kirsten’s ‘Madame Butterfly’ for the Metropolitan Opera company. As a pre-teen, she toured with Billie Burke in ‘Mother was a Bachelor,’ and as a teenager, she developed her crafts in the exciting world of television: Matinee Theatre, Lassie, Eve Arden, Wyatt Earp, Loretta Young, Danny Thomas; and films: Five Pennies, Angel in My Pocket, Billy, California. Susan plugged away at her college studies, interspersing classes with film, TV, and stage work. She plumbed emotional depths of TV’s Dragnet, FBI, Death Valley Days, Bonanza, Hallmark, My 3 sons, Fugitive, Hawaiian Eye, 77 Sunset Strip, man from UNCLE, Wagon Train, Perry mason, Emergency, Adam 12 and Ironside. And touched dramatic heights on stage in the Come Blow Your Horn, Mary Mary, Time Remembered and Ring Round the Moon. But when she discovered the exciting/demanding world of soaps Susan was forced to curtail her academic work. Young Married, (2 yrs.) General Hospital. (1 yr.), The Young and the Restless (5 yrs.) and Days of our Lives (26 years!) put a serious dent in her classroom attendance record. This was not without its rewards, however, as the sudsy genre produced for her four Emmy nominations, several Best Actress Awards, a Time Magazine cover, many years of Top-Ten Lists in fan-mags, and even a husband, when in 1974 Susan married her ‘Days’ co-star Bill Hayes. In recent years, though Susan lectured at Los Angeles Valley College and Boston University, here time still was basically devoted to stage, TV and film, including Oklahoma, The Two of Us, I Do, I Do, Same Time Next Year, Harvey, Mattock, Heartbeat, Dream Machine, Wrestling With God, 42nd Street, Social Security, and a 1993 13-week tour of Oliver! In Florida, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur! Also in the 90’s, Susan wowed Birmingham audiences with her “Mama Rose” in Gypsy, toured Love Letters extensively, played the wily ‘Mrs. Rubinstein’ on TV’s Platypus Man, and charmed West Virginia Public Theatre fans in A Christmas Carol, and Cinderella. In 1997, Susan co-starred in the premiere of Bernard Slade’s new play Same Time Another Year; in the spring of 1999, she created the take-charge role of District Attorney Steel on NBC – TV’s Sunset Beach; and in the fall of 1999, she returned once again to add her personal spice to the character of ‘Julie’ on ‘Days of our Lives.’ History will just have to wait while Susan does her thing.
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