Exclusive: Matthew Ashford On DAYS’s Doug Tribute, Reconnecting With Melissa Reeves

Fan favorite Matthew Ashford (Jack) was one of a bevy of cast members invited back for the on-screen tribute Days of Our Lives crafted to honor the character of Doug Williams and his late portrayer, Bill Hayes. Ashford spoke to Soap Opera Digest about the special scenes and what it was like reconnecting with some of the show’s past stars as well as members of the Deveraux family, including his supercouple partner, Melissa Reeves (Jennifer).

 

Soap Opera Digest: You must have been pleased to be invited back for this tribute.

Matthew Ashford: I was. It was a wonderful gathering, and they brought back some wonderful people. Stephen Schnetzer [ex-Steve] was there. I knew Stephen from way back, from One Life to Live. [Schnetzer played Marcello Salta on the ABC soap, while Ashford played Drew Ralston.] He’s just a wonderful man and actor. He actually was on the show way back when [1978-80] and goes way back with Julie. Then there were some other people, like Gloria Loring [ex-Liz] and Maree Cheatham [ex-Marie]. It was a really great gathering of people who hadn’t been on in years, but they were all at the top of their game, and I got a chance to be a part of that. It’s one of the benefits of getting to explore this. I mean, it’s hard. It’s hard for fans, but they get a chance to see people again, too.

Digest: Melissa Reeves was back as Jennifer, too. What was it like working with her again? Because the last few times Jennifer returned to Salem, Cady McClain was playing the character.

Ashford: It was like walking back into a familiar place in familiar suited clothes. Missy is so comfortable with [the role]. In a sense, she is Jennifer, so she’s very effortless in what she does and she helps everyone around her become kind of effortless too. It was really lovely and really nice working with her. I had a chance to catch up with her quite a bit. One of the challenges for us was we had to stop talking about other things. We had to sit and buckle down with what we were doing. I hope they recognize what a treasure they have in her. Bill and Susan [Susan Seaforth Hayes, Julie] knew her from childhood, as did so many of the cast and the crew. When she started on DAYS, she was very young. It’s nice that she got to be a part of this.

Digest: For longtime fans, it’s really nice to see the original Jack and Jennifer together again.

Ashford: Yeah, it was lovely. I mean, the material is what it is, but there’s a lot of care and love [in these episodes]. And working with Susan… She’s extraordinary. She was just really wonderful, and there were just things you can do [when you have familiarity]. Then there were physical moments we just had to find, and they allowed us to find them. What you do when you’re grieving and you haven’t seen someone that walks into the room? You just want to hug and hold them. They allowed that to happen. We had a wonderful director-producer that day. Noel [Maxam] was there, and he was just rolling with it. He was just seeing what was there, what we could do, and how we could make it all happen. Everyone was like that. Janet [Spellman-Drucker], our co-executive producer, too. Everyone was just feeling what was right in front of them, which was quite wonderful. The pieces were all there, so they just had to put them together, light them well, and see what happens. That, to me, is a great thing to have.

Memory Lane: Ashford with (from l.) Susan Seaforth Hayes (Julie), Bill Hayes (ex-Doug) and Melissa Reeves (Jennifer) on the DAYS set in 2021.

Digest: Casey Moss is also back as Jack and Jennifer’s son, JJ. Did you enjoy reconnecting with him?

Ashford: Oh, it was amazing. It was the same thing. He’s such a wonderful actor, and he has now reached into his thirties. He’s still a very, very hard worker, but he’s making sense of that in a different way now. It’s the same stuff that happened with Billy [Flynn, Chad] and the same stuff that happened with me. You figure stuff out. Things that you struggled with and were so hard when you were 24, 25, 26, now it’s like, “Oh, just be. Just let it be.” And so it’s just wonderful stuff. All I had to do was walk in the room and look at him. We would look forward to a shared moment and just hope that we could do it and have it on camera. The beauty of these shows is that you have people with these relationships that compound. You just have to let the camera see it, let the directors and producers see it, and let them do their work.

Digest: A lot of these scenes take place in the Horton living room, where there’s so much history. What are your thoughts on that?

Ashford: I reread Bill and Susan’s book [Like Sands through the Hourglass] and even Mac’s [Macdonald Carey, ex-Tom] book [The Days of My Life], and I realized it’s the history that they had [on DAYS] that we’re still building on. We’re sitting around on their couch, their furniture. I mean, there’s a new couch now, although I didn’t mind the old couch. It was beat up, but there are a lot of old beat up couches in this country. But it became a story point and that’s okay. There’s still Alice’s chair, but you wonder who’s sitting in the chair now. It’s quite amazing. Everything means something. You realize it means something to the fans, and it means something to us too.

Digest: Is there anything else you want to add about coming back for this special tribute to Doug?

Ashford: I’m glad to be a part of it, and I’m glad to be a part of the show. It’s a family of people, and it’s about the family of DAYS fans, people who have been following the show forever. I’m very pleased that Peacock has not only picked the show up, but also recognized that the fans of Days of our Lives are a really important part of their picture. That’s recognizing the people who have really stuck with this show and continue to do so.

Such Sweet Sorrow: Jack and Jennifer paid their respects to Doug alongside (from l.) Roman (Josh Taylor), Kayla (Mary Beth Evans) and Steve (Stephen Nichols).