Five Things That Happened On February 9 In Soap History

In 1970, Bill Hayes (pictured with future on-screen and off-screen wife Susan Seaforth Hayes, Julie) debuted as Days of Our Lives's Doug Williams, who was originally known as Brent Douglas. In 2017, Hayes marveled to Soap Opera Digest, "At that point, I’d never seen a soap. I didn’t know anything about soaps at all, and it took me two minutes to realize how fabulous they were. The actors on Days of Our Lives were so incredible. We had MacDonald Carey [ex-Tom] and Frances Reid [ex-Alice] and Edward Mallory [ex-Bill] and John Clarke [ex-Mickey] and Susan Flannery [ex-Laura] and Susan Seaforth and Denise Alexander [ex-Susan] — they were so good, I just couldn’t believe it! I thought maybe I could last a year."

In 1983, Marlena Evans (Deidre Hall) and Roman Brady (Wayne Northrop) tied the knot. In a network press release touting the fan-fave duo's wedding, Northrop said he attributed Marlena and Roman's popularity to "a special chemistry that exists between Dee and myself that naturally translates to our characterizations of Marlena and Roman." The wedding day was a dramatic one, as Stefano DiMera had hired goons to assassinate Roman. Fortunately, he was unsuccessful, and Marlena and Roman became husband and wife. Fun behind-the-scenes fact: Northrop's real-life wife, Lynn Herring (Lucy, General Hospital) was there for the taping.

In 1994, Mac Scorpio (John J. York, far r.) and Felicia Jones's (Kristina Wagner) first wedding was interrupted by a bomb-wielding Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom, far l.). Mac was injured in the attempt to take Ryan down, so the duo's nuptials were postponed — but Jenny Eckert and Paul Hornsby (Paul Satterfield, c.) ended up taking advantage of the situation (with Mac and Felicia's blessing!) by tying the knot themselves.

In 2004, Carly Corinthos (Tamara Braun, l.) and Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn) were trapped together in an elevator during the fire at the Metro Court Hotel, which wound up leveling the building. Fearing they were doomed, the women's thoughts both turned to their children, and Alexis made a tearful confession to Carly: Sonny (Carly's husband), not Ned, was Kristina's biological father! Alexis and Carly were ultimately rescued, and Carly sat on the secret of Kristina's paternity for several more months.

In 2018, Ryan Paevey aired for the final time as Nathan West on General Hospital as his character was laid to rest after being killed in the line of duty. Ryan's spirit appeared to his grieving widow, Maxie (Kirsten Storms), at the funeral before being led to the afterlife by Maxie's late sister, Georgie (a visiting Lindze Letherman). At the open-casket memorial, Nina (Nathan's sister) delivered a wrenching eulogy, and before departing the cemetery, Maxie placed a sonogram of their unborn child on the casket.