Douglas Williams and Julie Olson Williams are fictional characters and a supercouple from the American daytime drama Days of our Lives.[1] Doug and Julie are considered to be the first supercouple in daytime television history.[2] Doug is portrayed by Bill Hayes and Julie is portrayed by Susan Seaforth Hayes. The actors are married in real life and also still recur in their roles that made them famous on NBC's Days of our Lives.[2]
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Bill Hayes and Susan Seaforth began to develop a romance outside of their characters' storyline. It was "at first publicized by the soapmill as 'just friends,' but slowly it developed into a full-scale love affair."[3] On a weekend, the two secretly married. Only a few friends of the couple knew about the event. When the press got knowledge of this, it "set off a commotion among fans, who wrote endless letters to the show asking that the couple also be allowed to get married in the story. If they could get married in real life, so the argument went, they certainly should be able to get together on screen."[3]
The writers of Days of our Lives refused popular demand, and prolonged the anticipation of the two marrying onscreen. In the book All My Afternoons by Annie Gilbert, the event is described:
Nothing was ever such a guarantee of good ratings as star-crossed lovers everyone knew belonged together. But finally the producers set the date for the marriage and Days put on one of the most extravagant weddings imaginable on the screen. It was such a soap opera media event that the local L.A. press (Days, along with General Hospital and The Young and the Restless, which is produced in Los Angeles) was invited to the studio to watch.[3]
In the episode featuring Doug and Julie's honeymoon, Susan Seaforth managed to get by the censors one of the most suggestive lines imaginable for daytime television in the 1970s. When Doug (Bill Hayes) asked her what she'd like for breakfast, she listed a few of the usual choices like juice and coffee, topped off with a leering request for "big pink sausage." It may have been an ad lib, but it worked as provocative just the same.
Doug and Julie were the first soap opera characters to grace the cover of TIME magazine.[4] Entertainment Weekly calls them one of the great soap opera supercouples.[1]