Days of Our Lives’ Matthew Ashford enjoyed reconnecting with old friends at Doug’s funeral

Days of Our Lives has gone above and beyond to ensure that the funeral for Doug Williams was as touching as his portrayer Bill Hayes’ real-life memorial. With his wife Susan Seaforth Hayes, who plays Doug’s onscreen spouse Julie, using some of her real-world tribute to her late husband as a template for Doug’s sendoff, there was nary a dry eye in the audience. Matthew Ashford, who plays Jack Deveraux, opened up about returning for the sorrowful occasion.

Everyone was at the top of their game

Ashford told Soap Opera Digest, “It was a wonderful gathering, and they brought back some wonderful people.” The show brought back some popular actors to reprise their roles, including Gloria Loring (Liz Chandler) and Maree Cheatham (Marie Horton), who also brought back their feud. Ashford was also happy to see Stephen Schnetzer reprise his character Steve Olson, who is Julie Williams’ (Susan Seaforth Hayes) younger brother. Ashford was ecstatic that the show got these older characters to come out of the woodwork for the funeral, remarking, “They were all at the top of their game, and I got a chance to be a part of that.”

He was also glad to be reunited with Melissa Reeves, who plays Jack’s wife, Jennifer Horton Deveraux. Although Reeves originated the character in 1985, from 2000 until recently, Cady McLain played the role. Ashford was excited that she returned, feeling that her presence was very familiar. “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,” he stated.

Ashford further remarked that Reeves began playing Jennifer when she was a teenager and was glad the show included her in Doug’s tribute.

But the one person he was really happy to be working closely with was the stalwart Hayes. He remarked, “She’s extraordinary. She was just really wonderful, and there were just things you can do [when you have familiarity].”

Ultimately, for Ashford, the big thing was that the producers and director allowed the cast members to use their real reactions to seeing actors they hadn’t seen in ages. This came in the form of many hugs that showed the unity the show brings to the cast. “Everyone was just feeling what was right in front of them, which was quite wonderful,” he enthusiastically said.

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Now that the funeral has come and gone, Jack and Jennifer can get down to business. They hope that Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn) can sort out the whole Abigail mess and not get killed by the evil Clyde Weston (James Read). And Xander Kiriakis (Paul Telfer) recently gave Jack his newspaper back, so hopefully we’ll see more of the Deverauxes in Salem!

Stream full episodes of Days of our Lives on Peacock.

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