EXCLUSIVE: Days of Our Lives’ Richard Wharton on Dr. Rolf, Theater Roots & What’s Next

American actor Richard Wharton is currently recurring as Dr. Wilhelm Rolf on Days of Our Lives—a role he’s best known for these days. He’s back on-screen this week, but Wharton’s career stretches far beyond Salem. From 1979 to 1998, he was a familiar face on the Chicago theatre scene before shifting his focus to television and film work in Los Angeles.

Wharton and his wife share two children, and when he’s not acting, he lends a hand in his wife’s business—she’s an art consultant, and he works as an art installer for various interior designers. Beyond daytime, Wharton has racked up an impressive list of primetime credits, including a recent appearance on the hit series The Pitt.

Soap Opera News caught up with the actor to chat about his career, both on and off the screen. Read on below!

How Richard Wharton Got Into Acting

We started by asking how he got his start in acting, and it’s a story worth telling.

“Well, it started out as a hobby, right? And like when I was in fourth grade, I was kind of a troublemaker, so my seat was close to the teacher’s desk,” he explains.

“The teacher asked somebody, one of the other kids, to come over and talk to him. And he was asking him if he’d like to be in a play. The adult company needed a child. And I was like, ‘I’ll do it.’ However, she said, ‘I’m not talking to you.’It turned out that the other boy couldn’t do it. So the teacher asked me. And I ended up being in The Song of Deborah, which is a religious play.”

He goes on to explain, “It was at the Arie Crown Theater in McCormick Place, which is a big theater in downtown Chicago. And I was just like a walk-on, you know, like the heroine’s son who comes on at the end and gives her a big hug.”

Wharton said, “I did a couple of plays in grade school, and then I did some more in high school and was in the theater club. Then when I got to college, I was like, well, I’m going to be an accountant, but I could do some theater on the side.”

It turns out, he did more theater than accounting homework. Eventually, he built up the courage to tell his parents he wasn’t going to pursue accounting. “The rest is history,” he reflects.

His Theatre Days

“I did a lot of theater in Chicago and moved out to L.A. in ’98,” he notes.

Discussing theater life, he says, “I think Chicago is an easier town to make a living in than New York or L.A. in terms of theater. Although in New York, if you hit it in one of the Broadway shows, obviously, you’re making big money. But in terms of steady work, you can get a little bit more work in Chicago, I think.”

After some time in Chicago, he decided it was time to move to Hollywood. “I was doing, as most actors do, some other work on the side. I worked myself into some good positions. Did a lot of tech theater work and installs, and strikes. I worked with a special event company—we had contracts with the city of Chicago. I was running a crew and doing okay there. And I was doing pretty well, 50% theater, 50% other work. But I wanted to see if I could shift that.”

After years of building a successful theater career in Chicago, Wharton eventually felt it was time for a new chapter—one that would take him west. The move wasn’t just about work, though; it was also about love. As he put it, “I also got married, and my wife wanted mountains, desert, and ocean, and so I said, well, there’s some place I could go and you could have all that. We came here.”

However, Wharton admits, “I miss the amount of time I would spend in the theater because here it’s not that much time. A lot of my jobs in LA have been 1-3 days long, occasionally a week or two. Days of Our Lives is the exception for me. It’s a bit more like a theatre experience and doing 60 episodes over 4 years has allowed me to get to know sme of the cast and crew a bit. So life in LA, it’s a different proportion of time and energy, but I’m enjoying it. I’m really enjoying Rolf.”

Richard Wharton Has Great Love for the Theater

We asked if there was a role that sparked his interest in acting.

“You know, theater is a very communal experience. You get to know people, you work with people for five or six weeks, maybe eight weeks, sometimes a few months. It’s a carnival life, so to speak. I enjoyed that. When I was in college, you were just doing plays and plays and plays. There was so much opportunity to work, and it was exciting.”

Looking back on how his theater journey took shape, Wharton shared how one opportunity led unexpectedly to the next.

“I did fine there, and then when I graduated with my BA, I left to do the Smoky Mountain Passion Play in Townsend, Tennessee, an outdoor drama. I packed all my stuff into the car and had no idea what was coming next—I might have been moving to New York. While I was there, or shortly after I arrived, my college, Western Illinois, called and asked if I’d like to be part of their new MFA program. I’d be in the very first class. I said, ‘Okay, great.’ So I went back and did another couple of years. They were intense, studio-style classes, and we also understudied a touring company. The next year, we became the touring company. It was a lot of work—but a lot of fun.”

His Soap Roles

Before his Days of Our Lives role, he got his start in soaps with a recurring role on The Young and the Restless.

“At Young and the Restless, I got this role as the pawnbroker. I had a great scene with Jeanne Cooper (Katherine Chancellor). That was pretty awesome, and that storyline lasted about eight episodes. That was fun.”

Wharton added, “It was my first experience working on a soap and working at that speed, because, you know, when you’re doing episodic, you’re doing all these multiple takes, and it could take all day to do one scene. But here, you’re just slamming it out. So that was my first indoctrination. Then I came back and did a yogi-type role for them in another story, and then a day on Passions.”

Talking about working on the Peacock soap opera, he said, “Then there was Days of Our Lives. I auditioned during COVID, and everything was auditioning on tape—and now everything still auditions on tape, but you’re doing it at home.”

He noted, “I auditioned for this role, and I had no idea. I didn’t know what Dr. Rolf was because I hadn’t really watched the show. And I booked it. I get to the set, I’m getting makeup, and they start talking about the other guy. I’m like, what other guy? I found out that I’m a temporary replacement for William Utay. But he never came back. So it’s been four years now. I’m still Dr. Rolf.”

Acknowledging the show’s far-ahead tape-to-air schedule, he notes, “I think I worked last February or January and the episode is coming out Friday (November 7).” He can’t share specifics but teases, “It’s a great, great storyline that’s fun.”

He adds, “I feel fortunate because I get my scripts at least a week, sometimes two weeks in advance. But I know a lot of the people, if they’re working every day—because I might work a day or two, maybe three at the most—they don’t have as much time as I do. So I feel fortunate for that because I don’t know if I could be as quick as they are.”

Richard Wharton Talks Days of Our Lives and Dr. Rolf

He recalls a memorable fan encounter at a Day Players Band event: “I went to one of their shows in LA, and I was standing in line to go into the show, and I met this trio of women—daughter, granddaughter, and grandma, all together, fans all watching it (Days of Our Lives). The grandma had watched it from day one.”

On playing Dr. Rolf, he says, “It’s interesting because there’s a lot of history to the character, and some of it I find out as I go along. Drake Hogestyn, may he rest in peace—he was like an encyclopedia of Days. When I first met him, he would tell me everything. He told me about when he was Rolf’s assistant, he just really filled me in. But the best thing about Dr. Rolf is that he’s very excited about science, and he’s an expansive character. He can be a little bit larger than life sometimes. He can be excitable, and he can be intense. I think he has good range to play.”

When asked if he dug into old footage to take over as recast, he admits, “I looked for some old videos. I saw a few clips. It was hard to find, actually. But I found some clips of William, and I was just amazed. He’s done over 800 episodes over a 20-year period. There was no catalog of stuff to look at, so I just was catch-as-catch-can.”

Asked if he could play any other Days character, he jokes, “Meaning if I was in a different body and younger?” Then he admits, “Leo. Because he’s just a really fun character.”

A Successful Career

About other work, he shares his experiences filming Dragon Storm in Bulgaria. “We were there for 25 days, or I was. There were maybe six or seven of us from the States, including John Rhys-Davies.

First off, it’s a long flight, like 14 hours with a layover in Germany. We stayed in a very nice hotel in Sofia, then went to Viden, a more remote town near the Danube. It was shocking because about half the population had moved away—there was no work.

We filmed in an old castle. I would go for jogs whenever I could; jogging is the quickest way to tour. Then we went back to Sofia to film in a studio-type situation. The crew was amazing, all locals, with stunt guys setting themselves on fire—it was wild. We were battling dragons. I met Tony Amendola, who had a big bit on Stargate and Once Upon a Time. We’ve been friends ever since. It was my first time in Europe besides England, and seeing buildings with so much history—it was very exciting.”

He recounts a fast-paced filming experience on Death Cloud: “I flew back to Bulgaria, rested the day I got there, and the next day shot all day and into the night, ending with a big shootout. Then I got cleaned up, and I was on a plane at 7 a.m. the next morning.”

Roles on Primetime

Discussing his recent role on the hit series The Pitt, he says, “My character’s name is Grayson. It was great. You could always be in the background of a scene, so I was there for two weeks. Some days were long because of special effects makeup—I had a big wound here, grazed by a bullet.

The cast and crew were fantastic. They were very conscious about realism. A doctor was part of the writing team and on set, making sure everything was accurate. Some of the non-main characters were actual nurses, guiding others. It was pretty fun. And I walked around the lot at lunch with this big bloody wound—they had tours going through, and I was like, ‘Hey, how you doing?’”

He also has a small role on Vince Vaughn’s Bad Monkey (season two). “My character appears to be a confused senior citizen, let’s say.” However, he couldn’t share much more than that—at least not yet.

What Does Richard Wharton Do Outside of Acting?

Outside of acting, he enjoys golf, inspired by his father. “I started playing a couple times a week at a short course and kept it up. Still work side jobs—my wife is an art consultant. I do her bookkeeping and art installation, and other clients call me for installation. It’s different. A lot of math, actually.”

Dream collaborations? “I haven’t set my sights on anyone in particular. I keep pursuing whatever I can get. I’d love to work with Stephen again, but unfortunately, he’s passed away. And I’d love to do something with Tony Amendola, my buddy. A couple of old guys talking.”

On personal interests, he shares hiking adventures with Tony Amendola in Griffith Park and a love for fantasy and sci-fi. “I’d love to be in a Star Wars movie. Fantasy, sci-fi—I love that stuff.”

Photo Courtesy of PR.

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