Episode 2 of Soapy, the podcast by Rebecca Budig and Greg Rikaart, is finally here—and it doesn’t disappoint. Keeping up the trend of legendary guests, this week’s episode features none other than Deidre Hall.
Hall, best known for her iconic role as Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of our Lives, opens up about her long-running career, memorable fan moments, and even touches on her time on The Young and the Restless.
One of the most surprising moments? She almost didn’t take the role of Marlena.
“I was screen testing and they usually try to have people not in the same room. Obviously, the actors are not able to see each other or see our screen test. And I happened to see a couple women. I thought, ‘Oh my word, look who’s testing for this.’ I tested and I got a call saying that I had gotten it.
And so I knew, as actors, in their craziness, know, if they chose me, everybody else must have turned it down. There must be something wrong with this part. So I’m turning it down, too.
And I did. I said, I know something’s wrong. I don’t want to do that.
My agent called about three weeks later and said, ‘Tell me what’s going on here. You said you wanted to do a soap.’
Yes, I said, But there’s something wrong with it.
He said, ‘No.’
I said, ‘I wasn’t their first choice.’
‘Yes, you were.’
I was. It’s, you know, your lightning moment and I thought, well, I love that part. I’d love to do that part.”
That “lightning moment” clearly turned into a career-defining role, and fans are grateful she reconsidered.
Speaking of fans, Hall also shared a heartwarming story about her very first fan interaction in real life.
“Many, many, many, many years ago when we got and read fan mail, I got a letter from a man in Chester, Pennsylvania, and he wrote to me and I wrote to him and he wrote to me and I wrote to him.
And we were doing an award show back east and I thought, ‘How close is Pennsylvania to where we’re going?’
So I jumped on the train. I went down to Chester. And spent the afternoon with him.
At that point he was ninety-six years old. Weston Taylor, an artist of, you know, amazing artwork and a few pieces that I have that he gifted me.
But we had a lifelong friendship as long as he lived.”
Deidre Hall’s journey is very interesting. Make sure to catch the full episode of Soapy—it’s one for the books. Check it out below! (Photo: CBS.)
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