Days of Our Lives' Deidre Hall Wants to See Marlena Face 'a Serious Illness' After Nearly 50 Years in the Role (Exclusive)

As Deidre Hall approaches almost 50 years of playing Dr. Marlene Evans Days of our livesdaily legend still has a short list of things she would still like to play.

Hall’s character has gone through outrageous circumstances such as falling out of a window, having hysterical amnesia, being kidnapped, being targeted by serial killers, being replaced by an incompetent doppelgänger, surviving a plane crash, and not one but two demonic possessions. And now, Hall knows what she’d like Marlena to face next.

“Marlena was never seriously ill — I mean, unless you count possession,” Hall, 76, tells PEOPLE exclusively with a laugh.

Deidre Hall reflects on 5,000 episodes of ‘Days of Our Lives’, including burning down a church on her son’s birthday

Hall says she can’t wait to get a storyline that sees her psychiatrist character struggle with a life-threatening illness with some real dramatic stakes, something that could resonate deeply with fans of the show.

She also has an actual skill to share with Marlena: “I know sign language,” she reveals. “If we ever have a moment or if she has a deaf client or if we need an interpreter, that could be fun. It doesn’t happen every time during the day.”

Deidre Hall on ‘Days of Our Lives’.

Gary Null/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

Deidre Hall ate on her “Dreamy” Hacks The role and why he’s still ‘desperate’ for a scene with Jean Smart (Exclusive)

Hall admits she has another personal passion that doesn’t translate as easily to her role, but one she still indulges in behind the scenes of the daytime drama.

“I’m a frustrated hairdresser at heart, so you can find me in the make-up room helping out [her DOOL co-star] Eric Martsolf blows out the hair or trims those sides,” she reveals. “I can’t stop myself. You can’t stop what’s inside.”

Now in her 48th year playing the beloved heroine, following her debut on the long-running soap on June 21, 1976 (with a few occasional hiatuses), Hall says she still discovers the opportunity to step into Marlene’s shoes to embark on new stories, however they were exaggerated.

“It’s game time,” says Hall. “I got to sit in the makeup chair and catch up with Deidre — weird, that’s my makeup artist’s name — and what’s going on with her son at school, and then sit in the hair chair and see what Armando has done with some of the shows he’s been on.”

“It’s catching up with the people I love so much and spending every day with them because nobody does that in a vacuum,” she continues. “We are all in the product of our hair and our make-up and our director and our screenwriter and our editor and our lighting people. Oh my God — Christmas cards to each of those lighting people who can make or break, even in a moment!”

Deidre Hall. Todd Williamson/NBCUniversal via Getty ‘Days of Our Lives’ Deidre Hall uses holy water while shooting scenes where a character is possessed

The veteran star also appreciates his role as a mentor in “teaching each other and bringing young people together that we have to kind of pull through the process,” he explains. “We have a lot of young people joining the show who don’t have experience or haven’t had a lot of training, and everyone carries everyone forward. Days of our lives. It’s a nice collaboration.”

Surprisingly, an acting career was not initially on Halla’s wish list as a young woman; she admits that it just came to her.

“I didn’t start there,” she explains. “I studied psychology in college, ironically, and I had to earn a living, so I modeled while I was in Florida, so-called. agent and I said, ‘Can I get some modeling work? I’ve got to make some money here.'”

After the agent agreed, Hall says, “One day she called and said, ‘Well, why don’t you try some commercials?’ I said, ‘Whatever – I’ll make some money.’ I did some commercials and it did well, and she said, ‘Why don’t you try acting?’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s for the pros. No, no, no — that’s not me.'”

Hall quickly began to get results in some auditions, but due to her inexperience, she was mostly relegated to background roles in scenes with the big stars of the time.

“I said to myself, ‘You know what? This is fun for you, but if you want to do it, you can’t spoil it for others.’ So I enrolled in an acting class, and I did that for 12 years, and I even had the incredible joy of being in a Stella Adler master class,” she recalls. “And if you think there’s something on stage that can scare you, try to get on stage in front of Stella Adler.”

Deidre Hall on ‘Hacks’.

Jake Giles Netter/Max

Why Deidre Hall almost turned down the role of Marlena on ‘Days of Our Lives’

But “hours and hours” of lessons honing her work on stage finally helped her land a place, and the legendary acting teacher’s class equipped her with all the skills to embark on a more serious journey.

He now boasts an extensive filmography that continues to expand DOL – including classic TV shows like The streets of San Francisco, FLATTEN, Columbo and Murder, she wroteleading role in the 70s Saturday morning superhero series Electra Woman and Dyna Girlown hit series Our housedozens of TV movies, and even this week’s guest appearance as a version of himself in an award-winning comedy series Hacks – Hall is thrilled to still be an active actor in an always unpredictable business.

“I love to say that the cast is so crazy that when I swipe my key card, I’m always a little relieved that the doors to NBC are opening,” she says. “So to be invited back is always a great compliment and a bit of a relief, because it’s such a pleasure to do what we do… I think 2% of the Screen Actors Guild make a living in front of the camera. So to have that be a part of me every day and every week for years and years and years is just such a joy and such a pleasure, and I’m beyond grateful for that.”

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Days of our lives is currently in its 59th season and airs exclusively on Peacock.

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Source: HIS Education