Days of Our Lives - MacDonald Carey as "Tom Horton", Frances Reid as "Alice Horton"
Posted on 02/05/2010 12:38:31 AM PST by malkee
Frances Reid, one of daytime television’s most enduring performers, who played the family matriarch Alice Horton on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives” for more than 40 years, died Wednesday in Beverly Hills, Calif. She was 95.
Ms. Reid, who had a long history in the theater and on television behind her, took the role in “Days” somewhat reluctantly, she said in interviews, but agreed to it because roles of any kind for actresses in middle age were rare. She began with the show’s first episode in 1965 and stayed long enough in the role for Alice to become a great-great grandmother.
When the show was first broadcast on Nov. 8, 1965, Alice Horton was already a grandmother, and she and her husband, Tom, a doctor, were stellar citizens of the fictional town of Salem. They were lamenting the quietude in their home because all five of their children were grown and had moved out of the house.
But quietude was never a characteristic of the Horton family for long, nor of Salem. In the first episode, Alice’s granddaughter Julie was arrested for shoplifting.
~snip~Something of an anomaly in soap opera history, Alice was faithful to her husband, though in 1991 she learned that their marriage had never been legal, and she insisted he marry her again. Tom Horton died in 1994, when Macdonald Carey, the actor who played him, did.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Started watching Days in 1976 when I was a teenager, and just recently started watching it again. The passing of a legend!
Days of Our Lives - MacDonald Carey as "Tom Horton", Frances Reid as "Alice Horton"
Like sands through the hourglass, so are The Days of our Lives. This is Macdonald Carey and these are The Days of our Lives.
Now that was a long time ago.
The Edge of Night? Remember that one?
RIP Mrs H. You did one helluva job showing the young ones how to give it your all. I’m 47 years old and I remember watching you with my Aunt when I was a little girl.
Most especially with Dr. H.
I’ll remember you, Always, Always.....
Condolences to family and friends.
That is the other one. Yes, The Edge of Night.
Thanks.
On DOOL, she portrayed a lady who was smart, kind and decent. It’s sad to lose another of the older Hollywood folks who didn’t have to live in the tabloids for gratification.
Condolences to her family and friends, she was a wonderful actress.
You totally brought back a childhood memory. When I was young my mom would always take a break in her day to watch “The Secret Storm” & “The Edge of Night.” I loved watching these grownup shows w/ her. Wonderful memories...
Yeah, same here. I got home from school about 3:45 - 4:00 p.m. or so, dropped off by the yellow bus (not the short bus) and it was right towards the end of the daily soaps. My Mother always claimed to never watch them - but a lot of times the TV was still “warm” when I turned it on for the kids shows I watched...lol.
She was a soap mainstay for years. Soaps today don’t care about core characters like hers. She was blessed with a long life.
I occasionally catch DOOL on SoapNet with my preferred ABC soaps, but Ms. Reid, although still listed on the credits as the star, hasn’t appeared on it in some time as far as I could tell. Similar to the long-running Palmer Cortlandt character on “All My Children” who vanished in 2008, and whose portrayer, James Mitchell, just died recently short of his 90th birthday. Both talented actors. May they both rest in peace.
What a beautiful glowing face! Her cheeks are proof she smiled alot.
As a longtime viewer of Days Of Our Lives, Alice Hortan will be missed. She was a class act. I met her about 10 years ago at a Days fan event, she was such a lovely woman, really sweet..Days now has gone downhill recently with their story lines, but Days will ALWAYS be remembered for having Alice and those famous Hortan Donuts. RIP FRANCES
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