Deidre Hall Vows to ‘Keep Coming Back’ to ‘Days of Our Lives’ After 50 Years of Starring on the Soap

Deidre Hall has been on Days of Our Lives for five decades, and she has no plans of slowing down.

In a new interview with People, Hall, 78, said retirement isn’t on the radar, telling the outlet that she plans to continue acting on the soap for as long as she can.

“I’ll keep coming back as long as my key card still opens the gate,” Hall, who celebrated 50 years on the long-running NBC show on June 21, quipped.

Reflecting on her early days on the show, Hall said that at the time, she was just happy to be a working actress.

“When you join a show, you start with a 13-week contract, so all that I thought was, ‘Okay, that’ll be fun,'” the soap star said of first stepping onto the set in 1976. “It was always a happy surprise to be invited back.”

Now, five decades in, Hall, best known for playing Marlena Evans in the fictional Midwestern town of Salem, told the outlet that she’s met generations of fans, all of whom hold a special place in their hearts for Days.

“We hear that all the time: ‘I watched with my grandma after school, I watched with my mom; my mom would record it.’ It’s a thing that families share,” Hall said. “We are in their living room every single day, whether it’s during the day when they’re ironing or at night when they’re putting their kids to bed and watching; we’re home with them.”

And much like the family she’s created both with her colleagues and among her devoted fans, Hall has integrated her own into the show, with her children and sister getting parts on the soap over the years.

“I raised my children there,” Hall said of her two sons, David, 33, and Tully, 31, whom she shares with ex-husband Steve Sohmer, and who appeared as extras on the show when they were kids.

As did her identical twin, Andrea Hall, a special education teacher who joined the cast for doppelgänger plots to play Marlena’s twin sister, Samantha. Hall said she asked production to write a role for Andrea, also 78, “and within a month my sister was on the air!”

“It was terrific,” she added.

Now, the show films only two days a week, allowing Hall to enjoy downtime at her home in Santa Monica, California, with her family and her son’s dog, Riley.

“I really have a blessed and cherished life,” Hall gushed.

And while she admits she’s “loved every moment” of the job, calling it “the best,” there is one item on Hall’s bucket list before she hangs up her hat in Salem: “An Emmy would be nice!”