Bill Hayes

William Bill Foster Hayes III born June 5 1925 was an American actor and a Billboard Hot 100 1 recording artist Following a successful career as a musician which began in the late 1940s he began to focus on dramatic acting parts in the late 1960s which led him to be cast in a role that gained him additional fame to a younger generation This new chapter in his career began in 1970 when he originated the character of Doug Williams on NBCs Days of Our Lives which he continues to play regularly to date on the serial Hayes was a singer on the Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca variety show Your Show of Shows in the early 1950s During the Davy Crockett craze in 1955 three recorded versions of the Ballad of Davy Crockett were in the top 30 Hayes version was the most popular It was 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks sold over two million copies and was awarded a gold disc He also starred on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammersteins Me and Juliet 1953 He had other small hits in the 1950s including The Berry Tree and covers of High Noon and Wringle Wrangle the latter was his only other Hot 100 hit reaching 33 in 1957 On Days of Our Lives Hayes was introduced as a convict who was also a lounge singercitation needed The character of Doug returned in 1986 and 1987 as well as 1993 and 1996 Most recently he has been on the show since 1999 His character was killed off in the spring of 2004 by Dr Marlena Evans In an elaborate plot hatched by head writer James E Reilly Doug turned up alive on a tropical island and went home to his wifecitation needed In 2017 World by the Tail a documentary about Bill Hayess life was released and made available for his fans to watch online3 On June 27 2017 while present in the shows audience Hayes was featured in an impromptu interview on a web special for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in his heyday he had been a guest on the Johnny Carsonhosted version of the show