“Days of Our Lives” star Deirdre Hall slapped “Today” host Craig Melvin in a display of soap opera prowess — but it was all in good fun.
“Of all of the storylines that you’ve been a part of over the years, what I’ve always enjoyed is your ability to slap,” Melvin told the daytime icon on Friday’s broadcast, while discussing her five decades of playing Dr. Marlena Evans.
He added, “You’re a great slapper,” to which Hall replied, “Well thanks!”
When asked how many times she may have slapped co-stars over the decades, Hall, 78 — who began appearing on the NBC mainstay in 1976 — admitted to Melvin that she “couldn’t begin to imagine.”
Melvin then quipped that it would be “one of the greatest professional honors of my life if you could slap me.”
“I would be privileged to slap you!” Hall exclaimed before pulling her hand back for the faux strike.
“Be gentle now,” Melvin said as crew members could be heard laughing in the background.
“I’m going to draw my hand back and I’m going to come very close to your face,” Hall told Melvin, noting that when he “feel[s] that happen,” he should “snap [his] head.”
After the apparent on-camera slap, Melvin jokingly reacted with horror, recoiling and whimpering, “Oh my God!” while covering his left eye.
Hall, meanwhile, said she “meant to miss” as both laughed.
In the comments thread via YouTube, fans gushed over Hall’s half-century milestone.
“Love you Marlena!! Congratulations on 50 years!!!!!!!!!!” one person wrote, while another remarked, “Great interview. Love Deidre Hall … has watched her for those 50 years and Days since a 7 year old in 1965 …”
“Long live Deidre Hall and Marlena!” a third person enthused.
Hall’s run on the show — set in the fictional town of Salem, Illinois — has earned her three Daytime Emmy nominations.
For decades, she played the beloved psychiatrist opposite her character’s love interest, Drake Hogestyn’s John Black. Hogestyn died following a battle with pancreatic cancer just a day before his 71st birthday on Sept. 28, 2024.
In a statement to Access Hollywood at the time, Hall said her co-star was “dearly loved by everyone who ever knew him and he will be missed beyond measure.”
While Hogestyn’s character was written off the show, Hall has continued in her long-running role as Dr. Evans, which has been streaming on Peacock since 2022.
