Diedre Hall says ‘Days of Our Lives’ cast won’t accept Drake Hogestyn’s death

Daytime TV legend Diedre Hall is opening about about the hard time her Days of Our Lives family is having mourning the death of their costar Drake Hogestyn.

“Truly, we don’t talk about it,” Hall told Access Hollywood in her first interview since Hogestyn’s death at age 70 in September. “There isn’t even really as much as somebody walking by and putting their hand on you.”

“We don’t live there, you know. We’re living in Salem,” she explained, referring to the soap’s fictional small-town setting. Hall reflected that Hogestyn, with whom she costarred off and on over a period of nearly 40 years, “loved being here, just loved it. And I miss that for him… I will sometimes just be sitting on the set and thinking, ‘John is gone! Oh my gosh!'”

Along with Susan Seaford Hayes and Suzanne Rogers, Hall is one of the longest-running Days alums still acting on the series. She was first brought on in a guest role as the psychiatrist Marlena Evans in 1976, but when Hogestyn was cast a decade later, their characters’ instant chemistry made her an enduring fan favorite.

“When I screen tested with him I knew,” she recalled. “They called me upstairs and said, ‘So there’s seven actors here, what did you think? It was sort of, ‘Oh, please say Drake.'” Hall’s Marlena and Hogestyn’s John Black were first romantically paired in 1991, and remained one of daytime TV’s most beloved couples throughout break-ups, make-ups, demonic possession attempts, 30-story window falls, jail time, bigamy accusations, and more.

Hogestyn’s pancreatic cancer diagnosis wasn’t revealed until shortly before his death. Hall recalls his passing as “a shock, and I think we’ve all talked about it privately.” She remembers that “the resounding comment was, ‘Not Drake!’ Drake, I mean, the healthiest, most positive… and then there it was.”

“I miss that he doesn’t get to come to work, I miss that he doesn’t get to play with us,” Hall shared, but expressed gratitude that there’s “so much that I have stored up with him over the years.”

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Hogestyn’s last Days scene aired on Sept. 9, three weeks before his death. The scene shared with his character’s grandson Tate (Leo Howard) allowed Hogestyn to show off some of his trademark compassion and warmth. “Can’t hurt to check in with her just to let her know you’re thinking about her,” Black says to Tate, urging him to text his girlfriend during a fight. “I’m sure that she will appreciate just knowing that you are there for her if she needs you.”

Hall reflected that “to the audience, we feel like they are a family.” So she encouraged viewers to “stick with us, we’re always gonna be your family.”