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Did You Know?

~The first time Mary Beth and Stephen appeared on the cover of Soap Opera Digest, on the issue dated 10/7/86, the magazine sold 1 million copies for the first time ever.

~Stephen and Mary Beth were on the cover of 2 out of the 6 best selling Soap Opera Update covers ever (the Steve and Kayla wedding issue, and a holiday issue).

~The character of Steve Johnson was only supposed to last for a couple of months. Stephen Nichols was hired as a day player. But the producers and the writers saw something special in Stephen, who approached the show with Peter Reckell about a back story for his character. Steve lasted on the show for 5 years.

~The wedding party aboard the yacht included Frankie, Diana and Justin- played by Genie Francis, Billy Warlock and Wally Kurth, who   also starred on General Hospital with Stephen and Mary Beth. Richard Biggs, the best man at the wedding, went on to do Babylon 5. Matthew Ashford (Jack, Steve’s “brother”) briefly played Tom Hardy on General Hospital and also shared some scenes with Mary Beth and Stephen on GH.

~Stephanie Kay was born on Stephen Nichols’ real life birthday, February 19th.

~Steve called Kayla “Sweetness”- an endearment Stephen Nichols used for his real life eldest daughter, Vanessa.

~When Steve went undercover as a two eyed Born-Again Christian in Saul’s revival, his name was Daniel Lucas-named after Mary Beth Evans’ eldest son Daniel Luke.

~Stephen Nichols’s son, Aaron, played the young Steve in flashbacks. His daughter Vanessa appeared on the show twice: once as Kelly, an abused child under Kimberly’s care, and also as a grown up Stephanie Kay in Steve’s dream when he was in a coma (before “dying”).

~When Stephen was asked who he preferred from the actresses that auditioned for the part of Kayla, he said Mary Beth because he liked her honesty.

~In the 80’s, the name “Kayla” entered the top ten most popular baby names for girls, a fact often credited to the popularity of the Days character.

~In the late 80’s, Stephen Nichols’s rated second to Bill Cosby in the Q ratings- a survey listing the most popular and most recognizable actors. At the time, Mary Beth Evans was the only woman who had placed in the top 10 of those ratings.

~Stephen was nominated just once, but never won the Daytime Emmy award during his run as Steve Johnson.

~Steve and Kayla’s wedding was written during the writer’s strike of 1988- not by the show’s regular writers. To date, it is Days highest rated episode; the highest rated daytime wedding since GH’s Luke and Laura married.

~Days became one of the first closed captioned soap operas not long after Kayla’s deaf storyline (for which Stephen and Mary Beth learned sign language).

~Over the years, Mary Beth and Stephen have done a lot of charity work. Mary Beth, along with her sister, have opened a school for the deaf and hard of hearing- a cause close to her heart since the deaf storyline on Days.

~In Australia, Steve and Kayla were daytime’s hottest supercouple; the Days episodes that aired there were 3 years behind what was airing in the US. Stephen visited Australia twice. When he visited the first time, an avid fan wrapped herself around his legs. The second time he visited, with Mary Beth, over 7,000 fans packed a mall to see them live and in person. They were featured guests on several talk shows. At one such show, the audience even donned patches.

~On the music channel VH-1, the program “Pop Up Videos” mentions Steve and Kayla’s wedding dates, July 22 and 25, as the “best Days of our Lives” ratings wise, during Bryan Adams video for the song “Summer of 69.”