‘Days of Our Lives’ cast shot funeral for Drake Hogestyn’s character while the actor was dying

Drake Hogestyn, the soap icon who played John Black on Days of Our Lives since 1986, died last September from pancreatic cancer. Nine months later, John is finally being laid to rest on Days, and Hogestyn’s costars are opening up about the pain of shooting their onscreen father, grandfather, husband, and friend’s funeral while Hogestyn was dying off screen.

The funeral scenes airing on Days this week were shot last fall while Hogestyn was succumbing to cancer. The actor’s family signed off on the plans for John’s funeral scenes that executive producer Ken Corday brought them.

“Drake, as the consummate storyteller that he is, said, ‘Absolutely. You gotta tell the story,'” Eric Marstolf, who has played John’s son Brady since 2008, told Variety on Monday.

He explained that “Drake knew what he was facing. He understood that this is a story fans would want to be told. So Drake graciously said, ‘Yes, let’s do it.’ But knowing that this man was on the planet, and we were literally taping his funeral and his death, that was hard. It was really hard.”

Marstolf’s onscreen sister Martha Madison recalled, “The fact that we were losing Drake at the same time, it was very hard on us emotionally, as we’re losing someone we really love. We didn’t really have to perform. It wasn’t like we were having to dig for anything. It was just all right there.”

Marstolf concurred, noting, “There was literally zero acting going on during those three days… Everyone was holding hands to the point where our hands were getting white.”

Hogestyn first joined Days in 1986, his only significant prior screen role being a main part in the 1982-1983 musical series Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Within a handful of years the Days producers struck gold after pairing Hogestyn with Deidre Hall, who’d played Marlena Evans on and off since 1976. The pair became a fan-favorite supercouple that always found their ways back to each other – up to the very end.

Due to Hogestyn’s death mid-season, John Black continued on, dispatching to Estonia on a spy mission for months and returning in May. The character was only shot from behind, and eventually sustained critical injuries in a lab explosion while trying to procure an experimental drug to save Bo Brady (Peter Reckell) from sepsis. Eventually John died in a hospital, covered head to toe in gauze and surrounded by his loved ones.

Hall mourned her costar of nearly 40 years shortly after his death, noting, “Marlena’s John is an iconic hero, unfailingly rescuing her from all matter of villains. My acting partner was incredibly professional from the moment he entered the studio, flawless in his preparation and ready for any eventuality in any scene.”

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Commemorating the June 2 episode depicting John’s death, Hall posted a solemn black square to her Instagram account bearing the words, “I know. I know. Hardest day ever.”

Despite the tragedy of Hogestyn’s death and the pain of filming his character’s funeral, Madison appreciates that Days was able to give the legendary actor a fitting sendoff.

“None of us were able to really see him or be with him towards the end,” she told Variety. “This was our opportunity to do it as a family, and do it together. And I thought it was so beautifully written — all of the flashbacks and really honoring his whole 40-year career on that show. It was all just very special.”