Nifty at 50

As she marks a major milestone, Suzanne Rogers looks back on her DAYS experience.

-  Janet Di Lauro

On August 18, Suzanne Rogers celebrated her 50th anniversary on DAYS with a special episode dedicated to her beloved character, Maggie Horton Kiriakis.

“I’m kind of shocked that I’ve been on the show for 50 years; I mean, how many people can say that?” poses Rogers. “Not many. I’m touched that they wanted to do something. I’m honored and very moved, and I’m grateful. I guess it’s a testament to the fact that the show wanted to keep me around, and the audience liked the character. And I still love what I’m doing, so it’s all a win.”

Rogers joined the show in 1973 and initially signed a three-year contract. “I thought that was so long,” she recalls. “Then, when that contract was coming to an end, about six months down the road, they wanted to sign me to seven years. I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness.’ But by that point, I realized how much I loved what I was doing and how nice it would be to have a steady job.”

So she signed on the dotted line and never looked back, all leading to the 50th anniversary episode that began with Maggie mourning Victor and remembering the good times she shared with him, as well as her first husband, Mickey. “Julie came to see Maggie,” recounts Rogers. “There was a nostalgia thing of how they both got together ... Julie came to Maggie’s house on the farm to visit her. Maggie’s stove blew up, and Julie got burned. That’s how they got to be close, because of that. It brought back so many memories.”

Farm Living Is The Life For Me: Rogers shared scenes with Macdonald Carey's Tom in the early years.