Bill Hayes

Hayes was a singer on the Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca variety show Your Show of Shows in the early 1950s. He had a supporting role in the 1952 black comedy Stop, You're Killing Me. During the Davy Crockett craze in 1955, three recorded versions of "The Ballad of Davy Crockett" were in the top 30. Hayes' version was the most popular: It was number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for five weeks, sold over two million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. He also starred on Broadway in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Me and Juliet (1953). Hayes had other small hits in the 1950s, including "The Berry Tree" and covers of "High Noon" and "Wringle, Wrangle"; the latter was his only other Hot 100 hit, reaching number 33 in 1957.

On Days of Our Lives, Hayes was introduced as a convict who was also a lounge singer. The character of Doug returned in 1986 and 1987 as well as 1993 and 1996. Later, he was on the show from 1999 onwards. His character was killed off in the spring of 2004 by Dr. Marlena Evans. In an elaborate plot hatched by head writer James E. Reilly, Doug turned up alive on a tropical island and went home to his wife.

In 2017, World by the Tail, a documentary about Bill Hayes's life, was released online. On June 27, 2017, while present in the show's audience, Hayes was featured in an impromptu interview on a web special for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon; in his heyday, he had been a guest on the Johnny Carson-hosted version of the show.