Days of our Lives star Deidre Hall speaks out on when she'll stop playing Marlena 

Days of our Lives is synonymous with lead heroine Dr. Marlena Evans, played by Daytime Emmy-nominee Deidre Hall. The actress joined the soap in 1976. Sure, she's taken a few breaks from the show over the years, but she recently addressed whether or not she's ever going to stop playing the good doctor altogether.

Days of our Lives, Forever Marlena

Hall told PEOPLE magazine that she has every intention of staying on DAYS until her "key doesn't open the gate." In other words, viewers can expect to see both Hall and Marlena for the foreseeable future!

The actress shared with the online version of the magazine about her first day with late co-stars Macdonald Carey (Tom Horton) and Mary Frann (Amanda). Hall got her character's name and Frann's handle mixed up. Fortunately, Carey corrected her. "[Mac] came in and said, 'Darling, she's Amanda,'" Hall recalled. "'You're Marlena.'"

Perhaps the actress's most iconic moment occurred on-screen in 1991 after Marlena came back from the presumed dead (a plane she was believed to be in went down). John (the late, great Drake Hogestyn) was on a foggy pier, looked over and saw his beloved "Doc."

"Seeing John on the pier, referred to as the 'famous pier scene,' where he thinks I'm dead, and I come out of the fog," Hall shared. "You could just hear the audience screaming. That's a big favorite. I think the great thrill for daytime is to be able to play the moment that your audience is waiting for."

Hall wasn't the only return in 1991. That's when Wayne Northrup (Roman) returned to the show. But if Wayne's Roman was back, what did that mean for Hogesytn, whom viewers believed was Roman? In a bit of creative rewriting, Hogestyn's Roman merely thought he was Roman. He was, in reality, John Black (or John Robicheaux, as viewers learned decades later).

John and Marlena, supercouple supreme

Late Days of our Lives head writer James E. Reilly put Marlena and John back together, which led to Marlena and Roman splitting up. Later, Reilly wrote the famous possession storyline in which it was revealed that Marlena had been possessed by Satan!

Hall had confidence that Reilly could pull the story off. "[He] said, 'We can do it.' And, so I thought, 'You're in charge, you write it well enough and do it in an honorable way.'"

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The rest is daytime history as the possession storyline remains not only one of DAYS' most memorable tales, but one of daytime TV's most unforgettable ones, too!

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