A list of notable characters from the NBC soap opera Days of Our Lives that significantly impacted storylines and debuted between January 1, 1990, and the end of 1999.

Stephanie Johnson[edit]

Stephanie Johnson was created by head writer Richard J. Allen, and was originated by actresses Amanda and Jessica Gunnarson. Shayna Rose briefly stepped into the role in 2006–07. The role was taken over by Shelley Hennig in 2007.^[1] Henning was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her role as Stephanie, in the category of Outstanding Younger Actress in a Daytime Drama.^[2] Her last airdate as Stephanie was on April 6, 2011.^[3] In December 2016, it was revealed that Hennig will return for her parents' wedding in February 2017.^[4]

Stephanie is the daughter of supercouple, Steve Johnson and Kayla Brady.^[5][6][7] She is the ex-fiancée of Philip Kiriakis, and Nathan Horton. Stephanie is born in 1990 while Kayla is serving jail time.^[5]
She and Kayla depart the series in 1992, with a teenage Stephanie, played by Shayna Rose, returning without her mother in 2006. Shayna Rose departed the series in 2007. A new looking Stephanie, played by Shelley Hennig arrives in Salem in 2007 with parents Steve Johnson, and Kayla Brady. Hennig has portrayed the role from 2007 to 2011, even being nominated in 2010 for a Daytime Emmy in Outstanding Younger Actress.^[8][9] Despite only airing into April 2011, Hennig managed to receive another Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Younger Actress in 2012.

Joey Kiriakis[edit]

Joey Kiriakis was introduced in September 1990 and was portrayed by child actors Candace Mead and Benjamin Iorio until the character left the series in 1991. Joey is the biological twin son of Kiriakis family nanny, J.J. Bagwood (Patti Johns) and Stanley Krakowski (Dick Christie), who along with his brother was later adopted by Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis (Judi Evans) and her husband Justin Kiriakis (Wally Kurth).

J.J. was the babysitter to Alexander Kiriakis (Jonathan Thornton), Justin's son with Anjelica Deveraux (Judith Chapman). After Anjelica and Alexander supposedly died in a plane crash, J.J. left town, but returned a few months later, pregnant, and about ready to give birth. She knew she couldn't give the baby a good home, so she asked Justin and Adrienne to give her baby a home. Delighted and unable to conceive, Justin and Adrienne agreed, and were thrilled when they learned the child was really twins. Just when it seem like Justin and Adrienne's family was complete, J.J.'s married lover, Stanley, showed up, and refused to sign papers giving up rights to his children. J.J. would soon second thoughts, but after Justin and Adrienne let her spend a month living with them and the twins, she was able to convince Stanley that their twins would have a wonderful life with the Kiriakises. J.J. and Stanley would later leave town after letting the twins be adopted by Justin and Adrienne. Shortly after, Joey left with the rest of his family to Texas, where their brother Sonny Kiriakis (Freddie Smith) was born.

Although never shown on-screen, Joey returned to Salem in 2007 with his parents and brothers. He attended Salem High School, with his siblings. His time in town was short lived, however, and by January 2008 when the entire family moved again - this time to Dubai.

Victor Kiriakis II[edit]

Victor Kiriakis II was introduced in September 1990 and portrayed by child actors Loren Mead and Jacob Iorio. Victor is the biological twin son of Kiriakis family nanny, J.J. Bagwood (Patti Johns) and Stanley Krakowski (Dick Christie), he with his twin brother were adopted by Adrienne Johnson Kiriakis (Judi Evans) and her husband Justin Kiriakis (Wally Kurth).

Adrienne and Justin had a difficult time getting pregnant, so J.J. who was the babysitter to Alexander Kiriakis (Jonathan Thornton), Justin's son with Anjelica Deveraux (Judith Chapman), decided to let Justin and Adrienne adopt her unborn twins. When J.J.'s lover, Stanley arrived to Salem he refused to sign papers giving up rights of his children to Justin and Adrienne. Ultimately, J.J. also had second thoughts, but after Justin and Adrienne let her spend a month living with them and the boys, she convinced Stanley that they twins would have a wonderful life. Shortly thereafter, Victor left with the rest of his family to Texas, where their brother Jackson (Freddie Smith) was born.

Although never shown on-screen, Victor returned to Salem in 2007 with his parents and brothers. He attended Salem High School, with his siblings. His time in town was short lived, however, and by January 2008 when the entire family moved again - this time to Dubai.

Lisanne Gardner[edit]

Lisanne Gardner was portrayed by Lynn Herring.

Lisanne came to Salem in 1992, where she began working for Lawrence Alamain as Alamain Industries corporate lawyer. She and Lawrence began a relationship, but Lawrence still had feelings for Carly Manning. Lisanne learned that Vivian and Carly were keeping a secret involving a past pregnancy, so told Lawrence, and it eventually emerged that Carly had been pregnant with Lawrence's child, who it was believed had died. However, when Vivian Alamain brought her adopted son, Nicky, to the United States later that year, a different story was to emerge. After some investigation into Nicky's background, Lisanne discovered that he was, in fact Lawrence and Carly's son, who Vivian had actually stolen. Lisanne began to blackmail Vivian with this information, but her plans were to lead to her demise. Nikki returned home one day to find his aunt and Lisanne engaged in a heated argument. He saw Vivian falling to the floor and, believing that Lisanne was hurting his aunt, he tried to separate the two. But in the process of this, Lisanne fell and struck her head on a stone cat. The fall proved fatal for Lisanne, but Vivian told Nicky that she was just unconscious. Vivian and Lawrence's servant, Ivan Marais, then concealed Lisanne's body in the basement, before later making it look as though she had been killed in a car crash. But Lisanne's death led Lawrence to realise that Nicky was his son, something which caused Vivian to suffer a heart attack. While recovering in hospital, she revealed the truth to Lawrence - i.e., that she had told Carly that Nicky had died, then raised him as her own, even buying her servant's son's birth certificate to cover up the truth. Lawrence subsequently told Carly, who confronted Vivian, threatening to take Nicky away from her. Vivian then tried to leave Salem with Nicky, but was stopped from doing so. Kidnapping charges were brought against Vivian, but later dropped; while she desperately tried to hide the truth from Nicky. However, he was ultimately to learn his real identity. Meanwhile, suspecting that Lisanne's death may have been the result of foul play, Bo Brady began investigating the Alamains. Vivian told Lawrence to dispose of the stone cat and the rug on which Lisanne had fallen, as both had traces of her blood. Lawrence buried the items in the woods, but was seen by a prostitute, who reported it to the police. Soon afterwards, Bo caught Lawrence trying to dig up the stone cat and arrested him. Lawrence was charged with Lisanne's murder, and sent for trial, but it was to emerge that Nicky had killed her. The charges against Lawrence were dropped, but Nicky never found out that he'd been responsible for the death.

Jamie Caldwell[edit]

Jamie Caldwell, played by Miriam Parrish, first appeared on a recurring status on April 16, 1993 until November 15, 1993 before being upgraded to contract status from November 29, 1993 until August 29, 1996. Jamie is Sami Brady's best friend and the godmother of Will Horton. Jamie worked with Sami at Salem University Hospital as a candy striper and was the first one to find out about her bulimia. She alerted Roman to this fact, while Sami originally believed Marlena told Roman. Jamie also frowned on many of Sami's many schemes to break up Austin and Carrie, including drugging Austin into sleeping with her. Friends later discovered that Jamie has been raped by her father and Jamie moved out of her house and into the Brady Pub. Jamie's character vanished soon after she revealed to Kate that Sami drugged Austin. The actress' contract was not renewed in late 1996 with Jamie simply disappearing without mention. Throughout her time in Salem, Jamie had a crush on Lucas Roberts.

Peter Blake[edit]

Peter Blake is a fictional character from the American NBC Daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives, portrayed by Jason Brooks. Brooks joined the cast of Days of Our Lives in 1993, airing on September 1, 1993 until November 23, 1993 on a recurring status until upgrading to contract status from December 1, 1993 till December 24, 1996, when the character was presumed dead after being shot by Jack Deveraux. Brooks returned to the role nearly a year later on November 21, 1997 until his departure on February 23, 1998. Peter and his sister Kristen were raised but not legally adopted by super villain Stefano DiMera at a very young age following the deaths of their parents; however, their mother Rachel was later revealed to be alive.^[10][11] Peter is known for his relationship and marriage to Jennifer Horton and contracting the jungle madness illness.

Franco Kelly[edit]

Franco Kelly, played by Victor Alfieri from June 1996 to October 1998, first came to Salem to model for Titan. It was soon revealed that Kate Roberts hired him to break up Bo and Hope Brady so that her daughter Billie Reed could reunite with her former lover Bo. After Franco was exposed he tried to con Sami Brady into marriage so that he could hide from his mob past and obtain a real green card. Kate planned revenge on Sami by exposing Franco's true motives at their wedding. Before the wedding could take place, Sami discovered the truth and announced that she was going to "kill that bastard". Franco meanwhile, attempted to beat and kill Kate for threatening him but was stopped when Lucas Horton shot Franco, killing him.

Kate wanted to protect Lucas and staged the scene to look like Sami killed Franco. Sami was put on trial and sentenced to death by lethal injection. In early June 1999, Sami nearly died but was saved when Lucas and Franco's old mob boss, Roberto, both confessed to the murder at the last minute. Although Lucas was the real shooter, the police believed a dying Roberto's confession. The truth of Franco's real murderer was never revealed except to Sami and Brandon Walker.

Eliana[edit]

Eliana, played by Ann Werner,^[12] was the long-time housekeeper of Stefano Dimera at the DiMera mansion. Ann Werner left the show to pursue a writing career, and the character of Eliana was said to have retired.

Father Timothy Jansen[edit]

Played by three different actors from 1996–2008, Father Jansen has been a consistent figure for the church going citizens of Salem at weddings, funerals and death-beds. He has been played by Michael O'Neil (1996), Jim Beaver (96-97, 2000, 2002–03), and James Lancaster (2003–2005, 2008).

Bart Beiderbecke[edit]

Bart Beiderbecke is a longtime DiMera family associate portrayed by Steve Blackwood. Introduced in 1997, he was originally the right-hand man of Dr. Wilhelm Rolf. Following his death, Bart became Tony's loyal assistant. He appears to be the only member of the DiMera organization who feels any remorse for the pain that is inflicted upon the citizens of Salem as a result of the DiMeras' influence. However, he is smart enough to keep his mouth closed around Tony and Stefano when it comes to this. After Tony's failed attempt at escaping from prison, Bart was seen occasionally for a little longer before vanishing from the canvas completely. When Bart returned two years later, he was assigned the task of killing Sami Brady, a task which he attempted to complete by drugging her and tying her up inside her car, which was filling with carbon monoxide. He failed, however, when EJ DiMera rescued her.

On August 3, 2007, Bart died when he was stabbed by André DiMera during a sword fight between Andre and Tony DiMera. Stefano mourned Bart's death and is now concerned that Bart may not have made sure that the key to ending the vendetta was kept out of Tony's possession.

Steven "Jonesy" Jones[edit]

Jonesy, played by Robert Mandan from 1997–1998, was Vivian's bizarre husband and caretaker of the DiMera townhouse in Salem. Vivian was first interested in Jonesy because she thought he owned the expensive townhouse and all of its treasures. Vivian accomplished this by hosting a mock séance in which the real Flora Dora told Jonesy to move on with Vivian. Jonesy was not a well man and Vivian and he married in England, with Susan Banks and Edmund Crumb standing up for them. Jonesy died of a heart attack after consummating the marriage. Vivian inherited all of Jonesy's treasures which forced Stefano, the original owner of the townhouse, to marry Vivian in order to reclaim his possessions.

Wilhelm Rolf[edit]

Wilhelm Rolf has been portrayed by William Utay from September 19, 1997, to June 12, 2003, and June 4, 2007, to September 24, 2008, and again briefly from October 20 to November 21, 2017. Introduced in September 1997, Dr. Wilhelm Rolf was the DiMera family's jack-of-all-trades and was responsible for: saving Roman's life from jungle fever, brainwashing Hope in order to turn her into Princess Gina, orchestrating the infamous baby switch using his niece Margo's daughter, creating the Gemini Twins (Rex and Cassie Brady), and erasing Patch's and John's memories. He was 'killed' in June 2003 when a crate landed on him and his corpse was subsequently used to fake Larry Welch's death. Utay reprised his role in 2017 from October 20 to October 31.^[13][14]

Rolf returned from the dead, explaining that his death "didn't take." He assumed his old position as a lackey for the DiMeras when he was instructed to kill Sami by poisoning her food at the hospital. After Marlena put Stefano in a coma, Rolf became John's butler. Unbeknownst to John, Rolf began helping Marlena try to repair the disc that contains his memories. Rolf obeyed both John and Marlena in order to avoid jail time for many of his past evil deeds. His character frequently provided comic relief by dressing up in silly costumes or cracking one-liners, often in collaboration with Stefano's other henchman Bart Beiderbecke.

In 2017, Clyde Weston (James Read) reveals that Rolf told him that Sami's late son Will Horton (Chandler Massey) is alive, therefore exonerating Clyde's deranged son Ben (Robert Scott Wilson) of the crime. On Oct. 24, 2017, after claiming to have revived the corpse of Will Horton while posing as a medical examiner in Salem, Rolf ingested a cyanide capsule and committed suicide as Sami Brady and Hope Brady looked on.

On October 31, 2017 Rolf once again returned from the dead in a dream sequence, revived by Ben to bring his victims back to life. The pair later strangle Kayla Brady to death. Rolf dug up the graves of Serena Mason and Paige Larson, the two killing Chad, Abby and Lani respectively. Confronted by a surprised Hope and Rafe, Rolf turns her into Princess Gina via satellite and has Gina murder Rafe via lipstick laced with poison. Hope snaps out of it demanding to know what Rolf made her do. This is ultimately revealed as a nightmare of Abby's

Dr. Debra Thomas[edit]

Debra, played by Paige Rowland, is an ex-girlfriend of Mike Horton's with whom he reunited with in Rome, in 1997. Debra and Mike did not reunite romantically but this did not stop Carrie from getting jealous. Sami became aware of Carrie' feelings towards Debra and Mike and used this turn of events to push Mike and Carrie closer together so she could be with Austin.

Edmund Crumb[edit]

Edmund Phineas Crumb, played by Adam Caine from January 8, 1998, to May 8, 1998. Edmund is the husband of Susan Banks and the stepfather of EJ DiMera.

Edmund was a soft-hearted and somewhat dimwitted pilot who fell in love with Susan Banks after Susan came to stay at his mother Violet's pub in England. Edmund came to Salem to find Susan, who was a suspect in Kristen's murder, and proposed to her. It wasn't Susan, however, but actually Kristen posing as Susan without anyone else knowing. Edmund and Kristen married while the real Susan was held prisoner in an island harem. Susan escaped and found Edmund and Kristen shortly after Edmund confessed to "Susan" that he accidentally killed Kristen. When Edmund saw both Kristen and Susan he was confused as to whom he had accidentally murdered. It turns out it was Susan's other sister, Penelope Kent. Susan forgave Edmund and they locked Kristen up in the harem and raised baby Elvis together in England.

Lili Faversham[edit]

Ms. Faversham, played by Millicent Martin from 1998–2001, was an eccentric older woman from Lugano, Switzerland. Ms Faversham had lost a great deal of art treasures due to theft and was close friends with Princess Gina Von Amberg. Ms. Faversham recognized Hope as one of her European high society friends, Princess Gina von Amberg and believed that the resemblance meant that Hope was Gina. At one point, Ms. Faversham insisted that Hope accompany her on the Empress Express. Stefano was one of the honored guests of the gathering, and is using the name Rudolfo Meradi. The train derailed with them all aboard but there were no serious injuries. Ms. Faversham learned the truth about the real Princess Gina but befriended Hope and Greta anyway. She moved briefly to Salem where she recognized Vivian Alamain. Lili was the one to finally recognize that the real Princess Gina was posing as Hope in Salem because of a scar that only Gina could have had. She returned to Switzerland and has not been seen since.

Jan Spears[edit]

Jan Spears, played by three actresses: Natalie Ramsey (1999), Heather Lauren Olson (1999 to 2002; November 2003 to April 6, 2004) and Heather Lindell (April 6, 2004 to May 19, 2005), was introduced as the mean girl at Salem High. Jan was one of the first girls to taunt Chloe Lane and call her "Ghoul Girl" and was responsible for putting pictures of a naked Chloe up on the internet. Jan's boyfriend, Jason Masters, was a real jerk and she finally had enough of him while on an Island. Also while on the Island, Nicole's father, Paul Mendez, rapes Jan, giving her gonorrhea and leaving her pregnant. Jan is humiliated but Shawn felt bad and promised to marry her and raise the baby as their own, devastating Belle. Jan lost the baby and left town. When Jan returned years later, her parents were dead and she was still obsessed with Shawn. Nicole also convinced a deeply disturbed Jan to help her kill Victor Kiriakis which she did (later it was revealed that Victor survived). Jan kidnapped Shawn and held him prisoner in a cage. When Shawn escaped he crashed his motorcycle and lost his memory. He woke up thinking that he wanted to be with Jan and she manipulated him until he regained his memory. Jan's grip on Shawn was loosening so she blackmailed Mimi to help her keep Shawn. Mimi and Jan argued and Jan fell, hitting her head on a rock. Jan remains in a coma. Jan was last mentioned by Nicole while on a dinner date with Phillip Kiriakis, April 2008.

Conner Lockhart[edit]

Conner David Lockhart is the youngest child of David and Bonnie Lockhart. The character was played by Austin Wolff as a child during the summer of 1999, and Noah Segan took over the role on a temporary basis on January 8, 2007. Recasting Segan in the role aged the character to his late teens. Conner left town with Mimi to live in Arizona.

See also[edit]

• 
  Days of Our Lives characters


• 
  Days of Our Lives characters (1960s)


• 
  Days of Our Lives characters (1970s)


• 
  Days of Our Lives characters (1980s)


• 
  Days of Our Lives characters (2000s)


• 
  Days of Our Lives characters (2010s)


• 
  Days of Our Lives cast members


• List of previous Days of Our Lives cast members

Notes and references[edit]