Wishful Casting: Nicolas Coster as DAYS' Bill Horton for Alice's Exit Storyline
In an exclusive statement to Soap Opera Digest concerning what comeback sudser of the decade, Days of Our Lives will be doing to address the passing of Frances Reid (Alice Horton) on screen, executive producer Ken Corday mentioned how tricky it will be bring back the character of Alice's son Dr. Bill Horton to help memorialize Alice, since both Ed Mallory, who portrayed the role from 1966-1980 and Chris Stone—the last actor to play the character— are deceased. Allow lil' old me to offer up a suggestion. Veteran soap actor Nicolas Coster should be tapped to assume the legendary role of Bill Horton.
Okay Santa Barbara fans, you already know where I am heading, but for those who didn't have the extreme, spiritual pleasure of partaking in the best daytime soap opera ever, Coster appeared opposite the fabulicious Louise Sorel (Vivian) on SB as wealthy cad Lionel to her not-so-long suffering Augusta.
Based loosely on the real-life marriage of SB's creators Bridget and Jerome Dobson, Lionel and Augusta Wainright Lockridge were without a doubt the most witty, urbane, glamorous, sexy soap couple for grownups daytime has ever seen— and this is coming from someone who fell in love with them as an 8-year-old boy!
Wouldn't it be a treat for longtime NBC soap fans for Bill, as played by Coster, to stick around after visiting his ailing mother long enough to have a madcap run in with Salem's resident whackadoodle sociopath, Vivian Alamain? Maybe Bill has changed his speciality to psychiatry and is consulted by his ex-wife Laura (in my wildest dreams, B&B would loan out original Laura, Susan Flannery) who could be back in town and treating Viv after one of her criminally insane plots against Carly (Crystal Chappell) lands her back at a funny farm.
Recommended Articles
Being a notorious hound, Bill could end up sleeping with Viv, causing Laura to realize that after all these years he still hasn't changed. Hey, the guy did rape Laura when she was married to his brother Mickey, fathering Mike;then there was his affair with Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow) which produced Lucas (Bryan Datillo). Why not have a bit of fun with Bill's rich, nasty history while he's in town? Sleeping with one of his mental patients would be child's play for the Horton blacksheep!
Since an MVID is worth a thousand posts, I will offer the following clip as part of my sales pitch. If you can come away from seeing Coster and Sorel's particular brand of magic on Santa Barbara without creaming your knickers well then you might better have a doctor take a look at your hormone levels!
