Deidre Hall
Deidre Hall has
emerged as one of America's most beloved actresses and delighted her fans in
August 1991 with her return to NBC-TV's number one daytime program Days of our
Lives. Hall created the role of Dr. Marlena Evans in 1976, a character, whose
popularity has created a furor and a fan following seldom seen in television.
The favorable regard in which Hall is held has spanned all demographics and
regions. She was named Best Television Role Model; won the prestigious American
Women in Radio and Television (AWRT) award in 1994; garnered five Best Actress
awards from Soap Opera Digest (1982-85, 1995), and broke new ground for daytime
stars when she guested on shows such as The Tonight Show, Night of a Hundred
Stars, a Bob Hope Special, and 20/20 at the birth of her surrogate son.
Hall's most current project, besides Days, is the Deidre Hall Timeless
Collection, a unique assortment of costume jewelry that launched May 1996. The
initial collection consists of 17 pieces, including two having a Days theme: the
Marlena charm bracelet and an hourglass pendant.
In 1995, Deidre and husband Steve Sohmer created Never Say Never - the Deidre
Hall Story, in which Deidre starred and executive produced. The ABC television
movie was based on her real life struggle to create a family and the couple's
final choice of surrogacy as their solution.
In 1986, she became the first performer ever to star in both a daytime and
nighttime series when she was cast as Jesse Witherspoon in NBC's Our House. She
left daytime the following year to concentrate on this show and a growing career
in television movies.
Deidre was nominated for two People's Choice Awards for the role of Jesse and
she was nominated two consecutive years as Best Actress by Viewers for Quality
Television. Co-starring with Wilford Brimley, Deidre and her television family
created characters of such value and believability that Our House was the first
television series to win a Viewers for Quality Television Seal of Approval.
Deidre proved her marketability in movies-of-the-week, with great ratings
winners. In the NBC movie, Take My Daughters, Please, Deidre played a high
fashion business executive - a role that allowed her to put her flair for comedy
to good use. She followed this with a multi-episode arc in Stephen Cannell's hit
series Wiseguy, playing against type as the scheming, alcoholic wife of a
billionaire-recording executive. An NBC Perry Mason movie-of-the-week, The Cast
of the All Star Assassin, followed, as did a Columbo movie-of-the-week that was
the highest rated mystery movie of the year and the first show to beat Hunter in
four years.
In 1991, Deidre starred along with Richard Crenna and Rachel Ward in the popular
mini-series And the Sea Will Tell, based on the best-selling novel by Vincent
Bugliosi. The mini-series was a huge success and helped CBS post its first
sweeps win in years. She followed that by starring in an NBC movie For the Very
First Time, as a puritanical, oversexed Catholic mother of five and, in 1993,
another ratings winner also for the Peacock network, Woman on the Ledge. In
February 1995, Deidre starred in the NBC miniseries Op Center, which was
executive produced and written by Hall's husband Steve Sohmer.
Deidre performed on stage for the first time in A.R. Gurney's Love Letters,
appearing in two separate runs, due to popular demand. Later, at a time when
Love Letters had reached its audience saturation point and had scheduled its
last performance, Deidre was able to again fill the house for one of her
favorite charities.
Deidre's elegant fashion statements have not gone unnoticed in the press. Twice
naming her the Best Dressed Woman, she was also named one of America's ten most
beautiful women by TV Guide. Hall has graced the covers of national and regional
magazines such as People, Woman, Woman's Own, TV Guide, Woman's World, McCalls,
Family Circle, Shape, Los Angeles Magazine, Beverly Hills (213), Orange Coast
and First For Women.
Being a woman of action, Deidre is compelled to respond to serious social issues
with the same fervor with which she addresses important career choices and
business decisions. Since becoming a mother, she has been a tireless advocate
for children's issues. Deidre believes that every child has the birthright to be
loved, nurtured, protected and educated. It is because of this belief that Hall
has produced a Days of our Lives cast calendar. All proceeds benefit the Bien
Venidos Children's Center; a multi-faceted facility dedicated to providing care
for children who have been removed from unsafe homes.
On New Year's Eve, 1991, Deidre was married to best-selling author and former
Columbia Studios Chief, Steve Sohmer, in a traditional ceremony held in a 17th
century English manor house. Together, the couple are the proud parents of David
Atticus Sohmer, and Tully Chapin Sohmer, both miracle babies via surrogate
birth.
Born on Halloween as an identical twin, Deidre resides in Los Angeles with her
husband Steve and sons David and Tully; plus Freckles, the Basset; Lucy, the
Bulldog; Peeps and Percy, the house cats; and, Dennis, the squirrel.