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After sharing the screen as Days of Our Lives supercouple Steve and Kayla starting nearly 40 years ago, Stephen Nichols and Mary Beth Evans have amassed some unforgettable moments together. The two actors recently sat down for a video interview with Swoon.com to look back on their incredible run – from their initial meeting to their numerous daytime weddings and everything in between. Here’s a recap of 10 sweet moments from their trip down memory lane.
First Meeting
While Nichols held a copy of the actual audition scene for Kayla in hand, Evans recalled the moment they met. She’d read for Casting Director Doris Sabbagh and was then brought in to read with Nichols in Executive Producer Al Rabin’s office. “I’m wearing my pink silk pinafore-y little dress that I thought was so cute, and he comes in. Back then he had the big scar and the long hair and patch and the leather jacket,” recounted Evans, noting that the scene went well. A callback for a screen test followed, which Evans thought she flunked. “After the audition, she just turned to me and said, ‘Well, that was sh*t,’” recalled Nichols. “I said to myself, ‘I really like this Kayla.’ ”
Putting the Super in Couples
Evans was cast and her pairing with Nichols took off, but the duo didn’t realize their popularity in the beginning. “We were so busy and working so much and working so hard,” shared Nichols. “When we went out on fan events, we didn’t pick up on that. It was much later when we realized there was this ‘supercouple’ thing.”
“Interestingly for us, unlike today’s coupledoms, we were put together from day one, and it’s always been about us,” added Evans. “There were different things that broke us up or whatever, but they always loved each other. They never didn’t love each other. That’s not how it is at all today. I feel like we’re one of the last holdouts in that, but I love it. And I feel so lucky.”
Making Love
Evans chuckled while remembering some of Steve and Kayla’s highlights, “like our first lovemaking session, when I’m like eight months pregnant in real life,” shared the actress, who was expecting her first child at the time. “And they bring in a body double for the ice cubes going down my body scene, which is fine by me because I would always rather be clothed in all situations.”
“She looked good. She looked just like you,” recalled Nichols about the body double. Evans begged to differ. “Never,” she insisted. “I never looked like that, but that’s cool.”
Steve and Kayla’s Greatest Hits
“I’ve been looking at some stuff, and I found a scene with the ASL [American Sign Language] coach, Peggy Reyna. She teaches Kayla the sign for courage,” recalled Nichols, referring to the storyline where Kayla was rendered deaf and mute after an explosion. “I come to the hospital to visit Kayla. She’s still there after the accident, and Mike Horton comes in and says, ‘You’re released.’ And she doesn’t want to go. Mind you, she cannot speak. She cannot hear. But the acting this woman does is just phenomenal… It made me cry. It made me pine for those days like you can’t believe.”
Those scenes were followed up by the couple returning to their apartment and heading up to the rooftop. “I put on a song. I put on ‘Lady in Red.’ And I write on a little pad of paper ‘Lady in Red,’ and I show you,” continued Nichols to Evans. “You kind of smile, and I think we do the courage [sign] again to get you feeling a little better… We start to dance and you flash back to the ‘Lady in Red’ moment that we did at the Cheatin’ Heart …where you get goosed on the pool table.”
Evans won’t ever forget that scene. “When he lifted me up on the pool table this corner totally goosed me. So if you ever see that episode we’re all romantic until I go,” Evans paused to smile and let out a giggle.
“One of my favorite scenes is the taking the patch off and cleaning his face,” added Evans of a tender Steve/Kayla moment. “The trust…. because he was so scared of that. That was really beautiful.”
Wedding Days
Steve and Kayla have had their share of weddings. “I like the first one,” said Evans. “And then I really liked the one that was in that restaurant, the one when our kids were here. There was one in the pub where it was just Abe and Sarah. That was beautiful, too.”
Ron Tom/NBC
For Keeps: Steve and Kayla’s 1988 yacht wedding was their first trip down the aisle.
As for Nichols, he recounted “one in the snow after the whole Jack debacle… [Kayla] needed a break. So I took her on a little trip. I proposed to her, gave her a little ring that I had purchased in Washington, I think. We called it our snowy cathedral. It was beautifully done. It was on set. It wasn’t on location or anything, but they made it look absolutely gorgeous. And then the acting,” Nichols added motioning to Evans.
“It’s both ways,” Evans retorted. “It takes two to tango in this.”
Like Stephen, Like Steve
What qualities does Nichols share with Steve? “That big heart lover thing,” noted Evans. “That is what Patch/Steve has, that the character [he played] on General Hospital didn’t, which is why I think those characters [Nichols’s Stefan and Evans’s Katherine] didn’t gel like these do. It’s his soft, vulnerable side that makes this character, and he brought all of it. It was never written. He brought it, especially in those early days. There was so much damage. And so that’s what I’d say he has in common with [Steve]. You’re a sensitive guy.’’
Like Mary Beth, Like Kayla
Nichols didn’t hesitate when citing the main similarity between Evans and Kayla. “Her dedication and care that she gives to her family – every member,” said Nichols. “It’s all about family. Her whole life is about her kids and her family and now grandkids.”
“I just said that to Abigail [Klein, Stephanie], who plays our daughter,” added Evans. “I throw in so many little things of how I talk to my own daughter. The ‘Dolly,’ the ‘Lover’ … All those things are things I say in my real life. I just like to throw them in there because it makes it feel more personal and more real. And it’s easy with her because she is the doll baby of the century. We’ve been so lucky. I mean she and Shelley [Hennig, ex-Stephanie] could be interchangeable how sweet and beautiful they are.”
Killer Lines
Steve and Kayla’s dialogue has always been warm, loving and, on occasion, a bit sassy. Nichols still recalls one rather sassy line from years gone by. “You were nursing me when you were taking the patch off,” he directed to Evans. “You were sort of cleaning the wounds and everything. [Kayla] said, ‘Oh did that hurt?’ I said, ‘No, baby. That’s ecstasy. That’s not pain that’s ecstasy.’ ”
“You don’t have any?” Nichols asked Evans, who admitted her co-star was “way better” remembering those things than she is. “What about when you were drunk? ‘Mama, get off the stove. That’s no way to ride the range.’ And, ‘Los manos.’ You went like this with your hands,” he said, holding up his hands and flipping them forward and back. “It was the drunk scene. It was hysterical. That’s another favorite, when Kayla was drunk. Oh my God. She was so funny.”
Connection
Evans believes Steve and Kayla’s chemistry stems from her and Nichols’s tight real-life friendship. “The two of us have a very a great personal connection,” she pointed out. “I think we really love each other and respect each other as people. From the very beginning we always worked so hard. We always ran our lines a million times. There’s people that we work with you never run a line with until you walk out on the set. But we always make a point [of it].”
Steve and Kayla Forever
Because of that connection, both actors agree that their characters should forever remain a couple moving forward. “Absolutely,” proclaimed Nichols. “There is no way. If they ever broke us up I would quit. I’d walk.”
“Okay. That’s extreme. That’s extreme,” retorted Evans.
But Nichols doubled down. “I’m telling you. This is what it is,” he reiterated. “It’s got to stay [this way].”
