Deidre Hall, celebrating 50 years as Marlena Evans on “Days of Our Lives,” playfully slapped “Today” anchor Craig Melvin during a Friday, June 19 appearance—complete with a warning to be careful and a staged moment that left Melvin joking through it.
Craig Melvin didn’t expect his “Today” interview to end with a slap.
Deidre Hall, the “Days of Our Lives” star who has played Marlena Evans for 50 years, stepped onto the NBC morning show Friday, June 19, to mark the milestone. Before viewers saw a montage of her most memorable on-screen slaps, Melvin teased her on camera.
“What I’ve always enjoyed is your ability to slap. You are a great slapper,” he said.
He then made his request right there in the studio: “It would be one of the greatest professional honors of my life if you would slap me.” Hall agreed, telling him she would be “privileged.”
The moment became choreography. The two stood up facing each other as Melvin urged the 78-year-old TV legend to “be careful” with him. Hall joked, “Forget it,” before walking him through what was about to happen.
“I’m going to draw my hand back,” she said, lifting her arm into the air. “And I’m going to come very close to your face. And when you feel that happening, you’re going to snap your head,” she told the journalist.
“You ready?” Hall asked. Then she launched toward him. Melvin lunged forward, steadying himself in the process and covering his eye with one hand. His reaction was a mix of surprise and humor: “Oh, my God! My God! My God!”
When the pair finally took their seats, Melvin shifted back to the reason Hall was on the show in the first place—her long-running role on “Days of Our Lives,” which she joined in 1976. He asked Hall what her plans were for her future on the soap.
“As long as my key card opens the gate, I’m there,” she said. “It’s my family. I love that place.”
Deidre Hall Craig Melvin Today show Days of Our Lives Marlena Evans interview slapping stunt NBC