STEFANO SAYS A FINAL FAREWELL

Fans of Days mourn the death of Joseph Mascolo, who brought the devilish DiMera patriarch to the small screen

HE WAS dubbed the Phoenix and – just like the mythical bird that rose from the ashes – Stefano DiMera resurfaced time and again to wreak misery and mayhem on his hapless victims. But this time his demise is final: Joseph Mascolo, who played the villainous Stefano for more than three decades on daytime soap opera Days Of Our Lives, died recently at the age of 87. And for millions of the soapie’s fans, the actor’s death heralds the end of an era.

Viewers in the USA – which is ahead of South Africa in the show’s schedule – were still expecting Stefano to return to torture the residents of Salem anew, despite the fact he’d been shot three times in the chest by Hope Brady in February. This was, after all, the pop-back-up scoundrel who’d come back to life after “dying” a whopping 12 times.

But health reasons made Joseph call it quits for good early this year. “Last spring I had a small stroke,” Joseph explained in January, announcing his retirement from a role he’d played masterfully since 1982. “During my rehab I thought this would be a good time for Stefano to leave.

“The producers visited me and we worked out a tentative plan and the writers beefed up the storyline.”

Here in South Africa, Days lovers would have last seen Stefano embroiled in a feud with longtime archrival Sami Brady, girlfriend of his son EJ and the mother of the diabolical crook’s grandchildren.

Local fans of the soapie have had to rearrange their lives around the show’s new time slot after the SABC’s then-CEO Hlaudi Motsoeneng decided to introduce sweeping changes to accommodate his plan of having 90 percent local content.

Days was first ditched – but after a backlash from fans it was given a new time slot and a different channel: 11.30 pm on weekdays on SABC3. Still, nothing is too much for die-hard fans, who were shocked and saddened at the news of Joseph’s passing – from complications arising from Alzheimer’s disease.

Alison Sweeney, who plays Sami, took to Twitter to express her admiration for the man she sparred with so vociferously on TV. “I always had a sense of awe to work with Joe. He will be greatly missed,” she wrote.

Throughout his tenure as the resident baddie, soap connoisseurs praised Joseph’s portrayal of Stefano, who was as loyal and loving to his family as he was harsh and horrible to his many enemies.

“For decades Days has used Stefano as a catalyst for outrageous tales but Mascolo’s deft grasp of Stefano’s humanity reminds us that he’s so much more than a moustache-twirling baddie,” American magazine Soap Opera Digest said.

Salem will never be the same again.

‘Joseph was a big ol’ bear with a puppy dog heart’