The Many Days of His Life: [Home Edition]

When NBC's "Days of Our Lives" began 25 years ago Thursday, Macdonald Carey was there playing Dr. Tom Horton, a role he still plays.

Carey has received two Emmy Awards as outstanding actor in daytime series and received the Soap Opera Award twice as outstanding actor in a mature role. Besides Carey, two others remain from the original cast: Frances Reid, who plays Dr. Horton's wife, Alice, and John Clarke, who plays their son, Mickey.

A native of Sioux City, Iowa, Carey began his acting career on the Broadway stage and has appeared in more than 50 motion pictures, including, "Shadow of a Doubt," "Dream Girl" and "The Streets of Lardeo." He also is an author and has published three volumes of poetry.

Carey talked about the days of his life with Susan King.

Did you have any inkling the show would last this long?

I always tell the classic story of Ken Corday (the producer) calling me and offering me the part on the show. Originally, the Hortons were the whole thing. It was just me and my family. He called and said, `You may be stuck with this show for 10 years.' I said, "Oh, I don't care." I couldn't get a movie in those days. So I did it and look, here we are.

I remember (Corday) was marvelous. He said, "I can't pay you for it, but I will also give you the announcing job too." Thank God he did because it kept me in there even when I wasn't in the plot line.

Are you now on the series every day?

They are always coming back to us. The show...