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Who Is the Longest-Running Actor on Days of Our Lives? A Tribute to Suzanne Rogers
For more than half a century, Suzanne Rogers has embodied the role of Maggie Horton Kiriakis, a farm girl-turned-savvy businesswoman overcoming paralysis, addiction, and even her own "murder" during her lengthy run on Days of Our Lives.
Over five decades of scheming, cheating, and conniving on Days of Our Lives, there’s one woman who has been there to see it all.
Suzanne Rogers has played redhead Maggie Horton Kiriakis for more than 50 years, earning her the distinction as the longest-running actor on Days of Our Lives, which will air its 15,000th episode on December 2, 2024 on Peacock.
Since she first brought the character to life in 1973, Maggie has relearned to walk, conquered alcohol addiction, shot a drug dealer, survived her own “murder” by the Salem Stalker, and been buried alive — all while juggling her children, several husbands, playing a mother figure to others and operating several successful businesses.
Who is the longest-running actor on Days of Our Lives?
Suzanne Rogers is the longest-running actor on Days of Our Lives, playing Maggie Horton Kiriakis.
“I can’t believe it’s been 50 years,” Rogers told TV Insider last year of the milestone. “I’m honored and touched to still be on the show.”
Who is Suzanne Rogers?
Rogers was born Suzanne Cecelia Crumpler. She changed her professional name to Suzanne Rogers in honor of her film and dance inspiration Ginger Rogers, according to her bio on Soap Hub.
Like Ginger, Rogers began her career as a dancer, becoming a Rockette at Radio City Music Hall when she was just 17 years old. She also danced on Broadway in productions like Follies, Coco, and Hallelujah Boy before moving to Los Angeles in 1973. That same year, she auditioned for Days of Our Lives and secured the life-changing role of Maggie.
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“I went under contract in 1974, and didn’t really know what I was signing up for,” Rogers told The Spin Off in 2015. “I had done theater, musicals and commercials. I had done a few nighttime things but nothing major.”
To immerse herself in the world of soap operas, she started watching them herself.
“I immediately loved the genre, how you were flying by the seat of your pants all the time,” she said. “You have to concentrate, you have to know exactly what you were doing, you have to get your lines out perfectly, and fast. And above all, you have to be professional. It was all up my alley.”
What has Maggie Horton done on Days of Our Lives?
As Maggie, Rogers was first introduced to audiences as a farm girl who was unable to walk after an auto accident that killed her parents. One of the show’s anchors, Mickey Horton, played by John Clarke, was struggling with amnesia when he stumbled onto her rural farm, according to Soap Central. Mickey had no memory of his wife, Laura, back home and Maggie and Mickey quickly fell in love.
In one of Rogers’ favorite storylines, Mickey helped her walk again by inspiring her to undergo an operation by leaving a pair of red shoes at the hospital for her.
“Those shoes gave her the hope that some day she’d walk on her own again,” Rogers said. “After Maggie had her operation, she wasn’t sure if Mickey would leave her or not. Seeing the shoes made her realize that he wanted her to get well. He promised to take her out dancing in her red shoes.”
Maggie learned to walk again and Maggie and Mickey eventually got married — after he regained his memory and worked all that out with his first wife. But in the late 1970s, Maggie slipped into an addiction with alcohol as the biological mother of her adopted daughter Melissa fought her for custody. Her struggle to regain her sobriety helped her earn a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in 1979.
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That same year, her character Maggie tangled with a drug dealer after unwittingly selling some canes with cocaine hidden inside, according to Soap Central. When the drug dealer came looking for his goods, she shot him with his own gun.
Rogers briefly left the show in 1984 after being diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune disorder, but returned the next year to resume the role of Maggie.
Maggie and Mickey’s relationship was challenged after supervillain Stefano kidnapped Mickey and held him hostage while she fell in love with another man — but they reunited after Mickey broke free of Stefano’s grasp and she helped nurse him back to health after a gunshot wound. It wouldn’t be the last time Maggie had eyes for another man, but for the most part, Mickey remained her love interest in the decades that followed until his death in 2010.
Maggie even once survived her own death in 2003. She — along with many other beloved Days of Lives characters — was the victim of The Salem Stalker, a ruthless serial killer knocking off Salem residents one by one. But in a surprise twist the next year, Maggie and all the other victims were found to be alive on an island where they were secretly being kept.
Rogers told TV Insider even she didn’t know her character would get the last-minute reprieve until she was called into a meeting with executive producer Ken Corday months later and given the news before the “victims” were reintroduced to the rest of the cast.
“Everyone was stunned,” she said. “It was shocking and exciting.”
After Mickey’s death, Maggie started a new romance with one of Salem’s somewhat reformed resident bad boys Victor Kiriakis (John Aniston) — once getting buried alive by Victor’s angry wife before Victor came to her rescue. They eventually married and remained a couple until Victor’s death in 2023.
How long has Suzanne Rogers been on Days of Our Lives?
Victor’s funeral was turned into a special episode to mark Rogers’ 50-year milestone on the show. The episode, airing Aug. 18, 2023, served as a tribute to Maggie and the men she’d loved since her start on the show a half a century earlier, according to Soap Hub.
Rogers spoke to The Spin Off about her longevity on the daytime drama after celebrating her 40-year anniversary on the show years earlier.
“I’m just happy to be part of such a wonderful organization,” she said at the time. “I love my job, I’m so excited to get a script every week. It doesn’t feel like 40 years because I’ve enjoyed every moment. I think that’s the trick to any job—if you enjoy what you’re doing it will just fly by.”
Rogers, who marked her 51st year on the popular soap in August, continues to spend the days of her life playing a character she has perfectly encapsulated for decades.
