Alison Sweeney was just a teenager when she joined Days of our lives as Sami Brady in 1993. Sweeney was a fan of the show before she was cast and suddenly found herself sharing scenes with the actors she once saw. One of them was late Drake Hogestyn, who played Sami’s stepfather, John Black, and died of pancreatic cancer on September 28, a day before he was 71^St birthday. Although John and Sami’s relationship was mostly fragile, Hogestyn and the Sweeneys could not have been more opposite.

“Drake is a big part of my experience of days” shares Sweeney. “I remember meeting him my first day on set. I was so in love with him! I watched when John and Izzy (Stacie Greason) was a thing. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t said that to him in years. But when I did, he was very gentlemanly about it.

Hogestyn led by example on set, helping Sweeney find her way through her first year in Salem. “I learned a lot from him, both with his jokes and funny jokes on set, but also his professionalism,” she explains. “He was always on time to set. His work ethic was second to none and he not only lived by it but tried to bring it into the next generation of actors. I also noticed that he was very generous. He never looked out for himself. He always tried sharing his wisdom with the younger actors, trying to help them learn and understand the drama of the day, helping them succeed.”

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Sweeney has countless happy memories of working with Hogestyn and appreciates how much he looked after her on set. “Sometimes we’d do stunt scenes, and Drake was always really good at knowing how to do that stuff and he’d help me come up with something I’d feel comfortable doing,” she recalls. “I remember a scene way back, Lucas (Bryan R. Dattilo) and Sami were in trouble, and John saved us from Tony (Thaao Penghlis), who was really Andre, and we all had to get out of a club or something. And Drake was just always so considerate and thoughtful that I was comfortable with the staging of the stunts. He would rehearse it with me anytime and show me little tricks to make it look better on camera.”

His connection with his fan base was also impressive, Sweeney points out. “I mean, back in the day, when we were doing fan events all over the country, women were screaming Drake’s name,” she says. “I know a softball game where his shirt was ripped off him!”

While Sami and John had their own clashes, Sweeney says she and Hogestyn enjoyed acting out their alter egos’ drama. “Drake and I had fun playing out the complicated dynamic between Sami and John,” she reports. “Drake loved the way Sami pushed back against him and never made it easy between them. I loved working with Drake, so it was always hard for me to be the one creating tension as Sami. But sometimes when John did this heroic thing to save Sami, she’d finally get it right, and apologize or begrudgingly say thank you, and Drake and I would have fun building up those moments where John and Sami could enjoy a moment of what they could I’ve been like he really was such a father to her. But of course, over the years, we would remember the defining moment when Sami walked in on John and Marlena at the conference room table wearing the purple dress (1993).

The actress adds that Hogestyn kept tabs on her after she left the soap in 2014. “He would tell me that he and (wife) Victoria love my Hallmark movies,” she smiles. “He said they watched them all the time and when I would come back to visit, he would tell me which ones were their favorites.”

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Sweeney knows Hogestyn’s legacy will loom large both on days set and with the audience. “Drake always brought a genuine, positive joy to every scene,” she concludes. “He knew his lines, cared deeply about doing the best work possible, and always strove to bring that days fans something they can enjoy every day. He will be deeply missed.”

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