Alice Horton (Frances Reid) is a legendary figure in Salem, present since the first episodes of Days and the maternal presence cast over subsequent generations of the show’s central family. Although she provided the strong backbone to her flawed family for decades, things were a lot less than smooth in her life. Alice faced losing children to terrible accidents, misdiagnosed diseases and other troubles. She also faced down death more than once, nearly mangled by a robot at Salem General Hospital and apparently offed by the Salem strangler, ironically with her famous donuts. Although she, like the other victims, actually survived, she gradually disappeared from stories in subsequent years before dying in 2010.
Dr. Tom Horton
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Alice’s husband, Dr. Tom Horton (Macdonald Carey), helped her raise their five children. He was a leading doctor in Salem and eventually became the chief of staff at University Hospital. Although hardly a dark character, Tom did lead something of a double life. He used to dress up in disguise and read the poetry he wrote under a pseudonym.
Second Generation
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Tom “Tommy” Horton Jr. (John Lupton) was Addie’s twin brother and the eldest son of his generation of the family. He left Salem as a young man and was presumed dead in the Korean War in 1953. Nearly fifteen years later, the character returned under the name of Dr. Mark Brooks. He had been injured in the war, giving him amnesia, while plastic surgery had changed his face. Before recovering his identity, he nearly married his sister Marie. It was only thanks to Tom and Alice figuring out who he was that incest was avoided. He returned to his former wife Kitty (Regina Gleason), though their relationship floundered thanks to her lusts for other men. After a divorce, and more failed relationships, he left for Hawaii.
Addie Horton
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Tommy’s twin sister Addie Horton (Patricia Huston, Patricia Barry) married Ben Olson and had two children. They briefly lived in Paris, leaving daughter Julie in Salem. After Ben died in 1971, Addie returned to the States where she quickly fell for Doug Williams (Bill Hayes). Untrusting, she had him investigated and learned he was a conman. That didn’t get in the way. Neither did his relationship with Julie. Addie convinced Doug to elope with her and they had a child, Hope Williams. Unfortunately, Addie also developed leukemia. Even more unfortunate, when it started to go into remission, she was run over by a car and killed.
Mickey Horton
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Mickey Horton (John Clarke, John Ingle) was a lawyer. He married Laura (Susan Flannery, Jamie Lyn Bauer), but their relationship was unhappy. He was sterile, and she was impregnated after being raped by his brother, Bill. Although he had an affair with his secretary, he tried to mend the relationship with Laura. This was stymied when he had a stroke that gave him amnesia. He stumbled on Maggie Simmons (Susan Rodgers) at her farm and they were later married. He brought her to Salem to have her paralysis operated on, but soon found the Hortons reminding him of who he was. He refused to acknowledge this, and this was only exacerbated when Linda Patterson (Margaret Mason) tried to win him back. Eventually, his memories started to be triggered and he decided to kill Bill for what he did years before. After the failed murder attempt he was put in a mental hospital. Shortly after his release, he was abducted by Stefano DiMera (Joe Mascolo). He eventually escaped but was shot in a gang fight, only to wind up being nursed back to health by Maggie, which managed to reunite the divorced couple. Although they both had affairs in the following years, they tried to stick it out until his death.
Bill Horton
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Bill Horton (Edward Mallory) was the youngest of his siblings. He romanced Laura early in life and hoped to be a surgeon. However, he was stricken with bone tuberculosis and assumed his career was over. He left Salem, returning years later with amnesiac Mickey. After regaining the use of his hands, he got drunk and raped Laura, jealous of her marrying Mickey. He impregnated her in the process. Although this was kept silent, Kitty got evidence of the child’s parentage to blackmail him. He wound up murdering her and going to prison. After his release, he and Laura fell in love again. This was helped by her husband Mickey getting amnesia and running away. Although Bill and Laura married and had a daughter, Jennifer Rose, their relationship was strained, especially since he had an affair with Kate Roberts (Lauren Koslow). Once Laura was institutionalized following a mental breakdown, Bill left their daughter with Alice and exited town, only rarely returning briefly.
Marie Horton
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Marie Horton (Maree Cheatham) went through a series of failed engagements with different men before falling into depression. She then wound up marrying Craig Merritt (David McLean), the father of Tony (Ron Husmann), her former fiancé. After miscarrying their child, she began hallucinating. Craig divorced her when his son returned, desperate for a reunion with Marie. That failed and she became a lab tech, falling in love with Dr. Brooks, who turned out to be her long-lost brother Tommy. Horrified by all of this, she eventually became a nun. But before that, she had an affair with Alex Marshall (Quinn K. Redeker) and gave birth to a daughter that she gave up. Years later, she broke her vows and reunited with Alex as they tried to reconcile with their daughter, Jessica, who had multiple personalities which wrought havoc on their lives. Eventually, Marie left Alex and almost entered into a rivalry with Liz Chandler (Gloria Loring) for Neil Curtis (Joseph Gallison), before bitterly leaving Salem.
Third generation
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Sandy Horton (Heather North, Pamela Roylance) was the daughter of Tommy and Kitty. She spent much of her early life with Tom and Alice and had a hard time dealing with her back-from-the-dead amnesiac father returning to the scene. Sandy had an even harder time in her relationships. After becoming a doctor at University Hospital, she was engaged to Evan Whyland (Lane Davies). After he broke it off, she wished him dead. Unfortunately, she later had to operate on him and he died due to a medical mishap. She was suspected of foul play but eventually cleared.
Julie Olson
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Julie Olson (Susan Seaforth-Hayes) is the daughter of Addie and Ben Olson (Robert Knapp). When her parents moved to Europe, she was raised by Tom and Alice and became a rebellious teenager with a penchant for stealing the beaus of her friends and family. She had an affair with her friend Susan’s husband. After he was murdered by his wife, Julie gave up their child for adoption, later suing for his return and marrying the adoptive father. Julie soon started having an affair with her mother’s lover, Doug. It took several marriages to other men, miscarriages, and numerous ruined lives in the process before the timing was right for Julie and Doug to marry. It wasn’t any easier for her to have civil relations with her various children, who tended to resent her. Life with Doug took a grim turn when his club fell on hard times and she was raped by Larry Atwood (Fred Beir), who was soon after murdered and the blame fell on her. She was eventually cleared, only to be disfigured in an oven explosion. She and Doug married and divorced numerous times, and she was nearly murdered by one of his wives, Lee DuMonde (Brenda Benet). More near-deaths would follow, until she and Doug finally reunited and left to travel for years, eventually returning to provide her support to younger generations of the family.
Steven Olson
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Steven Olson (Stephen Schnetzer) was the oldest child of Addie and Ben. He moved to Paris with his family and stayed there after his parents returned to the States. When he eventually came to Salem at the end of the 1970s, he was embroiled in drug dealing, which quickly led to him fleeing for his life and never reappearing.
Hope Williams
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Hope Williams (Kristian Alfonso) is the daughter of Doug and Addie. After Addie’s death, she was sent to boarding school, returning years later and nearly marrying Larry Welch (Andrew Hyatt Masset) at Doug’s urging, only to run off with Bo Brady (Peter Reckell). They started a family, but she was soon assumed dead following an explosion. An amnesiac Hope reappeared years later with the memories of Gina implanted in her mind by Stefano DiMera. Although she eventually recovered her original personality, she also had sex with several men and become pregnant. Luckily, it turned out Bo was the father. Unluckily, Larry Welch returned from the dead to try and kill her. Once he went back to being dead, Hope apparently died again, this time being transported to Melaswen by the Salem stalker. When she returned to the land of the living and life as a detective, her son, Zack, was killed in a car accident. She had an affair with Patrick Lockhart (Brody Hutzler) and Bo continued to be pulled away from her by his old flames, Billie (Lisa Rinna) and Carly (Crystal Chappell). After Alice’s death, Bo and Hope were reunited once again, if briefly. He left on assignment from the ISA. In his absence, she attempted to move on with Aiden Jennings (Daniel Cosgrove). They married and he tried to kill her, only to be killed by Bo, who then died. It turned out that was only a doppelganger and Aiden returned to torture Hope when she tried to move on with Rafe Hernandez (Galen Gering).
Melissa Horton
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Melissa Horton (Debbie Lytton, Lisa Trusel) was adopted by Mickey and Maggie. She was abducted by Pete Jannings (Michael Leon) and they fell in love. This was complicated when he accidentally shot Mickey and later when her birth mother, Linda Patterson (Margaret Mason), returned and drugged him to fake them having an affair. Linda’s war on her daughter continued as Melissa went into hiding after ratting out some drug dealers. She was brought back to town, but things were tense with Pete and they both had affairs with other people. Peter eventually left her and she became entangled with Jack Deveraux (Matthew Ashford), but dumped him after realizing that he was using her to further his political ambitions. In the following years, she would move between several violent men while trying to sabotage her sister Jennifer’s relationship with Jack. Finally, with her little sister Sarah in tow, she moved to Nashville to try and revive her singing career.
Mike Horton
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Mike Horton (Michael T. Weiss, Roark Critchlow) is the biological son of Laura and Bill but was raised to believe his father was Mickey, who he had a strained relationship with. His true parentage was revealed following an accident that nearly killed him and turned him on his birth parents as well. After years in debt and barely scraping by, Mike decided to become a doctor and his bad luck with women continued. They tended to either die of terrible diseases, get shot, or were married to other men. Dealing with his family wasn’t any easier. He saved Laura from drug addiction and was used by his half-brother Lucas in his attempts to win Sami and by Sami in her attempts to win Austin. He also fell afoul of Craig (Kevin Spirtas) and Nancy Wesley (Patrika Darbo) as they schemed for top spot at the hospital and hired a woman to drug him and drag him to bed to create scandal. This failed and Mike got the job. Craig and Nancy then pushed mentally ill nurse Ali McIntyre to accuse Mike of sexual harassment. Carrie supported him in all of this, and they finally wound up together as she ended things with Austin. Mike and Carrie moved to Israel so he could be closer to his son, Jeremy.
Jennifer Horton
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The daughter of Bill and Laura, Jennifer Horton (Melissa Reeves) was a rebellious runaway, frequently in danger. She settled down a little when she moved in with grandparents Tom and Alice. In high school, she became involved with Frankie Brady (Billy Warlock) and they were briefly engaged. She became a reporter for the Salem Spectator where her boss Jack Deveraux quickly fell for her. He wound up kidnapping her to keep her from marrying her boyfriend Emilio Ramirez (Bill Hufsey), a former gang member. After saving her life during the Cruise of Deception, they become close. In a bid to entrap Lawrence Alamain (Michael Sabatino), she agreed to marry him and he raped her. It was only later that she told this to Jack and they worked together to send Lawrence to jail before getting married. Their daughter Abigail contracted aplastic anemia and Jack left town in shame when it was revealed this was caused by toxic dumping he allowed. Jennifer got involved with drug dealer Peter Blake (Jason Brooks) and Jack returned in time to save her from being murdered. He was sent to prison for Peter’s death but escaped and he and Jennifer joined the circus to hide. Jack was eventually killed by the Salem Stalker, leaving her pregnant with JJ. He came back from the dead numerous times over the years to help her deal with her growing children.
Lucas Horton
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Lucas Horton (Bryan Dattilo) is the son of Bill and Kate Roberts. He didn’t know that when he arrived in Salem, or he might not have fallen for his brother’s girlfriend, Carrie Brady (Christie Clark). Although he and Sami Brady (Alison Sweeney) plotted to break Carrie and Austin (Austin Peck) up, they wound up together. Although he got her pregnant with Will, she tried to hide the parentage. His mother enlisted Nicole Walker (Arianne Zucker) to help him gain custody. Kate spent years trying every underhanded tactic she could to get Sami out of her son’s life and Sami resorted to blackmail to keep her son. He fell for Sami anyway. Unfortunately, she was also involved with EJ DiMera (James Scott) and thanks to some blackmail, they both had sex with her on the same day, impregnating her with twins. The bad blood increased, and Lucas shot EJ on his wedding day to Sami. Lucas’ prison sentence was commuted and he wound up with Chloe Lane (Nadia Bjorlin), raising his daughter Allie. She had an affair, outraging his mother, who tried to murder Chloe. Over the years, he frequently disowned and then reconciled with Kate, working with her on her various enterprises.
Jessica Blake
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Jessica Blake (Jean Bruce Scott) came to Salem in 1980 to work as a student nurse. Her adoptive father was Alex Marshall, who it turned out was also her biological father. This revelation caused a rift between Jessica and her mother Marie. Like her mom, she attempted to become a nun but was turned away and then had a mental breakdown, developing a multiple personality disorder. Her other personalities, such as Angelique and Angel, began to terrorize and seduce the people around her. Angel almost eloped with Jake Kositchek (Jack Coleman). After this was stopped, she was institutionalized. As she recovered, she became engaged to Joshua Fallon (Steven Brooks) and left town with him.
Sarah Horton
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Sarah Horton (Linsey Godfrey) is Maggie’s biological daughter. Maggie had her as a surrogate and decided to keep her, winning custody with Mickey. Life in Salem was hard for her. She was nearly killed after being rundown by Eve Donovan (Charlotte Ross) and her parents’ dysfunctional relationship kept her alienated. After catching her mom in bed with Neil Curtis, she moved to Nashville with her sister, Melissa. She returned to Salem in 2018 as a doctor engaged to Rex Brady (Kyle Lowder), but he cheated on her, so she cheated on him with his brother Eric (Greg Vaughan) and then Xander Kiriakis (Paul Telfer). She was engaged to Xander until it was revealed that he helped in swapping her stillborn daughter with Kristen DiMera’s (Stacy Haiduk).
Fourth Generation
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David Banning (Richard Guthrie, Gregg Marx) was the son of Julie and David Martin, but raised by Scott Banning. He returned to Salem to get his inheritance and repair his relationship with his mother. His girlfriend poisoned him against Julie. After a fight, he was in a car accident and presumed dead. He resurfaced and was nursed back to health by Valerie Grant (Tina Andrews). They became engaged, but he soon started cheating with Trish Clayton (Patty Weaver). They had a child, Scotty, and fought over his custody for years. After stumbling onto a crime scene, he was wrongly convicted of murder but escaped on the way to prison. Eventually tired of living on the lam, he turned himself in, only to be cleared. He was soon accused of being the Salem Strangler, but finally cleared by Renee DuMonde. They wound up getting married, but Stefano’s interference and her attempt to murder Anna DiMera (Leann Hunley), alienated him and he left.
Nathan Horton
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Nathan Horton (Mark Hapka) came to Salem to do an internship at University Hospital while staying with his grandmother Maggie. He soon found himself between Melanie Layton (Molly Burnett) and Stephanie Johnson (Shelley Hennig), going back and forth between them as they went back and forth between Philip Kiriakis (Jay Kenneth Johnson). Eventually, he left for a job in Baltimore.
Jeremy Horton
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Jeremy Horton (Trevor Donovan) is the son of Mike and Robin Jacobs (Derya Ruggles). He returned to Salem in 2007, working as a pilot for a private airliner. The company turned out to be a front for a DiMera smuggling operation and Jeremy fled to avoid prosecution for his role in the scheme.
Nick Fallon
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Nick Fallon (Blake Berris) came to Salem to get to know his family. His scientific knowledge was put to good use and he quickly became smitten with Chelsea Brady (Rachel Melvin). This was largely ruined by his having an affair with her mother, Billie (Julie Pinson), although he did repair some of the damage by stealing evidence manufactured by Willow Stark (Annie Burgstede) to frame her for arson. Willow began blackmailing him and he accidentally killed her in a fight. Nick managed to do many brave things, like saving Luca, Sami and Chelsea. He also became obsessed with Melanie and ended up killing her father, Trent Robbins (Roscoe Born). Nick was briefly jailed, where he was constantly raped, but soon returned to the community, where he began dating Gabi Hernandez (Camila Banus). They wound up getting married and he blackmailed Will Horton for custody of his child with Gabi. After his rapist nearly murdered him, Nick’s sanity became increasingly frail. His relationship with Gabi deteriorated to the point that he tried to rape her, and she apparently killed him. He later returned from the dead, only for Gabi to murder him.
Will Horton
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The son of Sami Brady and Lucas, Will Horton (Chandler Massey, Guy Wilson) spent his early years trapped in their complicated love square between his parents, Austin and Carrie. Will tended to stick closer to his father and the rest of the family, even moving to Switzerland to be with his aunt and uncle. When he returned, things remained frosty with his mother since he tended to catch her lying and having affairs. Will worked as one of EJ’s spies and had a series of relationships with women before realizing he was gay. He came out and started a relationship with Sonny Kiriakis (Freddie Smith). By this time, he’d impregnated Gabi, but her boyfriend Nick Fallon blackmailed him into keeping this silence. Nick had learned that Will had attempted to murder EJ years earlier and let Lucas go to prison for it. Will and Sonny married and Gabi killed Nick, leaving baby Arianna in the care of the couple. After becoming a journalist, Will had an affair with Sonny’s ex, Paul Narita (Christopher Sean). Although he was apparently murdered by Ben Weston (Robert Scott Wilson), it was later revealed that he was kept alive and given a different personality by Susan Banks (Stacy Haiduk) and Dr. Rolf (William Utay). He was later discovered and returned to Salem to start the painful recovery of his old self.
Scott Banning
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Scott Banning (Rick Hearst) was the son of David and Trish Banning. When he returned to Salem, he fell for singer Faith Taylor (Melinda Clarke) and became her manager. Unfortunately for them, Eve Donovan was obsessed with him and schemed to keep them apart but failed. He left town with Faith to attend medical school.
Eli Grant
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Eli Grant (Lamon Archey) came to Salem to discover his true paternity. Eventually, it was revealed that he was David Banning and Valerie’s (Vanessa A. Williams) child. Julie happily welcomed him to the family and he transferred from the FBI to the Salem PD. His place at the department was controversial as he fought with Commissioner Raines (Aaron D. spears) and Abe Carver (James Reynolds). Julie was less happy that Eli dated Nick’s ex, Gabi. That didn’t last, and he began dating JJ’s ex, Lani Price (Sal Stowers). He and JJ went back and forth between the two women. Eventually Lani got pregnant, and her child with Eli died at birth. She later got pregnany again and they were married.
Abigail Deveraux
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Abigail Deveraux (Kate Mansi, Marci Miller) is the daughter of Jennifer and Jack. She spent her early years traveling with her mother. As she grew up, their bond became tenuous after she learned she had a baby brother and her mom had taken Jack off life support. He eventually came back to life, and her teenage years were spent being pushed between different boys. Early on, she was romanced by Chad DiMera (Billy Flynn), but became obsessed with Austin and attempted to ruin his marriage to Carrie by convincing him they’d had sex. Abby quickly moved on as Cameron Davis (Nathan Owens) and Chad competed to take her virginity. Chad even pretended to have a brain tumor to win. After she discovered the truth, she started having an affair with Chad’s brother, EJ. Once he ended things, she moved on with Ben Weston, even as Sami took revenge on her for being her husband’s mistress. Her relationship with Ben was frayed as Chad tried to rekindle their friendship. Ben turned out to be a serial killer and held her hostage, nearly killing her child. After her rescue, she and Chad became pawns in a scheme that drove her insane, resulting in years of faked deaths, psychotic alternative personalities, and affairs.
JJ Deveraux
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JJ Deveraux (Casey Moss) is the son of Jack and Jennifer. He grew up in England but was kicked out of boarding school for dealing drugs. When he arrived in Salem, he continued to cause trouble with his drug dealing and pursuit of Theresa Donovan (Jen Lilley). After she almost overdosed, he tried to make amends to the people he hurt. He wound up in a relationship with Paige Larson (True O’Brien) but botched it when he had an affair with her mother, Eve Donovan. He went to work for the DEA and became determined to put Clyde Weston (James Read) in jail, blaming him for Paige’s murder. JJ turned to working for the Salem PD and bounced between Gabi Hernandez and Lani Price. After accidentally killing Theo Carver (Kyler Pettis), he nearly committed suicide. After saving nurse Haley Chen (Thia Megia) from an attempted suicide, they became involved and he tried to marry her to save her from being deported.
