Deidre Hall Slaps Craig Melvin During Live Interview on the Today Show

Craig Melvin got more than just an interview with Deidre Hall.

The daytime TV legend, 78, appeared on Today on Friday, June 19, to celebrate 50 years of playing Dr. Marlena Evans on Days of Our Lives. But before the interview wrapped, Melvin had one unusual request.

“Of all of the storylines that you’ve been a part of over the years, what I’ve always enjoyed is your ability to slap,” Melvin told Hall. “You’re a great slapper.”

“Well thanks,” Hall replied with a laugh.

When Melvin, 47, asked whether she had ever calculated how many on-screen slaps she’s delivered over the decades, Hall admitted she “couldn’t begin to imagine.”

“It would be one of the greatest professional honors of my life if you could slap me,” Melvin then told her.

“I would be privileged to slap you!” Hall responded, noting that the studio crew appeared equally enthusiastic about the idea.

After Melvin jokingly warned her not to “hurt the money maker,” Hall explained exactly how the stunt would work. “I’m going to draw my hand back and I’m going to come very close to your face,” she said. “And when you feel that happen, you’re going to snap your head.”

With Melvin declaring himself ready, Hall swung her hand toward him. The anchor immediately jerked his head back, shouted and pretended to cry out in pain as the audience and crew erupted into applause.

“You okay?” Hall asked.

“Oh my God, my God, my God,” Melvin joked, faking sobs.

“I’m sorry, I meant to miss but I…” Hall teased before both burst into laughter.

“You’re the best,” Melvin told her afterward.

The playful moment capped an interview celebrating Hall’s remarkable five-decade run on Days of Our Lives, where she first joined the cast in 1976.

Looking back on landing the role, Hall revealed she nearly turned it down after assuming she was a fallback option.

“I had read the script and I wanted it so much,” she recalled. “When he called, I thought, ‘Oh, everybody else must have turned it down.’ Because I’m no dummy, I turned it down too because I thought there must be something wrong with the part!”

A few weeks later, her agent called back with some surprising news. “He said, ‘You actors are just so crazy. You’re their first choice,’ ” Hall remembered. “I said, ‘Tell them I’ll be there.’ ”

Half a century later, she’s still there.

Asked whether she ever imagined she’d still be playing Marlena 50 years after her audition, Hall said the longevity of both the character and the soap remains a thrill. “Nobody had done 50 years at that point,” she said. “The fact that we stayed on the air is a thrill. We kept on going and going and going and I got to stay … and keep working.”

Hall also credited executive producer Ken Corday and the show’s writers for helping the long-running soap remain one of just four daytime dramas still on the air.

“[They] have cracked the code,” she said. “[Whether it’s] a new love story, sometimes a jeopardy story, when young couples make magic together, put them up in front. They just know that the audience is going to find it compelling and irresistible.”

The actress also reacted to recent praise from Ryan Gosling, who revealed earlier this year that Hall was his original acting inspiration while passionately defending soap opera actors, noting how they don’t get the love they deserve for memorizing 10 pages of dialogue a night and executing them in a single take.

He also accepted her invitation to visit the Days of Our Lives set, telling her in a video on social media in March, “I will be there to thank you in person for being my OG acting inspiration,” “It wasn’t Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront. It wasn’t DeNiro in Taxi Driver. It was you.”

Asked how she felt about that, Hall said she was “stunned” by Gosling’s comments. “His work is so impeccable and he’s so honest and so clean in his work, that I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, what is he seeing? I don’t want to let him down!’ But what a lovely gesture and I’m beyond flattered.”

And despite reaching the 50-year milestone, Hall said she has no plans to leave Salem anytime soon.

“As long as my key card opens the gate, I’m there,” she said. “It’s my family. I love that place. I couldn’t resist.”