As part of Soaps.com’s celebration of Stephen Nichols’ 40th anniversary as Days of Our Lives’ Steve “Patch” Johnson, we sat down with the daytime legend to discuss his Salem sweethearts. And yes, although, Mary Beth Evans’ Kayla Brady is now, always has been and ever shall be endgame, the actor has worked with a number of notable leading ladies over the decades. Care to take a stroll down Memory Lane with him? Merrily we scroll along.

By the time that Evans joined Days of Our Lives in 1986, succeeding Catherine Mary Stewart as Kayla, she’d already begun amassing an impressive list of primetime credits, on everything from Knight Rider (twice!) to Remington Steele. She’d also spent a year playing Koty Lane on the syndicated soap Rituals. But it was clear from the start where she was meant to land.

From the get-go, Nichols could tell that Evans was “the one.” During her audition, “after the first take, they made some adjustments,” he recalled, “and we did another take. As soon as she was finished, she goes, ‘Well, that was [bleep]’ and just walked away. I thought, ‘I really like this woman.’ I mean, to be that honest in front of other actors and the whole damn place… That was amazing.” (By the way, pictured here with the duo is Joseph Adams, who originated the role of Jack Deveraux.)

Having only been cast the previous year, Nichols “didn’t have the kind of power at that point to have a voice in who they chose” to play Kayla, he said. But he was incredibly glad that Evans won the part. “Once we started working together, it was like a dream come true. I hear stories about other actors working together and the struggles they have. Sometimes they don’t really like each other that well, but they still make it work — but it’s a struggle. With Mary Beth, it’s always been so, so easy.”

“In the early days, we rehearsed a lot,” Nichols said. What with soapdom’s breakneck moder pace, “we don’t have that luxury now, but back then, Mary Beth and I would go out on the set and work the scenes until we were sure we were in a good place and were comfortable. Then, we could be free and just do the work. And it was always so easy with her.”

Steve and Kayla were an overnight sensation, but their portrayers had no clue how well-loved their characters had become. “We just worked, and we were so busy all the time,” Nichols recalled. “We had no idea what was actually going on out in the world in terms of popularity.” That is, not until “we went out to some fan events and saw the reaction. It was quite shocking because we were just doing the work.”

Nichols and Evans caused such a sensation as Steve and Kayla that during a break from Days of Our Lives in the late 1990s, General Hospital tried to capitalize on the co-stars’ chemistry by re-pairing them as doomed lovers Stefan Cassadine and Katherine Bell. How doomed were they? Katherine died twice; doesn’t get much more “doomed” than that!

At this point, Nichols believes that nothing can tear Steve and Kayla apart… well, almost nothing. “Barring getting another chip put in my head and turning me back into ‘Stevano’ [DiMera], I don’t see anything” getting in the way, he joked. “The most contentious issue with them has always been when Steve goes off and does things without telling her, without asking her opinion and actually making a decision together. So that’s a lesson I think Steve has finally learned. After the ‘Stevano’ story, he did promise her that he would never do that again.”

Before Hunter Tylo was hired by Days of Our Lives to play Marina Toscano, Steve’s “late” first wife and a spoiler for him and Kayla, she had tried to do the impossible on All My Children by filling the void left in Greg Nelson’s heart by Jenny Gardner’s death with her Robin McCall. As you can see, the erstwhile Deborah Morehart had also appeared in a couple of slasher movies.

“Everyone hated my character,” Tylo has quite rightly observed. “I hated her. I dreaded going to work for the last few weeks I was on the show.” But Nichols held Tylo herself in high regard. “She was absolutely beautiful — gorgeous,” he said. “She was made for soaps. As a leading lady, she definitely had the looks, and she was a good actress.”

Soon after Marina was killed off of Days of Our Lives in 1990, Tylo returned to daytime as Taylor Hayes on The Bold and the Beautiful. She played the oncologist/shrink/Moroccan princess on and off for almost two decades, then upon declining a chance to come back yet again, was recast, first with Days of Our Lives vet Krista Allen, who’d played Billie Reed, and then with All My Children alum Rebecca Budig, who’d played Greenlee Smythe.

In 2008, Julie Pinson took over as Billie from Krista Allen, who’d taken over from Lisa Rinna. But already, Pinson was a soap vet. She’d been an OG cast member of General Hospital spinoff Port Charles (as Dr. Eve Lambert) and passed through The Young and the Restless (as Shiloh, who only needed a first name).

Steve’s fling with Billie was short-lived, but Nichols altogether enjoyed his time with Pinson as his leading lady. “Julie was a really good actress — is a really good actress,” he corrected himself. “Maybe she’ll come back [to Days of Our Lives] someday.” Nichols was such a fan that he cast Pinson in his 2014 short film I See, which he directed and edited. “She was the lead in that because she was very funny. I always enjoyed working with her. She had kind of an irreverent sense of humor.”

Just before Steve and Billie’s first kissing scene, Nichols was pulled aside by Billy Warlock, who played Frankie Brady. At the time, he was Pinson’s boyfriend, but they’ve been married now since 2006. “Billy goes, ‘By the way, you know, Steve, no tongue.’ I told Julie, and she just cracked up,” Nichols laughed. “I don’t even think they discussed it, but he made sure to come to me. I guess he’d seen the way I’d been kissing Kayla and the way John and Marlena were eating each other’s faces, and he was like, ‘Whoa, whoa.’ He made sure that I was going to toe that line.”

Post-Days of Our Lives, Pinson went on to score a 2010 Daytime Emmy for her work as Janet Ciccone on As the World Turns. And as you can see, even the statuette didn’t get any tongue.

Three years before Tamara Braun booked the role of Steve’s stalker Ava Vitali on Days of Our Lives, she’d already pulled off an incredible feat, by successfully replacing Sarah Joy Brown as Carly Spencer on General Hospital (opposite Maurice Benard’s Sonny Corinthos, as if you didn’t know). So it was all but a foregone conclusion that Braun would slay as Ava, the femme fatale for which she won a 2009 Daytime Emmy.

Though Steve and Ava’s relationship was fraught at best, Nichols and Braun’s was a delight. “She’s such a great actress. I always enjoyed working with her,” he said enthusiastically. “She was so unpredictable. When we did scenes together, I never knew what was coming. I really had to be on my toes. That’s always fun to be across from somebody who’s giving you so much — so much color and so many different levels.”

Even now, Nichols looks back on his stint opposite Braun with awe. “She’s great,” he said. “And as a person, she’s one of the kindest people I know.” Over the years, Ava was killed off, brought back from the dead and then written off yet again. In between, Braun also tried on the role of Nicole Walker’s sister, Taylor.

Following Ava’s (cough) demise, Braun went on to form an All My Children supercouple as Reese Williams opposite Eden Riegel’s Bianca Montgomery, return to General Hospital in the new role of Dr. Kim Nero and, of course, resurrect her Days of Our Lives character.

The “Stevano” storyline was something that Nichols didn’t expect, not in a million years, but it gave him the opportunity to play opposite Kristian Alfonso as Princess Gina Von Amberg, and Deidre Hall as his Queen of the Night, Marlena Evans. “I didn’t see any of that coming,” he marveled. “When I said I was coming back, they didn’t really tell me the story and were being very cagey about it. So I was very surprised when I started to get scripts for what I’m going to be… Stefano. Wow! And then Princess Gina and my Queen of the Night. It was all too much.”

Even though Steve’s story headed in a direction that Nichols didn’t expect, he was thrilled to have more screen time with Alfonso. “Man, I always love working with Kristian because we have history from way back in the ’80s, and we always had great fun,” he said of Hope Brady’s portrayer. “She’s always so prepared. She knows every word and she’s thought about the work and the scenes. She’s really, really great.”

As for Hall… “Come on,” Nichols gushed. “She’s the queen. She is the Queen of the Night — 100 percent. We had great fun, and the writing for that whole Stevano story was really rich.” Want a little more, more, more? Click here for a review of all of Nichols’ adventures as Steve. At least the highlights; there have been a lot!