Days of Our Lives

The Family of Days of Our Lives’ Drake Hogestyn Celebrates the ‘Most Amazing Husband, Father, Papa… ’

(L-R) Whitney Hogestyn, actor Drake Hogestyn, Alexandra Hogestyn, Victoria Hogestyn and Ben Hogestyn pose for a portrait in their home in 2013 in Malibu, California. (Photo by Roxanne McCann/Getty Images)

 

If you’ve read through the beautiful tributes that the Days of Our Lives cast has written for Drake Hogestyn — and if you haven’t, you can do so here — you know that if there was one thing he was more passionate about than playing the soap’s Sturm und Drang, it was his own nearest and dearest. “My heart breaks for his family,” said Alison Sweeney, Sami to Hogestyn’s John. “They meant everything to him.”

Arianne Zucker (ex-Nicole) noted that the actor “loved speaking to every single fan of the show… in length, but his wife was his love. Victoria and of course his children and grandbabies was his purpose!” Added Tamara Braun (Ava): “Oh, how you loved your family so deeply! I loved to watch your face light up while speaking about your wife, kids and grandkids. You beamed.”

The Love of His Life

Hogestyn married the former Victoria Post in 1986, the same year that Days of Our Lives made him a Pawn on the Salem chessboard. Together, they had four children, three daughters — Whitney, Alexandra and Rachael — and one son, Ben. As they grew up and moved out, Dad and Mom leaned into being empty-nesters, Hogestyn told Soap Opera Digest in 2023. “Victoria will watch Hallmark movies where they always kiss at the end, and I will watch a baseball game upstairs. We don’t have a Smart TV. We don’t have a million channels. And now you have to buy everything, if you want something.

“I don’t get it. I don’t need it,” he added. “I’d rather read a book. And Victoria and I walk around the beach. It’s really cool.”

Drake Hogestyn, Wife Victoria, Daughters Whitney and Alexandra"Days of our Lives" 45th Anniversary Book Signing Barnes and Noble Book Store Los Angeles 11/20/10 ©Jill Johnson/jpistudios.com 310-657-9661

That’s Whitney and Alexandra with Mom and Dad in 2010.

A Precious Legacy

Though the Hogestyn kids are all married, the family remained “so tight,” said Drake. “I’m so proud of that. It’s all because of Victoria. She’s so articulate and what she says resonates with everybody. She’s been such a great mother to all the kids. They hang on every one of her words. She talks to them all day long, and all four kids are always texting each other.”

If Ben looks especially familiar, it may be because you recall that in the mid-2000s, he joined Dad in daytime, tackling the role of Lucas on General Hospital (which has just been recast yet again) and Harry on The Bold and the Beautiful. (That’s him with leading lady Mackenzie Mauzy as Phoebe below.) Today, he’s wed to fellow soap alum Danica Stewart (ex-Maxie, General Hospital) and runs a company that makes leather handbags.

Ben Hogestyn, MacKenzie Mauzy "The Bold and the Beautiful" Set CBS Television City Los Angeles 10/6/06 ©Aaron Montgomery/jpistudios.com 310-657-9661 Episode # 4934 U.S. Airdate 11/10/06

Grace Under Pressure

In disclosing that the “most amazing husband, father, papa and actor” had died a day before his 71st birthday, his family said that the former baseball player “was thrown the curve ball of his life when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, but he faced the challenge with incredible strength and determination. After putting up an unbelievable fight, he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones.”

Revisit highlights of Hogestyn’s epic run on Days of Our Lives with the below photo gallery of John Black’s romances and adventures.

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