Addie Horton | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Days of our Lives | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Portrayed by | Patricia Huston (1965–66) Patricia Barry (1971–74) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Current status | Former, Regular | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Duration | 1965–66, 1971–74 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
First appearance | November 10, 1965 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last appearance | December 18, 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cause/reason | Died | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Created by | Peggy Phillips Kenneth Rosen | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Introduced by | Ted Corday (1965) Betty Corday (1971) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Profile | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fullname | Adelaide Horton Williams | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gender | Female | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | 1931 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | June 28, 1974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Age | 43 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cause of death | Hit By A Car | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Occupation | Housewife | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Residence | Salem, Illinois (at time of death) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Adelaide "Addie" Horton Williams (previously Olson) is a character from the soap opera Days of Our Lives, portrayed by actresses Patricia Huston November 10, 1965 to March 9, 1966, and Patricia Barry from April 19, 1971 to June 28, 1974. Barry reprised her role as Addie for one episode on December 18, 1974.
Storylines
Addie was the daughter of Tom and Alice Horton. She had four other siblings. Her fraternal twin brother Tommy, Mickey, Bill and Marie Horton. She was first married to wealthy banker Ben Olson and had two children with him, Steve and Julie Williams. Ben later died and Addie was free to date, later becoming engaged and married to her lover, Douglas Williams.
Once Addie married Doug, she soon discovered that she was ill with Leukemia and that she was pregnant. Despite her doctor's warnings she decided to keep her baby and let the cancer take its course instead of fighting it and harming the baby.
Addie soon gave birth to her and Doug's first and only child together, a baby girl named Hope. Soon afterwards though Addie was deathly ill and soon realized that she wouldn't live long. So as she was taking a walk one day with her daughter, a car spun out towards them. Addie pushed her daughter's stroller to safety and let the car hit her so her daughter would survive, while Addie was instantly killed.
Addie died when Hope was only nine days old, and of those nine years she'd only appeared in five of them, and yet, a full thirty-six years later, Addie's legacy remains and she's still one of the most oft-mentioned deceased characters. As the only child of Tom and Alice that died young, Addie was always an inherently emotional subject. Every Christmas at the Horton ornament hanging you could count on a tender moment where someone, usually one of her kids, would hang up Addie's ornament wistfully. Even while other long-gone members of the Horton clan get pruned off the family tree (Steven, David, Scotty, even Tommy) Addie remains a central part of it.
The reason, of course, is an obvious one. Though the effect Addie herself had on the show is minimal, both of her daughters were such rampantly important characters that Addie's place in Days history could never be anything but significant. For the first twenty years this show essentially belonged to Julie, and for the next twenty years it belonged to Hope. And because Julie and Hope are so important, everyone who's important to them is also important - and that's Addie.