Hope Williams Brady is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network.
Bell, she was portrayed by Kristian Alfonso on and off from April 1983 to the present day, most recently appearing in December 2024.
[2] In 2002, she and Reckell won a Special Fan Award (voted online) at the Daytime Emmys for Favorite Couple.
[2] The character of Hope Williams was originated by child actor Kristina Osterhout from January 10 to August 27, 1974.
Alfonso's Hope appeared briefly as a patient of Drake Ramoray in season 6 episode 15 of the sitcom Friends (The One That Could Have Been, Part 1) on February 17, 2000.
"[4] In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, she discussed her exit and potential of a return, stating: "It's been a rollercoaster of emotions and I have no regrets.
"[5] Alfonso further disclosed that executive producers Ken Corday and Albert Alarr suggested that she take a four-to-five month break for storyline purposes, which also prompted her decision to exit.
[7][8] In April 2022, it was announced Alfonso would reprise the role for the second chapter of Days of Our Lives: Beyond Salem, which was released on Peacock on July 11.
[11] In April 2024, it was announced Alfonso would reprise the role in connection to the real-life passing of Bill Hayes, as well as the soap's 15,000th episode celebration.
Not long after Addie marries Doug and becomes pregnant, she discovers she is suffering from leukemia, but declines treatment in order to save her unborn baby.
Addie dies, and Hope is taken in by her maternal grandparents, Tom and Alice Horton, until Doug is strong enough to take care of her.
Addie, who was wealthy from her first marriage to Ben Olson, leaves Doug and Hope with financial security.
[14] She returns in the spring of 1983 when Roman Brady rescues her after she runs away from boarding school and later falls from a car driven by a drunk friend.
Larry takes the fall for Salem's drug ring, leaving Bo and Hope free to finally marry in 1985.
The couple move into Victor's home but they soon experience marital problems, and Hope disapproves of Bo's sudden change of character to please his father.
Bo, Hope, and Shawn leave Salem later that year, and sail the world on their boat, Fancy Face.
Four years later, Bo begins a new relationship with Billie Reed, who later proposes to him, but their plans are shattered after John Black finds an amnesiac woman at Stefano DiMera's house, "Maison Blache", who looks exactly like Hope.
Stefano, who is seeking to retrieve his art treasures from Vivian Alamain, turns Hope back into Gina to help him.
Hope and Stefano then travel to Paris where they are held prisoner by the real Gina as she tries to reclaim her life.
[14] On New Year's Eve 2006, Bo and Hope's younger son, Zack, is killed in a hit-and-run accident and the killer is revealed to be Chelsea.
[14] Bo learns that Chelsea was driving the car that hit Zack, but he agrees to keep it a secret from everyone, including Hope, so his daughter doesn't go to jail.
Because of her separation from Bo and his relationship with Carly, Hope is unable to sleep and takes prescribed medication, but she suffers bizarre side-effects that cause her to assume an alter-ego who mugs men on the street.
His sister Kayla Brady locates a clinic in California that will accept Caroline as a patient for a trial treatment.
she meets lawyer Aiden Jennings in January 2014, and after receiving no word from Bo, heartbrokenly files for divorce.
she and Aiden begin a relationship and the two fall madly in love, he asks her to marry him and she accepts, they marry in a ceremony coinciding with the town's bicentennial, on their wedding night, Aiden tries to strangle Hope; a deal he made with Stefano DiMera to kill Hope and clear Stefano's son, Chad DiMera's name after Chad is accused of being responsible for multiple murders around town, Aiden refused to do it until Stefano and Andre threatened to kill his son, Chase if he didn't kill Hope, Bo arrives at the last minute, his absence's reason being he was being held hostage for information in Mexico and Aiden is killed while the two are struggling when a gun Bo was holding goes off, Hope is surprised, yet happy, to see Bo, but is taken to the hospital to make sure she's all right, Hope is later devastated by the news that Bo is dying from an inoperable brain tumor after he confesses his dismal prognosis that he'd been keeping from her shortly after he arrived back in Salem.
When Hope believed that Stefano had a hand in Bo's death, she confronted him which resulted in her shooting and killing him, in the Dimera living room.
Hope and Rafe covered up the crime and dumped Stefano's body in an abandoned building set to be blown up.
He married her on February 26 in a private ceremony at the cabin, promising to always be honest with Hope when in fact, he had never told her the truth about sleeping with Sami.
In 2020, Charlie Mason from Soaps She Knows put Hope second place on a list of 35 most memorable characters from Days of Our Lives, commented "Kristian Alfonso's enduring heroine has suffered more heartbreaks than any three characters combined, been dropped in a vat of acid and turned into Princess freakin' Gina.