Joseph Mascolo
News

According to Soap Opera Digest, Joseph Mascolo will be returning to Days of Our Lives in early August.

The star has been extremely displeased by story lives given to his character, even encouraging fans to voice their discontent to show producers.

Now, however, it appears as though a resolution is being worked out. And that couldn't make us happier.

How much fun will it be to have Mascolo return to Days of Our Lives and react to all the folks now residing in the DiMansion mansion?!?

Joseph Mascolo's (formerly Stefano on Days of Our Lives, until a recent, unhappy dismissal) is not taking his firing quietly.

On his website, Mascolo has spoken out about his treatment at Days of Our Lives and is asking fans to do the same:

"To all of you who have expressed your outrage to me for the pathetic and uninspired manner in which Stefano DiMera has been written out of Days of Our Lives after just being named “One of the Greatest Soap Opera Villains of All Time” in Soap Opera Digest Magazine, I thank you for your support...

And if you are so inclined, please let your feelings known by writing or emailing the show directly:

www.daysofourlives.com or to www.soapoperadigest.com. If you prefer, you can write to Days of Our Lives, c/o NBC Studios, 3000 West Alameda Avenue, Burbank, CA 91523. Thank you all for your comments and support."

It's sad, but true:

Joseph Mascolo is out of Days of Our Lives.

"Stefano is still in a coma and that's where he will remain for now," a show spokesperson told Soap Opera Digest.

As one might assume, the actor who has played the DiMera patriarch for over 25 years is not pleased with this development. He recently said, quite candidly:

"I'm just so disappointed in them."

How do you feel about the ousting of Mascolo on Days of Our Lives?

Congratulations are in order for Joseph Mascolo.

The Days of Our Lives star will be honored on April 25 by the Boys' Towns of Italy. In an event to be held at the Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton, Florida Mascolo will be deemed the charity's "Celebrity of the Year." Not a shabby honor.

The Boys' Towns of Italy is an American charity founded by the late Monsignor John Patrick Carroll-Abbing and Gov. John and Francesca Lodge. It's responsible for the development of overseas child care institutions for children of all nationalities, races and creeds.

When famed opera singer Luciano Pavarotti passed away in September, few realized how it personally affected Joseph Mascolo.

The Days of Our Lives actor and world-famous artist were actually longtime friends. Below, Mascolo shared a few memories of his pal with Soap Opera Digest:

Soap Opera Digest: Condolences on the passing of your friend. Losing him must have difficult.
Joseph Mascolo: Oh, God. I spent a lot of time crying. He and I had a great time together. We worked together, which was a lot of fun. We also ate well and drank some good wine. It just hurts my heart that that voice is gone. I mean, there are a lot of great recordings of Luciano all over the place, but that voice is now gone.

And that's what kills me, because it is one of the most unique, beautiful voices of our century. A tenor like Pavarotti, all he had to do was sing three or four notes and you knew it was him.

Digest: How long were the two of you friends?
Mascolo: Since we made the movie Yes, Georgio (1982).

Digest: Did you hit it off immediately?
Mascolo: Oh, yeah. He was so funny. He looked at me the first time we met; my voice is a little deeper than most of the guys [who were around the set]. So he said, "Ah, you sing?" I said, "No, no, no. You sing. I'm the actor."

Digest: Can you share any stories about Pavarotti?
Mascolo: I'll tell you a funny anecdote that I told him. We laughed our heads off over it. The first time he sang in the United States was in Florida. Joan Sutherland was the star [of a Miami production of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in 1965], and I was sitting in the pit. I used to be a classical musician, and I was playing solo clarinet in the pit. Well, the tenor got sick.

I don't remember exactly what happened, but they had to replace him. Joan, who was a good friend of Pavarotti when he was young and first starting out, suggested him. He came in and was magnificent. I told him, "I was in the pit the first time you sang in the United States. Now here we are 20 odd years later, making a movie together." So we laughed and cried and drank more wine.