Hope Williams Brady

Casting

The character of Hope Williams was originated by child actor Kristina Osterhout from January 10 to August 27, 1974. Child actor Kimberly Weber took over the role from October 25, 1974 to April 29, 1975. Natasha Ryan was the child actor who played the young version of Hope the longest from June 4, 1975 through June 27, 1980. From May 11, 1981 until January 8, 1982, young adult actress Tammy Taylor played a teenaged Hope. Actress Kristian Alfonso assumed the role of Hope Williams on April 14, 1983, playing the role through April 20, 1987, reappearing from April 27 to August 3, 1990, and playing the role since May 6, 1994. Mila Kunis played a younger Hope in a flashback in June 1994.

Character history

Hope Alice Williams, the mother of Shawn-Douglas, Zack and Ciara Brady, was born on-screen on January 10, 1974 to Doug Williams and Addie Horton. 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. On December 24, 1974, while crossing the street, an oncoming car careens towards Hope and Addie, but Addie pushes Hope's baby-carriage out of the way, just in time to save her baby daughter, but not herself. 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. Hope is sent off to boarding school in 1982 and is not seen again until a year later. 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. She later develops a crush on Roman. Hope eventually becomes a cop. Hope takes her job as a cop seriously.

Roman spurns Hope's advances, even after Hope attempts to seduce him, and the situation inflames the jealousy of Roman's younger brother, local bad boy Bo Brady. Bo and Hope start to fall in love while working together in various dangerous situations. On Hope's 18th birthday, she and Bo decide to make love but Doug tries to stop them and suffers a heart attack, and Hope agrees never to see Bo again. Bo hides the fact that his brother Roman is alive, and to protect Hope, pushes her away. Hope spends time with Larry Welch, (a local politician) and thinking that Bo loves Diane Parker and no longer loves her, Hope agrees to marry Larry. As Hope and Larry stand at the altar, Bo rides into the church on his motorbike and kidnaps Hope before the wedding can be completed. However, Hope is then kidnapped again, this time from the barn where Bo has taken her, and the kidnappers force her to marry Larry. Bo is devastated, but later discovers the true reason Hope married Larry; the two vow never to be apart, and to work together to find out who is behind Larry.

Larry takes the fall for Salem's drug ring, leaving Bo and Hope free to finally marry in 1985. During this time, it is revealed that Bo's real father is Victor Kiriakis. 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. Hope becomes pregnant, but miscarries her child. They try again and have a son they name Shawn-Douglas, who is born in 1987. Bo, Hope, and Shawn leave Salem later that year, and sail the world on their boat, Fancy Face.

They return to Salem in 1990, but soon after, Hope is embroiled in the schemes of the villainous Ernesto Toscano, who kidnaps Hope and holds her hostage in a cave. When the cave explodes, Hope is presumed dead. 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. The woman calls herself "Gina", but after Alice finds a puzzle box that only Hope could open, they learn that "Gina" is truly Hope. Bo later breaks up with Billie, and reconciles with Hope but just before they are to remarry, Hope catches Bo in a compromising position with Billie, and rejects Bo. She then moves in with Franco Kelly.

It is revealed that during Hope's four years of captivity at Maison Blanche, Stefano had the memories of the real Princess Gina Von Amberg, an accomplished art thief, saved on a chip and then installed in Hope's head. Stefano, who is seeking to retrieve his art treasures from Vivian Alamain, turns Hope back into Gina to help him. He gets Hope to kidnap John, and they make love on Stefano's yacht. When Stefano finds them, he ditches John and makes love to Hope himself. Hope and Stefano then travel to Paris where they are held prisoner by the real Gina as she tries to reclaim her life. They are finally rescued and Hope finds herself pregnant. Hope wishes that the baby is Bo's but doesn't believe it's possible, so she comes to believe that the baby is John's.

In June 1999, Princess Gina arrives in Salem and reveals herself to Greta at John and Marlena's wedding. Meanwhile, Hope, still believing herself to be Princess Gina, arrives with Stefano; Hope briefly recovers her identity, but Stefano and Princess Gina then capture Hope and the real Gina takes her place. The ruse is briefly successful but Marlena and Shawn discover the truth and rush to stop the wedding of Bo and the false "Hope" on News Year's Eve 1999. The truth is exposed and Princess Gina attempts to shoot Shawn and Marlena, but she is shot and killed instead. Bo doesn't discover that Princess Gina was the one who died until the cremation. Bo rushes over and confronts Stefano, however Stefano brainwashes Bo to be evil. Bo eventually recovers and finds Hope in the Dimera Mansion in poor health. Bo discovers that when Hope thought she was Gina, she slept with both John and Stefano and ended up pregnant but it is revealed that Bo is the real father. However, it is also revealed that Gina is still alive, and she and Stefano plot their revenge by changing the test results of the paternity test and switch the babies with Rolf's niece Marlo, who is having a child that will be adopted and given to Stefano's daughter Lexie and her husband Abe, who is Stefano's rival.

Hope gives birth to her and Bo's second child, Zack, in 2000, but the babies are switched by Stefano, and Hope believes her son is J.T Reiber. The switch is later revealed, and they get Zack back. In 2002, Larry Welch returns and he and Billie scheme to kidnap and kill Hope. Hope is rescued, and Larry and Billie are caught; Billie is pardoned and asked to leave Salem but Larry is eventually murdered in January 2003.

In 2003, Salem is rocked by a rash of apparent serial killings known as the Salem Stalker Murders, in which many close to Hope disappear and are presumed dead. Hope pursues the prime suspect, Patrick Lockhart, tracking him to Melaswen Island, where the two have an affair, and Hope discovers that all the missing victims are being held, alive. Bo tracks Hope to the island and they are reunited, but the situation is complicated by the fact that the group that disappeared includes Bo's old flame Billie. Bo and Bille also learn that their daughter is actually alive, and is Chelsea Brady.

On New Year's Eve 2006, Bo & Hope's younger son, Zack, is killed in a hit-and-run accident and the killer is revealed to be Chelsea. 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. When Hope finds out, she kicks Bo out of the house and asks for a divorce by email. Meddling Chelsea responds to the email, pretending to be Bo, and agrees to the divorce. Hope is devastated and begins a relationship with Patrick.

Hope learns she is pregnant, and thinks the father is Patrick, but she learns that Patrick had paid the doctor to change the DNA tests, and that Bo is actually the father. The two again reconcile. In 2008, Bo and Hope travel to Ireland to meet Colleen Brady after revealing the Brady-DiMera feud, but the group is involved in a plane crash; Grandpa Shawn Brady is killed, and everyone else is injured. Bo is briefly diagnosed with mystery illness affecting his pancreas, he requires a partial pancreas transplant and makes a full recovery. Bo and Hope's daughter Ciara Brady is kidnapped in the summer of 2009, and Hope struggles with her memories of losing their son Zack. She moves out of their house, taking Ciara with her and Bo is devastated.

Bo's old flame Carly Manning comes back to Salem and pursues Bo, driving a new wedge between Bo and Hope. 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. Hope is caught and sent to jail shortly after this. During her prison time, she uncovers an illegal organ ring, and Bo rescues her from prison. Whilst on the run, the two realize their relationship is far from over, and Bo ends his relationship with Carly.

In 2011, Bo and Hope renew their love for each other. On November 11, 2011, while searching through Alice's effects, Hope and her cousin Jennifer Horton find a clock bearing the symbol of a phoenix, meaning Alice's secrets point to Stefano. During a conversation between Hope and Marlena on December 17, 2012, it is revealed that John and Hope's divorce was finalized. Bo and Hope's problems move to employment, mainly due to budget cuts at the Salem P.D., which meant that they are both asked to take a pay cut. Hope happily agrees, but Bo is very reluctant. After reassuring him that she will support his decision, Bo chooses to leave the police force. During this time, Bo's mother Caroline Brady begins to show symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. His sister Kayla Brady locates a clinic in California that will accept Caroline as a patient for a trial treatment. Bo leaves town with Caroline, and is reported to have returned to Salem a short while later, but is not seen on screen.

Bo leaves Salem to work for the ISA and promises his family he will return, but after many months without hearing from him, Hope begin to doubt Bo is coming back. 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 appear to be 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. 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 and begins to suffer from visions of Aiden trying to kill her whilst asleep. 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. As they reminisce about their long epic romance, Bo passes away in Hope's arms.