Pat Falken Smith was headwriter at DAYS from 1975-1977 and then again 1981-1982. Born January 21, 1926, she was writing in primetime successfully until a friend told her about daytime, where she thought she could be a better single parent to her daughter. She joined DAYS in 1966 & functioned as the #2 to Bill Bell Sr. She disagreed with him about Laura being able to love her rapist but he just told her to "wait & see" which since he was the headwriter meant it would happen the way he envisioned it, period. Today when people discuss it they agree that you couldn't tell the story now. When he left to pursue Y&R she became the headwriter, staying through 1977, returning briefly from 1981-1982 (Emmy nominated four times, winning in 1976) During her tenure she created characters such as Marlena Evans, Roman Brady, Abe Carver, Stefano DiMera and Tony DiMera. Schemering 72, "In the DAYS OF OUR LIVES tradition of strong, quietly macho leading men, Pat Falken Smith created police sergeant Roman Brady (Wayne Northrup, fresh from prime-time's DYNASTY) and paired him with Deidre Hall's lady psychiatrist, Marlena Evans. Eventually Roman and Marlena replaced GENERAL HOSPITAL'S Luke and Laura as daytime's most popular couple." She battled cancer & eventually died from it May 19, 2001 at the age of 75.

Schemering, C. (1987). Days of Our Lives. In The Soap Opera Encyclopedia. Ballantine Books.

Jason47. Headwriters. Jason47’s Days of Our Lives Website. http://www.jason47.com/days/writersinfo.html