After More Than Four Decades in Soaps, Days of Our Lives’ John Aniston Finally Gets What He Deserves
Tuesday, April 26th, 2022
Playing bad has been very, very good for the actor.
It took 42 years of working in soaps for John Aniston (Victor, Days of Our Lives) to get his first Daytime Emmy nomination back in 2017. And although he wound up losing to Steve Burton — who at the time was playing Dylan on The Young and the Restless — we’re thrilled to announce that this year, Aniston is 100 percent guaranteed to walk away a winner. Why? Because the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced that during the live ceremony held on June 24, Aniston will be the recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award.
“Put on your red dancing shoes, Maggie… we’ve got some celebrating to do!”
Credit: Jill Johnson/JPI
More: How, when and where to watch the Daytime Emmys
And to think, he almost didn’t get the part. In fact, as he explained during a Television Academy Foundation interview, when first he was called in to test for Days, it was for the role of Doug Williams (which of course wound up going to Bill Hayes). When finally Aniston did hit Days, it was as Dr. Eric Richards. So reviled was his alter ego — who took pleasure in torturing good guy Bill Horton — that he recalls being “attacked at a supermarket once by a lady with an umbrella. ‘How dare you be so mean to Dr. Bill, who never hurt anybody in his life. You’re an awful man!'”
Although that part lasted less than a year, it perfectly prepared Aniston to step into the role of bad guy Victor 15 years later… a part he’s been playing since 1985. And it’s a role he’s loved from the start. Being an international crime boss, he explained, “You can do whatever you want to people. Everything that everybody wants to do but can’t do, you can do. You punish your enemies and reward your friends. What’s not to like?”
More: The Bo/Hope reunion we never thought we’d get
While Victor may be the part for which he’s best known, it’s far from his only role, even in daytime. He appeared on both Love of Life and Search for Tomorrow, often joking that on the latter, his character was the only man to marry lead heroine Jo (played by Mary Stuart) and not be killed off in one fashion or another. And of course, he’s also pretty well known for his off-screen role as the father of Jennifer Aniston.
Join us in reliving some of Victor’s highs and lows with the photo gallery below. Even we forgot just how low he sometimes sank!
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Image: NBC Universal Inc.
1/21
<p>Born in Greece and having made his fortune there, Victor arrived in Salem in 1985 running a number of legal, but mostly illegal, businesses. One of his first illegal ventures in town was to finance Savannah Wilder’s drug and pornography ring.</p>
Image: NBC Universal Inc.
2/21
<p>Kimberly Brady had a brief affair with Victor but ultimately fell in love with Shane Donovan. Shane originally posed undercover for the ISA as Victor’s butler in an attempt to bring down his criminal organization. </p>
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3/21
<p>Victor and Stefano DiMera were both competing to locate a lost fortune, and Kimberly came into possession of a print leading to the location of it. Bo, Hope, Kim, and Shane rushed to stop Victor from getting his hands on it, and in the process, Victor kidnapped Shane and forced Kim to have sex with him in exchange for him sparing Shane’s life. Later, Kim became pregnant, and Shane’s ex-wife Emma Donovan tampered with paternity results to make it appear, Victor, not Shane, was the father of her son Andrew. </p>
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4/21
<p>Unbeknownst to many in Salem, Victor had an affair with Caroline Brady decades earlier, which resulted in Caroline becoming pregnant with Victor’s son, Bo. Bo was raised believing Shawn Brady was his father. At one point Caroline held a gun on Victor to swear their affair to secrecy, only to be arrested. When Bo finally learned the truth, he agreed never to tell Shawn and attempted to bring Victor’s crime organization down. The two had a rocky relationship in the early years. In time, Bo and Victor eventually bonded as father and son.</p>
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5/21
<p>In 1986, with Stefano DiMera believed to be dead, his position and power in the crime world were up for grabs. Victor competed in a game called The Purse, The Power and The Pawn in which he and rivals bided on one of Stefano’s greatest creations, The Pawn. Victor won, through trickery and murder of his rivals, and brought The Pawn to Salem. He was eventually revealed to be a back from the dead Roman Brady. Of course, in time the story was revised that he wasn’t Roman at all, but a man brainwashed into believing he was Roman.</p>
Image: NBC Universal Inc.
6/21
<p>In 1987 the race was on to recover a computer disk that led to the location of a rare and valuable mineral. Victor was out to locate the disk, which the ISA was also desperate to find and protect. Diana Coleville came to Salem in search of the disk as well, as it was connected to her mother Serena. She began dating Victor only to use him to get to the disk. Eventually, Diana’s mother beat Victor to gaining the disk, and Victor and Serena worked together trying to force Diana into marrying Victor so they could get their hands on the Coleville family fortune left to Diana. Victor even resorted to kidnapping Diana and her mother Serena, who he betrayed. Fortunately, Roman/John eventually rescued Diana from Victor. </p>
Image: NBC Universal Inc
7/21
<p>Victor’s nephew Justin Kiriakis moved to Salem and in with his uncle. Justin became smitten with and eventually married Adrienne Johnson, who Victor despised and saw as being beneath Justin. In one of his many attempts to separate them, Victor secretly drugged Justin to cause him to become impotent. After many years, Justin, Victor, and Adrienne were able to overcome their distrust and dislike for one another. </p>
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8/21
<p>In 1989 Victor teamed up with Marina Toscano to locate the Toscano family treasure but was double-crossed by her. When Marina ended up dead, Victor framed Kayla Brady for her murder because he knew Isabella, Marina’s sister, was the real killer and had blacked out the accidental murder. He also knew, thanks to Jack Deveraux locating her mother’s diary, that he was Isabella’s father due to an affair with her mother Loretta.</p>
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9/21
<p>John Black, at the time believing he was Roman Brady, had a long feud with Victor. As captain of the Salem PD, he was determined to nail Victor for his crimes and put him in prison. While investigating Marina’s murder, he began to fall in love with her sister Isabella. Together they discovered a surveillance tape Victor had hidden in his home which showed Isabella accidentally killing Marina. Because it was an accident, Isabella wasn’t charged. When Isabella eventually learned the truth that she was Victor’s daughter, she began to bond with him. In time, Isabella gave birth to John’s son and Victor’s grandson, Brady. After Isabella’s tragic death, Brady has been the link keeping John and Victor tied together over the years, and in time they formed a mutual respect for one another. </p>
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10/21
<p>In 1990 many in Salem were invited on a mysterious cruise, in a storyline known as The Cruise of Deception. Isabella’s believed father Ernesto Toscano was behind the cruise and was desperate to get revenge on Victor and others he considered his enemies, including Isabella for killing his only child Marina. The cruise ship was rigged to sink, and the Salemites were stranded on an island. During this storyline, Victor and Julie grew closer and had a short-lived romance. She however was unable to get passed his still occasional criminal behavior. </p>
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11/21
<p>In 1991, Victor had suffered a stroke which left him paralyzed from the waist down. Dr. Carly Manning began working with Victor as a physical therapist, and Victor fell for her. Carly however was in love with his son Bo, which Victor knew. Victor still proposed to Carly, and she accepted when Bo seemed unable to commit to Carly. When Bo attempted to send Carly a letter before her wedding begging her not to marry his father, Victor intercepted it and altered the letter to say Bo wanted her to marry his father. Victor sent a fake response to Bo in which Carly claimed she loved and was going to marry Victor. When Victor’s plot was eventually discovered, he tried to have Bo killed in an elevator accident, but instead, Carly was caught in the rigged elevator and seriously injured. Bo and Isabella both disowned Victor for a period of time for his actions. </p>
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12/21
<p>Isabella’s death from Pancreatic Cancer in 1992 hit Victor hard, and he decided to try and make a better man of himself to honor her. He began dating Vivian Alamain, who fell hard for Victor. Unfortunately for Vivian, when the truth that she had stolen Carly and Lawrence’s son Nikki was revealed, he ended things with her. Vivian however refused to give up on Victor.</p>
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13/21
<p>Kate Roberts arrived in Salem in 1993, hired by Victor to head up his newly formed legit company Titan Industries. Kate and her son Lucas Roberts moved into the mansion, and Kate and Victor fell in love. They were married, but Vivian proved the marriage to be null and void when she revealed Kate’s first husband Curtis Reed was still alive. </p>
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14/21
<p>Victor was desperate for another child and gave Kate an ultimatum to give him a child or he wouldn’t legally marry her. Kate was having trouble conceiving and went to a fertility clinic for in-vitro fertilization. When Vivian Alamain learned of this she concocted a plan to have herself accidentally implanted with their embryo and succeeded in carrying their son Philip to term. Her scam was eventually revealed. Victor and Kate never did legally marry, and after several schemes by Kate to try and kill Victor, including leaving Victor for dead in his mansion which was on fire, Victor kicked Kate out of his life. They remain connected by Philip and continue to have a working relationship at times, marred by their respect/hate for one another. </p>
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15/21
<p>During Princess Greta Von Amberg’s coronation, Kate conspired to have Victor shot, but Nicole Walker saved his life. Soon after they married. Nicole was always a social climber and Victor offered a nice fortune. However, when he learned she had an affair with Collin Murphy, he demanded a divorce and even threatened to frame her for being the Salem Stalker, who was killing half of the citizens of the town at the time. Nicole teamed up with Jan Spears to kill Victor, and they electrocuted him in his tub with a toaster. Victor however turned up on Melaswen Island along with all the other Salem Stalker’s victims very much alive. </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
16/21
<p>Belle Black married Victor’s son Philip and she soon became pregnant, but Victor had learned the child’s father was actually his grandson Shawn Douglas, Belle’s former lover. Victor kept the secret, but it eventually came out and a devastated Philip left Belle and enlisted in the military. When he later returned he filed a custody suit for little Claire, and Victor aided him by bribing judges so Philip won custody. Eventually, though Philip returned Claire to her parents. </p>
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17/21
<p>Long before they were rivals in their legal businesses Titan Industries and DiMera Enterprises, Victor and Stefano had a different type of rivalry. Both ran criminal organizations and vied for power, and the control of the shipping lanes into Salem was one of the many focuses in their battles. Almost two decades after first going head to head, Stefano and Victor found themselves in another rivalry. Stefano blamed Victor’s son Philip for the death of his son Tony DiMera, so he had Philip shot. In retaliation, Victor kidnapped Stefano and threatened to withhold his diabetic medication and let him die if Stefano’s other son EJ didn’t hand over DiMera Enterprises to him. EJ then kidnapped Philip’s fiance Stephanie Johnson to further the threats. Philip and EJ eventually agreed to end their families’ feud, which seemed like it would only cost more lives in the long run.</p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
18/21
<p>When Victor’s son Bo needed a pancreas transplant to live, Victor brought his godson Dr. Daniel Jonas to Salem to perform an experimental surgery to save Bo’s life. Daniel went on to become romantically involved with a number of women that Victor had a great disdain for, including his ex’s Kate Roberts and Nicole Walker, and his grandson Brady Black’s ex Chloe Lane. In a shocking turn of events, Daniel was eventually revealed to be Victor’s future wife Maggie Horton’s son she was forced to give up for adoption as a pregnant teenager. </p>
Image: Paul Skipper/JPI
19/21
<p>When Victor’s son Philip’s fiancee Melanie Layton turned out to be the long lost daughter of Daniel Jonas and Carly Manning, Vivian set her sights on killing Melanie to get revenge on her nemesis Carly. Victor agreed to marry Vivian if she swore not to harm Melanie, and the two wed. However, Victor had already begun to have feelings for Maggie Horton. When Vivian learned of this, she buried Maggie alive, which she had once done to Carly, but Victor rescued Maggie. </p>
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20/21
<p>When the Kiriakis/DiMera feud was reignited, Maggie Horton was caught in the crossfire and shot. Victor moved her into the mansion to recuperate and they finally declared their love for one another. Victor proposed and the two married on November 8, 2011.</p>
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21/21
