The 'Days of Our Lives' Villain Viewers Loved to Hate in the '80s

Days of Our Lives fans knew doom and destruction were in the air when the great Stefano DiMera (Joseph Mascolo) appeared. Let's take a moment and reflect on one of daytime's greatest villains.

In 1981, newly appointed Days head writer Pat Falken Smith had just come off a successful run on the ABC soap opera General Hospital, where she had penned the highly successful and popular Ice Princess storyline.

Finding inspiration in the NBC miniseries The Gangster Chronicles, Smith created the role of Stefano specifically for Mascolo and brought on former General Hospital star Thaao Penghlis as his son, Anthony ‘Tony' DiMera.

Penghlis joined the series first in November of 1981, with Mascolo following soon after in January of 1982.

Tony had come to Salem to win back his wife, Liz Chandler (Gloria Loring), and to investigate the residents of Salem and whether it would be an appropriate location for the DiMeras' next business ventures.

Upon learning that the Brady family, specifically Roman Brady (Wayne Northrop), was living in Salem, Stefano decided it was the perfect opportunity to enact his revenge and seize control.

Roman had previously been an agent working with the ISA to take down Stefano and his international crime ring.

Throughout the next forty years, Stefano's reign of terror on the residents of Salem would cause heartache for all who had the unfortunate circumstances to run into him.

This began when Stuart Whyland (Robert Alda) failed to secure a manufacturing plant for Stefano and was framed for the DiMera's drug cartel operation. Ultimately causing him to die of a heart attack in January 1982.

One early storyline saw Stefano partnering with Andre DiMera, whom he had given plastic surgery to look just like Tony DiMera. Andre and Stefano kidnapped Tony and held him prisoner while they plotted to frame Roman for the Salem Slasher murders.

Stefano's feud with the Brady's continued to evolve over the years as he targeted not only Roman but also became obsessed with his wife, Marlena (Deidre Hall).

In 1984, Stefano had returned from the dead after having ‘died' in a car accident. Now, suffering from a brain tumor, he was on the search for four "prisms" that could help cure him. This led to an intense cliffside battle with his rival, Roman, that ended with Roman falling over the cliff and ‘dying' in his brother Bo's (Peter Reckell) arm.

Stefano made his way back to Salem and taunted Marlena, but she enacted her revenge, shooting and "killing" Stefano once again.

However, the death didn't stick, and "The Phoenix", as Stefano would become known as, would once again rise from the ashes.

His next resurrection didn't occur until late 1988, when he came back to take a hold of his son Benjy Hawk, who was being raised by Roman's sister, Kayla Johnson (Marybeth Evans), and her husband, Steve Johnson (Steven Nichols).

Stefano kidnapped Roman's daughter, Carrie Brady, and lured the Bradys to his island, where he explained his master plan and reasoning for his revenge. He shared that following the cliff-top death, he had taken hold of Roman and brainwashed him, and had ordered Roman to kill one of Stefano's enemies.

However, while Roman was successful, he also ended up harming Benjy, who was in the building, and caused Stefano's son to go deaf. Thus, Stefano felt it was only fair to cause Roman and his loved ones harm in revenge.

Benjy ultimately witnessed everything and saw who his father truly was, and decided he didn't want to live with Stefano. Stefano escaped the island in his helicopter and wasn't seen again for many years.

He would briefly return in 1991 to reveal that he had been behind the disappearance of Roman and Marlena, as well as the brainwashing of John Black (DrakeHogestyn) into believing he was Roman Brady.

He would then return once again to Salem in 1993, where his reign of terror would hit new levels, kidnapping Marlena multiple times and holding the citizens of Salem hostage. Stefano would bring terror into the lives of those around him again and again.

Since his arrival in 1981, Stefano "died" and rose from the ashes an astonishing 13 times, before Mascolo's death in 2017.

However, despite his death, Stefano continued to influence things behind the scenes, with his "essence" being transferred to a microchip in 2019 and implanted in Steve Johnson's body, creating the affectionately known "Stevano."

Stefano's remains were finally laid to rest in early 2026, with his family giving the Phoenix a proper memorial.

To this day, fans continue to say reflect highly on the impact Stefano and Mascolo had on the soap opera. One user wrote on X, "Stefano DiMera was the greatest villain in daytime soap history, and that is largely due to the great performances by Joe Mascolo."

A second user added, "Lives were changed that day. He was the villain everyone loved to hate for decades. His machinations are still being felt in Salem long after he died."

What were some of your favorite Stefano memories? Were you terrified of the Phoenix? Or were you always happy to hear him utter the phrase "It's good to be back." Sound off in the comments below and let us know.

Copyright 2026 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved

This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 11:14 AM.