After 40 years, sands are still pouring through television's most famous hourglass. And the familiar voice of actor Macdonald Carey still welcomes viewers to "Days of our Lives," the NBC weekday serial marking its 40th anniversary this month. Lately, the saga of fictional Salem and its residents has included special events such as a Rolling Stones music video and a Donald Trump cameo, and the celebration culminates in the episode airing Nov. 25. With the help of others, Hope Brady (Kristian Alfonso) will assemble an online scrapbook of memorable moments, many relived via flashback sequences.

Initiated by producer Ted Corday and overseen by his family, the Emmy-winning drama was the first daytime soap opera to air in color.

For all its achievements, though, the biggest is that "Days" has endured since debuting Nov. 8, 1965. It has long been home to one of the most popular performers in daytime television -- Deidre Hall, alias Dr. Marlena Evans. Former cast members include Michael T. Weiss ("The Pretender"), Jensen Ackles ("Supernatural"), Mike Farrell, Joan Van Ark, Amy Yasbeck and Bryan Cranston ("Malcolm in the Middle"). Melissa Reeves has spent most of her acting career on "Days" as Jennifer Rose Horton Devereaux, so she says the show's 40th anniversary is "huge" for her. "We recently did an episode of 'Soap Talk,' and rarely are all of us all together in the same place, sitting and reminiscing. It was really exciting, a lot of fun. There were also a lot of tears.

"It's such a busy schedule every day, the years seem to go by quickly," Reeves adds. "This just sort of came up on all of us. We weren't really anticipating it. To me, it feels like this big family celebration that the whole country knows about. We're so caught up in the future of the show that to get to sit and talk about the past, it was really overwhelming to realize I've been a part of this for so many years. I'd never really thought about it."

After a decade on "Days," Reeves left in 1995, then returned five years later to find Jennifer still in the forefront. (Stephanie Cameron assumed the part during Reeves' absence.) Then again, the character does belong to one of the show's pivotal clans.

"Days" started, Reeves explains, by focusing on "the Horton family and where they began and how the family grew, and the incredible morals they stood for. When I got the role, I thought, 'Wow. This is a good family to be a part of.' They're the rock of this show. I think because of that, I've just sort of stayed around by default. I thought I might last a few years, but never this many."

Initially, Reeves moved from her native New Jersey to California to appear in another NBC soap opera, the now-defunct "Santa Barbara." Shortly afterward, she became the third Jennifer in "Days" history. She now acts opposite two of the principal love interests she's had on the show: Matthew Ashford, who plays Jennifer's husband, Jack, and Billy Warlock, who recently returned as Frankie Brady.

"I just couldn't believe it," she says of learning Warlock was coming back. "It's so rare to find someone you work so well with, what are the odds of getting to work with two people like that? These guys are so not driven by ego. They love what they do, and I am just so lucky."

Reeves also feels fortunate to have learned from co-stars such as Frances Reid, who still appears on "Days" as Horton family matriarch Alice, the widow of Dr. Tom Horton (played by the aforementioned Carey). "When I first came on the show, I worked the most with Frances and Michael Weiss," Reeves says. "Frances would sit me down in her dressing room every day and teach me about professionalism ... and, really, about this industry. I had wanted to be a dancer, then this great opportunity suddenly fell in my lap.

"Shows like this go on and on, and Frances taught me that if you keep it together and do a good job, you could go on and on with it."

During the summer, Reeves moonlighted as a correspondent for "CMT Insider," a weekly Country Music Television magazine program. A personal tie didn't hurt: Her husband, Scott Reeves, is half of the country act Blue County as well as an actor she met when he also was on "Days."

"I think of all the things I have had in my life because of this one show," she says. "We had the freedom to have our two children without some of the stresses people deal with all the time. It's just done so much for me personally. Ken Corday (the show's executive producer) is such a family-oriented man, I think he really roots for all of our families, above everything else."

© 2005 Tribune Media Services, Inc.