Gilles Toucas/Courtesy Of Bell-Phillip Television Inc
December 13, 2013 marks the 10-year anniversary of Thorsten Kaye’s B&B debut as Ridge — and no one is more shocked by how quickly the decade passed than Kaye himself. “I gotta tell you, this is the longest I’ve ever stayed anywhere,” says the actor, who came to B&B with stints as ONE LIFE TO LIVE’s Patrick, PORT CHARLES’s Ian and ALL MY CHILDREN’s Zach already under his belt. “Usually six years is my cut-off!”
Despite “the 10-hour commute I have here” from the home on the East Coast that he shares with wife Susan Haskell (ex-Marty, OLTL) and their daughters, McKenna and Marlowe, Kaye is still enjoying the gig. “It’s been good, it’s been hard, it’s been different,” he muses. “I still don’t know why they would call me to take over for somebody like Ronn Moss,” Ridge’s original portrayer, “because you couldn’t have someone more different play that role! I’m still thinking that maybe people that watch the show have really tiny television sets and they don’t know [Ridge was recast]! But Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] is a good boss, and of course, the real winner in this is Susan, for sure, because I’m not home all the time! That’s a blessing for her [laughs]. But listen, I’m still having fun and I’m still providing for my family. We’ve been doing this show through Covid and everything else, and if people want to watch it, we’ll keep going!”
And he’ll continue to wear his hair in accordance with B&B’s needs for Ridge — but, he says, he’d keep it on the shorter side even if he wasn’t on the show. “My long hair was a bad idea 30 years ago and it’s a bad idea today,” he chuckles. “My hair would definitely be short because comb overs don’t work on motorcycles!”
To check out a timeline of the major storyline moments Kaye has played out as Ridge over the last 10 years, click here.
