At the end of September, GH revealed that Kathleen Gati’s Dr. Liesl Obrecht is back in the mix, with a key new ally and a critical mission: to clear her name by proving that Peter framed her for the death of Drew and the attempted murder of Franco.
Though Gati has been absent from the GH screen since April, her return kicked off in a routine way. “[I] got an email from Casting about new work dates, like usual,” she reports. She was, of course, thrilled. “I’m always excited for Dr. Obrecht to come back and do some dastardly deeds!”
When her character was shipped off to The Hague in the spring, Gati wasn’t quite sure when — or if — she’d be back. “There is always that possibility on any show that you will be left to rot in a jail, chopped up to pieces, or sent off to another country,” she allows. “But I’m always hopeful that Liesl will return to wreak havoc! I always miss it when I’m not there, and when I return, it’s always great to see everybody and get back to work. And this time was no different. I adore portraying Obrecht, and love working with the great material the writers give me, as well as always having amazing actors to work with.” Still, after her protracted time off, “Obrecht’s voice did feel strange in my mouth! Took a moment.”
The actress applauds the twist that Liesl is the mastermind of the mission sending Dante home (“Brilliant! Can’t wait to see where it goes!”) and that she has a new man in her life, Christopher Cousins’s Dr. Kirk — even if it’s far from the romance of the century. “All he is to her is a way to get out of prison and get revenge,” Gati scoffs. “And in Dr. Kirk, Obrecht found someone she can manipulate to get her way… as she always does. Picture hands rubbing together in glee here!”
Working with his portrayer, however, has been a blast. “Christopher is fantastic!” she praises. Of their first scenes together, Gati says, “It was funny because, for safety reasons obviously, we have to wear our masks on set until we film the scenes, so we only saw each other’s faces from behind our masks for those few moments when we were actually filming. I was like ‘Oh, nice to meet you!’ ”
Gati hopes that Obrecht will make her way back to Port Charles soon so that Liesl can reunite with her daughter, Kelly Thiebaud’s Britt, who also recently returned to the show. “Britt was not exactly compassionate with Obrecht’s erroneous imprisonment, so not too sure that mama bear will be warm and cuddly with her cub in the near future,” she notes. “However, I am always happy to work with Kelly, whether I have to snarl at her or hug her!”
The actress was moved by the warm viewer response to Obrecht’s comeback. “I am always so grateful that the fans are so supportive and enthusiastic about me being back on screen. Always touches my heart! The fans are definitely rooting for Obrecht to take Peter down. So is Obrecht! You GH fans, are the best fans in the whole world! I always and truly appreciate you guys so much! You are all the reason I do this.”
