Quickie Q&A With Kathryn Hays
ATWT’s Kathryn Hays (Kim) chats with Digest about Bob and Kim’s 25-year on-screen romance and her thoughts on the show’s cancellation.
Soap Opera Digest: You’ve reached another on-screen milestone with Bob and Kim’s silver wedding anniversary coming up!
Kathyrn Hays: Twenty five is nothing [laughs]. I’ve been on the show going on 39 years! To be playing the same role for as many years as we have, to have this particular relationship itself last that many years it’s just not the usual thing. It’s wonderful.
Digest: Are you excited about the upcoming episodes surrounding the celebration?
Hays: Our writers have done a wonderful job with these two shows. Ellen Wheeler [former GUIDING LIGHT EP who previously directed at ATWT] directs [one] episode. Ellen was wonderful. She just added so much to the scenes that could’ve been pretty static. She was terrific in her intuitions about it.
Digest: On a more somber note, how’d you find out about the cancellation and were you surprised at all?
Hays: It was not a surprise because we had been warned and because they’d been talking about possibly doing this for a couple of years and openly talking about it. I think we were all grateful for that and Chris [Goutman, EP] made sure that we were all informed before the news went out that day. I didn’t have to be at the studio that day and he called and told me.
Digest: What’s been your favorite storyline after all these years?
Hays: I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had tons of them. It was really wonderful. When Douglas Marland was writing for us, we had terrific storylines involving Frannie, Sabrina, the guy that was lurking and following — John Wesley Shipp [Doug]! The trip to London and Venice finding Sabrina was a lot of fun.
Digest: Have you thought about what it’ll be like when the show’s just not there anymore?
Hays: I’m of the opinion that you don’t really know how you’re going to feel until it’s not there anymore. At least for Don [Hastings, Bob] and myself, we haven’t been working every day so that has kind of leveled off and it does kind of prepare you and gives you a chance to see what that feels like. The difference being in that you know it’s still there. I’ve been, for some time, thinking about it mentally and trying to keep a good thought about it and prepare myself. It will be a major change in my life. It’s a family. Your heart just goes out to everyone. It’s sad because it’s still such a vibrant show, I think. And a show that still has loyal viewers. It’s too bad that CBS can’t find room for us.
Conversation
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