DAYS/YR/GH: Producer H. Wesley Kenney passes away at 89

[JAS0N47]

H. WESLEY KENNEY

IN LOVING MEMORY

JANUARY 3, 1926-JANUARY 13, 2015

"Days" Executive Producer/Director, 1967-1979

H. Wesley Kenney, a director who would become an Executive Producer of "Days of Our Lives", passed away on January 13, 2015 at St. John's Health Center in Santa Monica. He was 89. Kenney had suffered a heart attack on Christmas Eve after a visit to his daughter's home.

Harry Wesley Kenney Jr. was born on January 3, 1926 in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Minnie and Harry Kenney Sr. He acted in high school and college, then had plans to become a drama teacher. However, after graduating from Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering in 1951, Kenney began working as a director at the short-lived DuMont TV network, where he would direct up to 12 different live broadcasts per day. After DuMont stopped broadcasting in 1956, Kenney would go on to direct and produce soap operas. He joined "Days of Our Lives" as a producer/director from 1967-1974. He returned to "Days" in 1976 and was the show's Executive Producer (the first person besides a Corday to hold that title) from 1977-1979. He was later a Co-Executive Producer of "The Young and the Restless" from 1982-1987, and the Executive Producer of "General Hospital" from 1987-1989. While on a brief leave from "Days" from 1974-1976, Kenney directed the entire fifith season of the primetime hit "All in the Family", as well as the pilot episode of its hit spinoff, "The Jeffersons." In his later years, Kenney became a professor at the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television.

During his career, Kenney was nominated for 19 Emmy Awards and won 7, including two as a director for "Days of Our Lives" in 1974 and 1978, three as a producer for "The Young and the Restless" in 1983, 1985 and 1986, and two for directing an "ABC Afternoon Playbreak" special in 1974.

In a 2008 interview, Kenney recalled "Days" Executive Producer Betty Corday: "She was a delightful lady and we worked very well." When asked how he'd like to be remembered, he stated this: "An average guy, who with great luck, was able to be successful."

Kenney met his wife, actress Heather North when she joined the cast of "Days of Our Lives" as Sandy Horton in 1967. They were married in 1971. He is survived by his wife, Heather; four children, Nina, Wesley, Karen and Kevin; seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

[DRW50]

Sad to hear this.

As always you have an informative, classy tribute.

He had a huge impact on both DAYS and Y&R - one might say they might not be on today without him.

I remember that brief period when he was going to produce Sunset Beach. I always kind of wondered what might have been if he had, as I think the early, meandering months of the show helped seal its fate.

[YRfan23]

How sad! .....

He def helped guide Y&R through the 80's.....especially when the bold decision was made to transition the show from the Brooks/Fosters, to the Abbotts/Williams/Newmans....

I had know idea he was involved with some of those sitcoms.....pretty cool info!

RIP!

[BetterForgotten]

I always thought he was severely underrated and not given enough credit for guiding Y&R's transition and transformation to the hour-long format.

Conboy was all style and little substance, and I think Kenney was much more of a story-based producer, if that makes sense.

[John]

Why didnt he produce Sunset Beach? Any deets?

[titan1978]

I enjoyed his Y&R and his tenure at GH. I think the entire Jerome storyline happened when he was there? I know it started under him because Duke went to work for the Jerome family to use their help in finding Anna when Grant Putnam was holding her, which was 1988 I think.

[Paul Raven]

Wes Kenney SOD interview

4/7/87 Digest.

Will Jack Wagner Move On? Which of your favorite actors will be cut when the ax falls on GENERAL HOSPITAL?

Wes Kenney has the answers.

By Pat Butler and Michael Logan.

She turned a ratings guttersnipe into daytime's fairest lady, but after nine years as GENERAL HOSPITAL's real chief of staff, executive producer Gloria Monty finally called it quits. Maybe you can imagine Laurel without Hardy, bagels without lox and New York without the Yankees - but GH without Monty? Impossible! Forget it! It'll never fly!

Well, doomsayers, hold on to your hats! The show's new Big Daddy, H. Wesley Kenney, has taken over with a vengeance. And while there are big changes on the horizon, GH loyalists needn't fret. The forecast is strictly sunny.

With Monty voluntarily moving on to the greener pastures of prime time and mini-series for the ABC network, the time was ripe to refocus and resharpen a soap that, despite its continued domination of the Nielsens, has gotten pretty raggedy around the edges. Of course, any refurbishment takes a while (especially if you don't close up shop) but Kennedy predicts his overhaul will be fully evident by early summer - and guarantees there'll be lots more of GH's assets and a lot less of its liabilities.

While fans can expect more heavy-duty story lines for Duke and Anna (Ian Buchanan and Finola Hughes), Tiffany and Sean (Sharon Wyatt and John Reilly) and the ever-nasty Lucy Coe (Lynn Herring), the heads of several peripheral players will roll and at least one actress, Hilary Edson, who plays Tania, will not be re-signing when her contract expires this spring. There will be a moratorium on crime stories which will get the show out of the dreary police station and back to the hospital where it all began. Also in the works is the re-introduction of Audrey and Steve's adopted son Tom which will bring the long ignored Hardy Family back to the forefront, and the Quartermaines will be rewelcoming that conniving Tracy Quartermaine - possibly to be played again by Jane Elliot, who won a 1981 Emmy in the role.

So who is this guy Kenney? To begin with, he's no lightweight. An outrageously charming combination of Rip Torn and Walter Matthau, Kenney comes armed with seven Emmy Awards and a background which includes a seven-year stint as producer and director of DAYS OF OUR LIVES and five years as executive producer of THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS. He took on the latter in early 1982, replacing John Conboy who'd move on to create CAPITOL. Along with co-exec Bill Bell, Kenney turned the then-languishing Y&R into a real champ by firing actors, hiring actors, jazzing up story lines and juicing up romances. A year later, the once-anorexic serial won the Emmy as Outstanding Daytime Drama and proudly boasted several million new viewers. Ironically, under his magic thumb, it recently became the first soap in years to temporarily dethrone GH from its lofty spot atop the ratings.

The two soaps have little more in common than their running time. The pace, style and caliber of acting are poles apart but Kenney's convinced that, now that he's in the GH driver's seat, he can strike a compromise. Notes the new boss, "YOUNG AND RESTLESS has great stories. It deals in character and in relationships, and as a result, it works. If I were to find fault with it, I would say that they draw their stories a little too long. GENERAL HOSPITAL, under Gloria's very successful tutelage, has been more of an adventure. It really rolls! Stories move faster but there is less attention to character and to relationships. It has obviously hooked its audience with excitement and intrigue. I have to say, having worked all these years in daytime, that there's a middle ground here. I hope to arrive at a point where I have incorporated the best of two worlds."

Wes has hedged his bets by hiring Ann Marcus as head writer for the soap. An Emmy Award winner for MARY HARTMAN, MARY HARTMAN, which she wrote and co-created, Marcus also served as head writer for LOVE OF LIFE, LOVE IS A MANY SPLENDORED THING, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW and DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Norma Monty, Gloria's sis, will continue as GH's co-head writer. With the scripts getting meatier, Kenneyplans to bear down on the acting company. "The actors are being told to get more depth into their characters," he says. "The show won't be so hit and run. We'll be playing out the situations more." He's determined to improve the quality of the supporting and day players on the show, which should come as a relief to GH viewers who have suffered through some pretty rotten acting from the second stringers.

He also plans to employ new actors only as long as they're needed, noting that, of the recently added roles, only Tom Hardy is currently considered to be a core character of lasting duration. "The rest," he says, "will be here for six months or a year and when their stories are over, they will go. There's no sense in hanging onto them if they've got nothing else to do." The same goes for several currently backburner players. Monty had been criticized for her insistence on retaining once-prominent characters but never giving them anything dramatically worthy to do. (Kenney nearly went into cardiac arrest when, upon signing on, he was informed there were 42 stars under contract.) While Wes is too much of a gentleman to name names, he does admit that there will be several pink slips issued in the near future, thus decreasing the amount of thumb-twiddling contractees lurking in the background at the hospital, the Brownstone and the ubiquitous nightclub and party sequences. This news may chill many a marrow but Kenney, when asked what percentage of the current cast will be present a year from now, clearly looks at the chopping block with a cup-is-half-full mentality. Reveals the producer, "New people are coming in, others are being wrapped up, some may ask out - so, all things being equal, I'd say at least 50 percent will still be around."

Whether the very popular Jack Wagner (Frisco) is among them remains to be seen. Word is, he wants out when his contract expires mid-summer.Kenney, hoping to keep him on, had a heart-to-heart pow-wow with the star, hoping to convince him to re-sign with a contract that would provide plenty of loopholes for extra-curricular acting and singing work. "I'm hoping that will have some influence," Kenney comments.

As for the rest of the troops, enthusiasm for the new regime couldn't be higher.

"I have never heard anybody say anything but good things about this man, both personally and professionally, and that is definitely a rarity in this business," says GH veteran Stuart Damon, who plays Alan Quartermaine.

Brad Maule, who stars as Dr. Anthony Jones, adds, "When a very strong, powerful person leaves, there's usually a vacuum created - but the interesting thing is that without any trepidation. He seems to be of equal power. Some people feel like they have to take control, but he just had control. It made us feel at ease because we'd like the show to stay as strong as it was under Gloria."

"I was very pleased to hear from Wes that the Hardy family would be once again, very important," notes John Beradino, who was Dr. Steve Hardy, had been blatantly underused during the last few years. "They've gotten so involved in adventure and crime over here that they've forgotten about the medical aspects."

Jacklyn Zeman (Bobbie Meyer) is already a big Kenney fan. "He makes people feel that what they're contributing has value," she gushes. "He seems to be very sensitive and he listens before he speaks - that's why the actors love him so much. He comes to work wearing sneakers and jeans and he has these sparkly eyes and this happy, bouncy walk."

Another actor, wishing to remain anonymous, reports, "Now, it's like Christmas every day. Wes actually smiles at you in the morning. He actually asks how you are!"

Despite the glowing notices, Kenney's arrival was met with a little apprehension. One actress - anxious to get a few things straight before re-signing her contract - actually jumped the gun and called him up at the Y&R set to suggest a meeting to discuss his plans for the show. Leslie Charleson, who plays Monica Quartermaine, admits that she, too, was a little gun-shy about the changeover. "At first I thought, 'Well, I'm quitting if Gloria leaves. I mean, that's it!'" she reports. Now, she's changed her tune, admitting, "Anyone who could follow in Gloria's footsteps would have to be admired. Taking on this job is not unlike getting on a horse - if you're at all tentative, the horse is going to know it."

In an effort to curtail some rather indulgent work habits on the part of his stars, Wes fired off a memo which began: "I must tell you I'm getting too old to work as late as we frequently do..." Kenney then charmingly suggested that a few time saving adjustments by the cast would allow everyone to finish earlier. The tone was light and supportive, and a point made with honey, not vinegar.

The physical look of the soap will also improve. Coming from one of the most lushly produced daytime soaps, Wes is not about to see the GH cast get anything less than the kids at Y&R. "Shoot it like a movie," he's already informed the crew.

Also high on Kenney's priority list is plot continuity - which was getting sloppy. For example, last summer Frisco and Felicia left Catalina Island on a small plane, changed to a bigger plane in Los Angeles, flew to New York City, hopped a shuttle to Port Charles and then took a taxi to the Brownstone - all, apparently, within 20 minutes. As if to explain the rush, Felicia then breathlessly exclaimed, "We were in such a hurry to get home that we left our luggage at the airport!" To combat such atrocities, Wes has hired a continuity expert whom he meets with each morning, and has also requested that the writers sprinkle a heavy dose of reality on future scripts.

Gone, too, will be the time-worn tradition of a single, prominent story line. "Whereas that has been the thrust of the show - which was Gloria's choice and it obviously worked - we're not going to do that," explains the new exec. "We will revert back to the old soap formula and have two or three major story lines going all the time."

He wants those old ratings back, too - the kind GH used to get when Luke and Laura were the country's hottest couple. "I don't think this is a reflection on Gloria at all, but the show was much higher rated five years ago. THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS wasn't even close to it. That means, in a sense, the show isn't doing what it used to do best. It continued to do certain things well but other things have gone askew. Maybe by bringing back some of the old values, we can reinstate the more tremendous popularity GENERAL HOSPITAL possessed at one time."

Even with the confidence and experience to expertly endure this trial by fire, Kenney still admits the gig can bring the occasional sleepless night. "God forbid, I would hate to think I was responsible for it failing,' he sighs. "Sometimes I wish we were in last place because, then, you only have one place to go - up!"

[jam6242]

Tracey Bregman had some kind words to say about Mr. Kenney:

traceybregman1

Today I lost this great man Wes Kenney. He was my producer, my friend and my mentor. He is the one who gave me my break at 14 with Days of our Lives and then when I was 19, drove up into my driveway one day and said, "Hey kid, (yes he actually said that) want to do a soap again?" And that was the beginning of my amazing journey on @youngandrestlesscbs @cbsdaytime I will forever be grateful and he has a permanent place in my heart

http://instagram.com/p/x4mOyBgH2u/

[sungrey]

RIP to a fantastic man and a soap legend. Wes Kenney knew how to do a soap and do it very well.

[OldGHFan]

ITA. He was great on Y&R but I honestly don't think he was the right man for GH. I think the show floundered a bit under his leadership. Then again, I don't think any of the male GH male Executive Producers have been that great. I think it's the two women EPs (Gloria and Wendy) that made GH fantastic.

[teplin]

Yes, much of his DAYS work was sublime, the best that soap has ever been -- and the show hit very rocky times as soon as he left.

[sungrey]

When you had Kenney as EP and Pat Falken Smith as head writer... wow. That was a team.

[BetterForgotten]

I wonder what his relationship with Bell was like by the time he left Y&R. They had worked together before at DAYS, but didn't Bell once say that while he respected him as a producer, he didn't agree much with Kenney at Y&R? Maybe because the dynamics were different at Y&R and Bell was the ultimate decision marker there.

However, Kenney seemed to be the only producer that had significant impact or influence on the show during Bell's reign. By most accounts, Conboy and Scott never had as much of a story impact on the show. Perhaps it was because Kenney joined Y&R at a strange time when the show was transitioning to an hour and getting ready to purge and revamp most of its cast, so he was able to bring and push though a lot of ideas to Bell to make the show pop a little bit better.

[DaytimeFan]

There are few producers who enjoy such a long and legendary career. Wes Kenney enjoyed such a career and was very well liked in the industry.

[John]

How was Kenney's GH?

Was he fired or did he quit

I know Joe Hardy's (who replaced Kenney) was horrid and short lived