ATWT LEGEND KATHRYN HAYS PASSES AWAY

[victoria foxton]

@NothinButAttitude

Please register in order to view this content

[DRW50]

Thank you @Soapsuds. Still a great scene (with a very tender performance, as always, from Steve Basset).  These episodes  tend to vanish so I'm glad the clip was saved. 

[Brolden]

Such tremendously sad news. Kathryn Hays was among the very best of the very best.

In the 10 years I watched ATWT 'live', her role had sadly long been diminished, but I started truly appreciating her when I found the classic episodes online. 

I haven't read this full thread yet, but I see the Marland era being mentioned a lot. Personally, I will be forever grateful to WeLoveSoaps and SoapClassics for publishing a series of episodes from late 1979 and early 1980. These episodes show Kim right after she's lost Dan, as she's trying to be be a parent to Betsy. Kathryn Hays was so beautifully understated in these scenes.

This is a huge loss for the daytime community. May she rest in peace.

[DramatistDreamer]

 Even though Eileen Fulton was treated very poorly in the show’s final years, at the very least her peers had the good sense to award her with the Liftetime Achievement award, along with Don Hastings, so at least there is that. To my knowledge, no such accolades were ever bestowed upon Kathryn Hays.

For years I asked, why won’t the Daytime Emmys give her a Lifetime Achievement award? They give them to game show hosts whose shows are no longer on the air, except perhaps in reruns, so why not Kathryn Hays?  Now it really is too late to show her that appreciation.

[Vee]

KH bore a striking resemblance to my own mother (alive and well) both physically and in personality as well, so I can relate to some of that emotion some of us are feeling.

[DRW50]

I agree. As they are in  clip form it's difficult to feel the full impact as originally intended, but I greatly appreciate getting to see  Kim's grieving, and John hovering, and Kathryn's wonderful rapport with Suzanne Davidson.

Edited April 8, 2022 by DRW50

[NothinButAttitude]

Thank you @victoria foxton! 

 

I think I am going to go ahead and head to Youtube and pay homage by watching the Dream's End arc again. I try and watching it once a year. Might as well go ahead and fall into that rabbit hole of goodness. 

[titan1978]

I watched ATWT off and on sadly after it’s glory days.  But In every scene Kim was in there was almost always a vitality mixed with a very grounded person, even with the most mundane scenes.  Her talent was not utilized to its full potential during those years.  But she left me wanting more.

A lot of these shows had veteran players that they didn’t utilize well.  And sometimes it made sense- the actor’s health or limitations.  But I never felt that from Hays (or really anyone on ATWT).  She had something special.

 

Edited April 8, 2022 by titan1978

[DramatistDreamer]

Someone posted this, I encountered this at random, and I thought I would post here as an example of just how good Hays was. The way this scene escalate is so enthralling. Hays had Levels!

[Chris B]

She is the reason I became an ATWT fan. As a child, she had such a striking look that I’d always be glued to the screen. Once I became a full time viewer I was still in love. Bob and Kim were one of the greatest soap couples and they never bored me. 

[Mitch64]

You hit on something intangible about ATWT and probably soaps in general..that shared experience between the generations. I remember watching ATWT and GL with my grandmother, (who I lost more then 25 years ago) my aunt (lost about 20 years) and my Mom...(a bit over a a year) and talking and laughing and making fun of and watching these goofy shows together with the same characters and actors...no TV show are ever going to come close to that again. So instead of seeing an actress you like pass, you are seeing all of those good memories of the people you lost also. It was really weird and personal when I found out Hays passed, and I am not a weird celebrity fan..it IS like you lost someone in your family.

[DRW50]

ATWT is one of the shows that I started in my grandmother's living room, enthralled by what was often background noise to her. It's attached to so many memories. You don't really have those connections with shows now, or if you do, they are spoilt by online experiences and the general cynicism and emptiness of so much culture now.

Edited April 9, 2022 by DRW50

[Soapsuds]

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/ctpost/name/kathryn-hays-obituary?id=34137516&fbclid=IwAR0k02wcM1m9PAoyd7dquYG37OdLevFlIb6G57lRFdq98qFwRgZGFLYftKc

[Faulkner]

ATWT wasn’t “my” show when I started getting into soaps in the early ‘90s, as I watched OLTL. It was my mom’s show, so even though I didn’t regularly watch until maybe the Richard Culliton era, I still feel a kinship to it. I associate it with my mom and how much she loved it.

[~bl~]

Thanks everyone for sharing clips and memories. I am sad about this news, but glad I have a place to discuss this great loss.