Kathryn Hays (born Kay Piper; July 26, 1934 – March 25, 2022) was an American actress, best known for her role as Kim Hughes on the CBS soap opera As the World Turns from 1972 to 2010.
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Early life
Hays was born in Princeton, Illinois, the only child of Roger and Daisy (Hays) Piper. Her parents divorced shortly after her birth. Hays was raised by her mother, who was a bookkeeper and a banker, and her stepfather, salesman Arnold Gottlieb.
Hays grew up in Joliet. She graduated from Joliet Central High School in 1952. Hays took classes at Northwestern University and worked as a department store model and then she was in television commercials in Chicago. She moved to New York City to continue her modeling career and become one of the highest paid models. In 1962, she changed her name to Kathryn Hays (using her mother's maiden name as her last name).
Career
Episodic TV, film, and Broadway
Early in her career, Hays made numerous appearances on episodic TV, and made a few later in her career. In 1968, she guest starred in Star Trek as the eponymous central character in the episode “The Empath”, playing a mute alien with healing powers. She also had appearances in The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Road West, and the 1964 Mr. Novak episode "One Way to Say Goodbye". She guest starred in episodes of Hawaiian Eye, Surfside 6, Naked City, Route 66, The High Chaparral, Here Come the Brides, Marcus Welby, M.D., and Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law. Hays guest starred in Bonanza, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Virginian, and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town. In a 2010 interview with the website We Love Soaps, Hays said of the early appearances: "It was a great time to begin a career. It was when the guest stars on the primetime shows were almost always women. The running star would be a man. The main storyline would be a very rich part to play." She was in episodes of Mannix and Night Gallery with Leonard Nimoy. In 1972, Hays guest starred on an episode of Cade's County.
Hays also appeared in the films Ladybug Ladybug (1963), Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966) and Counterpoint (1968). She was considered for the role of Neely O'Hara in Valley of the Dolls (1967), but the role ultimately went to Patty Duke. Hays was in the TV films This Savage Land, Breakout and Yuma as Julie Williams. In later years, her TV appearances included Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and in 2010 on One Life to Live.
Prior to her role on As the World Turns, Hays played the role of nurse Leslie Jackson Bauer, RN on The Guiding Light for three months. In 1977, she, along with Michael Allison, Meg Bennett, David Hasselhoff, Don Stewart, and Tudi Wiggins, starred in a CBS TV special entitled After Hours: Getting to Know Us.
Hays appeared in Broadway productions several times, including a regional production of Dames at Sea with Bernadette Peters. She was in the productions of Ladybug, Ladybug, The Irregular Verb to Love, and Hot September. Hays was in summer stock productions of Show Boat, Richard Rogers' Two By Two, Follies, and A Little Night Music. In 1982, she was in the one-woman Broadway play Love Notes where she performed One Step, [[Follies#Songs
|Broadway Baby]] from Follies, I Can Do That from A Chorus Line, and If I Loved You from Carousel.
As the World Turns
In 1972, Hays was cast as Kim Sullivan Hughes on CBS's As the World Turns. She was originally hired for six months. Hays remained with the show until its final episode on September 17, 2010. The character of Kim was a pivotal heroine on the show for over thirty years. Hays was prominently featured in the 50th anniversary episode of the show, which aired in April 2006.
In May 2020, she appeared in an As The World Turns reunion episode of The Locher Room, one of a series of YouTube episodes reuniting various soap actors, as well as being the subject of a The Locher Room tribute in 2022.
Personal life and death
Hays' first marriage was to salesman Sidney Steinberg in 1957, with whom she had a daughter. In 1964 she met actor Glenn Ford at a Hollywood dinner party. In 1966, she married Ford; the couple divorced in 1969. Her third husband was Wolfgang Lieschke, who was employed in the advertising industry. She also enjoyed music, church, and dogs.
Hays died on March 25, 2022, in Fairfield, Connecticut. She had been living in an assisted living facility at the time of her death. Her daughter participated in a November 2022 fan tribute on The Locher Room YouTube channel that honored Hays; in the interview, she said that Hays had had dementia in the years prior to her death.
Hays was honored at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards in a video montage where actor Don Cheadle opened the In Memoriam with: "We were their friends, colleagues, and their fans. Regardless of relationship, we knew and loved the actors that we loved and lost last year. We traveled with them on unforgettable journeys; they told us the best stories".