Kathryn Hays Passes On

Kathryn Hays, who was a regular on the Sixties Western TV series The Road West and later the soap opera As the World Turns, died on March 25 2022 at the age of 88.

Kathryn Has was born Kay Piper in July 26 1933 in Princeton, Illinois. She grew up in Joliet, Illinois.

She made her television debut in an episode of Hawaiian Eye in 1962. In the Sixties she played the regular role of Elizabeth Reynolds Pride on the Western The Road West. She guest starred on the TV shows Surfside 6, Naked City, The United States Steel Hour,  Wide Country, Dr. Kildare, Route 66, The Lieutenant, The Eleventh Hour, The Nurses, Mr. Novak, Arrest and Trial, Bonanza, The Defenders, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, The Virginian, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., Branded, Kraft Suspense Theatre, Run for Your Life, Vacation Playhouse, The High Chaparral, Mannix, Here Come the Brides, Mr. Deeds Goes to Town, and The Bold Ones: The New Doctors. She made her movie debut in the film Ladybug Ladybug in 1963. She appeared in the movies Ride Beyond Vengeance (1966), and Counterpoint (1967).

In the Seventies she guest starred on the TV shows The Guiding Light; Marcus Welby, M.D.; Owen Marshall, Counsellor at Law; Bearcats!; Cade's County; Night Gallery; and Ghost Story. It was in 1972 that she began a thirty eight year run on the soap opera As the World Turns. She later guest starred on the shows American Playhouse, Law & Order, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and One Life to Live.

Kathryn Hays was a gifted actress. She guest starred in the Star Trek episode "The Empath" as Gem, a mute woman capable of absorbing the wounds of others. It was a role that required that she communicate with her eyes and body language, and she gave a remarkable performance. In The Man From U.N.C.L.E. episode "The See-Paris-And-Die Affair" she played a singer that U.N.C.L.E. uses to retrieve stolen diamonds. In The Alfred Hitchcock Hour episode "One of the Family," she played a young mother who suspects the nanny she and her husband have just hired might be guilty of child murder. Kathryn Hays was capable of subtle and powerful performances, something she demonstrated in several appearances on television.