Kathryn Hays

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Kathryn Hays

Born	July 26, 1933 (age 73) Princeton, Illinois

Kathryn Hays (born July 26, 1933) is an American actress. She was born in Princeton, Illinois and grew up in Joliet, Illinois.

An actress who played bit parts in many sitcoms and dramas throughout the 1960s and into the 1970s, she is most famous for her role as Kimberly "Kim" Sullivan Hughes on As the World Turns. Hays has been on the soap opera since her debut in 1972.

Long-known for her pixie-length brown hairdo, Hays has, in recent years, stopped coloring it, opting for a natural gray. The character of Kim was a pivotal heroine on the show for nearly twenty years. Hays was prominently featured in the 50th anniversary episode of the show, which aired in April 2006.

In 1968, she appeared on Star Trek in the episode "The Empath," portraying "Gem," a mute alien capable of assuming the pain and the injuries of others, and thereby healing them. It was this appearance that inspired creator Gene Roddenberry to write a role for her in all of his projects, in case she wanted to return.

Prior to her role on As the World Turns, Hays played the role of Leslie Bauer on Guiding Light. Hays is also respected for her work on the stage, having appeared on Broadway several times, including Dames at Sea with Bernadette Peters.

Hays has had three marriages, most notably to actor Glenn Ford, to whom she was married from 1966 to 1969. She currently resides in lower Manhattan and Bridgeport, Connecticut. She is the eldest of three generations of women to work in acting and modeling: her daughter, Sherri Hays Wells Mancusi, was successful in regional theater, most notably in the title role of "To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday". Her granddaughter, Kathryn L. Wells, models for Abercrombie and Fitch from her Boston home.