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Flight Patterns

Thorsten Kaye is logging a whole lot of frequent flier
miles as B&B's fashion-forward Ridge

Soap Opera Digest

by Tom Stacy, Published June 2, 2014

"I know I'm not in Connecticut anymore," chuckles East Coast resident Thorsten Kaye of the life-changing decision he made to commute cross-country for his role as BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL's Ridge. "I want to say I'm getting used to it but I'm really not. I take the red-eye every week and it starts catching up with you. I'm no spring chicken anymore." Of course, it didn't help that the Northeast endured one of its harshest winters in years. "I missed none of  it," he sighs. "I had to fly to JFK in storms. I'd be in L.A. for two-and-a-half, three days, then fly back into it, so I should get some sympathy. If someone is reading this who can do it, pelase upgrade me."

The actor, who first aired December 2013, has not planted any roots in Los Angeles. "I've been staying with friends," he relays about his local lodgings. "Right now, I'm staying with my friend Lawrence Welk. If that rings a bell, you may be thinking of Lawrence Welk, the legendary musician. This is his grandson, Lawrence Welk III. We've been friends for 25 years and I am godfather to his daughter. So, he's letting me stay there, but I keep throwing it out to Brad [Bell, executive producer/head writer] that he's got that beach house [which doubles as the Cliff House on B&B] that I think is empty. Sure, I might be late for work every day, but you've got to take the good with the bad." 

Traveling to and from work is not the only time he's had to pack his bags in the last six months. When Kaye was first considering B&B, he knew of the soap's lavish location shoots abroad, but had no idea that he'd be journeying to the Middle East. "The idea of going to Europe was definitely part of the decision-making, not that I was planning on going to Dubai, which is a bit of a hike," he smiles. "I've been to Egypt and I went to school with a lot of people from the Middle East, so I've always enjoyed the food and the culture and the way they treat each other. There's a lot of love, a lot of hugging, and when we went to Dubai, one of the first things they said was there will be no public display of affection.  I thought, 'Really?' Not that I'm going to go out and hug strangers -- that's weird in any culture -- but it was not what I expected. It's cool place and the architecture is crazy. I'm not sure what the building codes are, but it's a great place to look at."

Besides logging frequent flier miles, Kaye has been spending his time getting to know his new alter ego -- and taking steps to make Ridge his own. "I don't know too much about what Ronn Moss did," Kaye notes of his predecessor. "I'm trying to bring him a little closer to me. I don't have the same tools but I do see different little moments with this guy." One such moment is Ridge's new appreciation for poetry, which is also a love of his portrayer. "I was talking with Brad about what I think romance is, and it's necessarily all scenes in a bedroom. Romance can be in a lot of things, like poetry. I was telling him about Patrick and Marty and their whole love story [on ONE LIFE TO LIVE] and the next thing I know, I'm opening up a script and there it is. Maybe next time I'll say I need a raise and see if that gets stuck in there. But isn't that good? He does listen and he does take suggestions and then does what he will with them."

Kaye, who is not a big fan of social media, admits he hasn't been gauging fan response to the switcheroo. "I don't think there's any way for fans to give me a response unless they stop me at the airport, which hasn't happened," he chuckles. "I'm not on Twitter or Facebook or any of that stuff -- but I'm still working, so something must be going right. I hope they enjoy the story but the character on the canvas is a lot more important than the person playing it. It happens to be me right now; it might not be me five months from now. I'm just concerned about telling a good story and I hope people don't overthink it. I also hope they don't say, 'He's not as good-looking as Ronn Moss is. Well, no one is, first of all. And, that's not really the point. We all look the way we look and that's that. We're different actors. We approach things differently. I hope I can fill the gap that was left. I'm not there to replace Ronn Moss. I'm there to fill the gap, that's all.

Write On!

Poetry has long been a passion of Kaye's.  Having published two tomes, already, he is ready to pen more. "I like children's poetry," he smiles. "Maybe it's because I'm not really smart and it's all I can do at this point, but I'm working on three different books. We've got two weeks off coming up, so I want to see if I can at least get one of them done. I've got a great audience at home with my two kids. They have no choice but to listen. When I put them to bed at night, I tell them stories and say, 'What didyou think?' and they tell me what worked and what didn't work. I prefer dealing with children because there's no one more honest and they're much better listeners and readers than grown-ups are."

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