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How B&B Snagged Thorsten  Kaye - As A Recast Ridge!

Soap Opera Digest

by Tom Stacy, Published November 11, 2013

It was huge news last year when Ronn Moss walked away from BOLD AND BEAUTIFUL after 25 years of playing fashion magnate Ridge Forrester -- and equally earth-shattering when Thorsten Kaye was recently handpicked by Executive Producer/Head Writer Bradley P. Bell to take over the iconic role. Here, Kaye gives Digest the scoop on one of the biggest casting coups of the year.

"I'm not really sure how all this happened," Kaye shrugs of snagging a role in the world's most popular soap opera. "I had talked to Carolyn [Hinsey, Digest's Featured Columnist] about this a couple of times, about what's out there -- because I like to work and I like being on soaps. I kind of threw it out there [that he was open to being on another soap] and thought maybe something might stick. I talked with Brad, who is a real gentleman, and he said, 'Would you be interested in doing something?' I said, 'Of course.' I didn't know what this part was or what I was being asked to play, but it was grown-up money and a grown-up cast with dressing rooms and all the stuff I remember from back in the day."

Kaye admits that he was as taken aback as the rest of us when Bell revealed the part he had in mind for the actor. "If you get a call from [a theater company] and they want you for their season, you don't ask what their season is," he notes. "You just see if you can work it out. When it came to finding out what the season was and what [Bell] wanted, yeah, that definitely was a shock. If he had told me from the beginning, I think I would have been worried about it. But all I can do is show up and do what they ask me to do and listen to the other actors. Well, I'll do that in the first week; I'm not going to do that the whole time. But I try to find out what it is that they want and if I can deliver it. I think we're going to have a fun time and if I can't, I'll go home."

Regarding being a recast for the first time in his nearly two-decade soap career, Kaye cracks, "They got somebody at 47 who looks like he's 65 to replace somebody who's 61 who looks like 43? I don't get cast because I'm the pretty one. I get cast because I beat up the pretty one and end up with the girl because she likes the bad boys. I met Ronn [Moss, ex-Ridge] once. He seemed like a really cool dude, but I don't get it. However, Brad is much smarter than I am and he has an idea of what he wants to do. But I wish Ronn well. It's easy to leave something if you think that you've done something that's over. To have somebody else take your part and do something with it? That's personal, and I'm not sure how he feels about it, but it would be an interesting question to ask him."

So, Kaye has put any potential jitters aside about stepping into Ridge's Gucci loafers. "I'm okay with it. It's everybody else who should be worried about it [laughs]. No this is a tough thing, but I've played roles in the theater world like Mark Antony or Hamlet or Cyrano de Bergerac, and people come to it with an idea of what it is because they've seen it before, but I also think people go to the theater because they want to see somebody else do it. So, I'm hoping that they'll want to see how another actor would do it."

The actor reports that he's already been welcomed by his new on-screen pop, and received congratulatory messages from other daytime pals. "I got a call from John McCook [Eric] today. I've never met this man before in my life and it was such a kind message. The last time I got a message like that it was from David Canary [Adam/Stuart, AMC] when I started on ALL MY CHILDREN, and it reminds you that this soap world really is a little family. I heard from Kassie DePaiva [Blair, ONE LIFE TO LIVE], who I haven't talked to in years -- just people reaching out, wishing someone well. That usually doesn't happen in such a tough business anyway, so that me go, 'Yeah, this is going to be okay.'"

Kaye is looking forward to working again with former AMC castmate -- and now-TV brother -- Jacob Young (Rick; ex-JR). "Ive talked to Jacob, whom I've known for a long time, and he's excited. We were good together [sparring on AMC]. We had some fun times when we played together. Rena's [Sofer, Quinn] over there. I always thought she was one of the most beautiful women in the world. Yeah, I'm a little nervous because I'm not sure what they're asking of me yet, but once I have my scripts, I'll see if we can figure it out."

The East Coast-based actor will make the cross-country commute, and reveals that he doesn't have any immediate plans to relocate. "I've got a 6-year-old and a 10-year-old," he states. "The 6-year-old will go anywhere. She doesn't really like school that much. But for a 10-year-old, they're shaping who they are, and you do that with the people who are around you. I've just got to see how it goes. I've got to see what's best for them. Me, I can live anywhere. I've lived in so many places all over the world that I don't really know where I'm from anymore. I just want to make sure that these guys are okay. They seem like balanced kids and I'm proud of them. I think it's mostly because of Susan [Haskell, his partner and OLTL's ex-Marty], but I do what I can -- that's why this was a really hard decision. I can't how long the term is, but it's not a 10-year thing. We're going to try it. Brad and I had a conversation as two fathers would, and he understood where I was coming from and I appreciated that.

What About AMC?

What does the actor's exodus mean for Pine Valley now that season 1 of AMC has wrapped and the hiatus has been longer than expected?

"I checked with everyone 15 times [before signing with B&B]," says Kaye. "I'm not going to be a savior but I don't want to be the reason why something goes under, either. I hope they're coming back. I know they're getting really, really close and they're trying to do
something really special there. If I had a huge amount of money, I probably wouldn't be having this conversation with you right now, but it's about doing things for my family and I wasn't sure that I was going to hav employment there. Yes, it's exciting and it's the wave of the future, but I'm not sure that it's going to happen in the time that I need it to happen."

Kaye adds that if there is a way to wrap up Zach's story, he'd be thrilled to participate. "If CBS was okay with it, if there was a dark week [at B&B] and they needed me to come for a few days and just finish it out, I think that would be a very gentlemanly thing to do." Could he watch his own role be recast? "Please, I created two things, the little girls who are sitting here with me. A character is something we all do together. It depends on who you work with and who writes it. Listen, I'm not that talented. I do the same thing over and over again -- as you're about to find out on CBS [laughs].

 

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