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JEANNE COOPER DEATH; WRITE-OUT?

I would imagine there'll be a brief "In Memorium" on today's show. A black slide with her picture, maybe at the beginning, maybe at the end, with the words "In Loving Tribute: Jeanne Cooper 1928-2013."

And in a couple of weeks, when a scene in the mansion begins, we'll hear Peter Bergman's voice quietly say "The role of Katherine Chancellor is now being played by Michael Learned." And in will walk the characters, completely unaware that Katherine looks completely different from the last time we saw her.

How many times has Bergman had to say "The role of Noah Newman is now being played by ..."?
 
I know Michael Learned played her for a brief time a few years back, but this is different. Replacing Jeanne Cooper full-time? I can't see them doing it, much as "Dallas" didn't replace Jock Ewing when Jim Davis dided.
 
Soaps have a tradition of when a long time actor of a major character dies, the character quietly dies off screen. Both Tom & Alice Horton 16 yrs apart on Days & Asa Buchanan on OLTL for example.
 
A sad day in soap history. Few women her age can be seen on broadcast TV these days. And she was good.

I did forget to tape this so I could see how they handled it. I had to give up my addiction to soaps about 25 years ago. But there were only two then anyway. I've been following this show in various newspaper columns. It used to be Nancy Reichardt's before the paper that had her column dropped it. But at least one says Katherine's dementia is caused by a tumor. This is convenient for the writers. They could always just have someone walk in a room and see her lying dead and scream.
 
Irishfl said:
Soaps have a tradition of when a long time actor of a major character dies, the character quietly dies off screen. Both Tom & Alice Horton 16 yrs apart on Days & Asa Buchanan on OLTL for example.
Click to expand...

ATWT's Nancy Hughes McClosky
 
sdwulfdawg said:
It will be interesting to see how the writers handle Y+R's matriarch, Jeanne Cooper's passing, given that she has had some active storylines going.

Will they bring back Michael Learned who played Katherine Chancellor when she became ill about a two years ago, who played the character for 14 episodes?

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0495229/filmoseries#tt0069658
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The Powers That Be on the show could try getting creative....depending on how much extra taped material they have of Mrs. Cooper as "Kay"....and use it....and some fancy computer optical wizardry.....to try to quickly "wrap up" her storylines......much as TNT did in reaction to Larry Hagman's death on "Dallas".

As fine an actress as Michael Learned is....I highly doubt Y&R fans would be pleased with any recast for Mrs. Cooper.
 
But she had so many story lines going. Conflicts with Jill, conflicts with her son, running Chancellor Industries. She heads one of the three major families on the show, along with the Newmans and the Abbotts. I'd bet Jess Walton and Kate Linder are wondering about their futures on the show if there's no Katherine Chancellor anymore.

As I mentioned above, they change Noah Newmans like I change socks. You'd think another actress could pick up the Katherine Chancellor character. Unless the fans want the character to die with the actress, and they make their feelings known.
 
Gregg said:
I'd bet Jess Walton and Kate Linder are wondering about their futures on the show if there's no Katherine Chancellor anymore.
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Jess Walton should thank her lucky stars that the show's writers some years ago re-wrote the entire back-story/history of the "Kay Chancellor" character in order to make "Jill" her daughter.

This makes getting rid of Jess Walton a whole lot harder than if she were just "Kay Chancellor's" sparring partner in over 35 years worth of cat-fights. ;)
 
I was really surprised that there was absolutely no mention of Jeanne Cooper's passing...or an "In Memoriam" slide on Thursday's episode of Y+R.
 
Dighton Rockhead said:
Gregg said:
I'd bet Jess Walton and Kate Linder are wondering about their futures on the show if there's no Katherine Chancellor anymore.
Click to expand...

Jess Walton should thank her lucky stars that the show's writers some years ago re-wrote the entire back-story/history of the "Kay Chancellor" character in order to make "Jill" her daughter.

This makes getting rid of Jess Walton a whole lot harder than if she were just "Kay Chancellor's" sparring partner in over 35 years worth of cat-fights. ;)
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Although I'm not a soap fan by any means, my mother and grandmother liked Y&R, and I did know a little more about the storyline. Didn't Jill have an affair with Kay's husband (who would be her father or step father?) in the early years resulting in a child? How do they explain that away, or did they just choose to ignore it, which would be typical for soaps? That starts to get into "I'm my own grandma" territory.  ::)
 
The role will not be recast, nor should it. In fact it appears the final scene ms cooper was in was a quiet discussion with Jill, where mrs chancellor stated she was off to bed, and climbed the stairs. They both said goodnight to each other in a more civil way than they usually engaged.

Rest well.

Fin.
 
anotherguy said:
Dighton Rockhead said:
Gregg said:
I'd bet Jess Walton and Kate Linder are wondering about their futures on the show if there's no Katherine Chancellor anymore.
Click to expand...

Jess Walton should thank her lucky stars that the show's writers some years ago re-wrote the entire back-story/history of the "Kay Chancellor" character in order to make "Jill" her daughter.

This makes getting rid of Jess Walton a whole lot harder than if she were just "Kay Chancellor's" sparring partner in over 35 years worth of cat-fights. ;)
Click to expand...



Although I'm not a soap fan by any means, my mother and grandmother liked Y&R, and I did know a little more about the storyline. Didn't Jill have an affair with Kay's husband (who would be her father or step father?) in the early years resulting in a child? How do they explain that away, or did they just choose to ignore it, which would be typical for soaps? That starts to get into "I'm my own grandma" territory. ::)
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Both ms walton and ms linder have been recurring characters for years, each making sporadic appearances. Reportedly ms linder supplements her income through working for an airline.

If you think the relationships are odd here, check out the sister drama Bold and the Beautiful. Makes Y and R look like The Waltons
 
As I understand it, there will be an episode celebrating Cooper (Kay) on May 28th. From that, I read that as a write out, much as GH did with Edward Quartermaine (John Ingle) last year.
 
The easiest way to deal with this sort of thing is to kill off the character too. Let the show mimic real life. They can write it into the show that she had a heart attack and passed away. At least you don't have to be concerned with people accepting or not accepting a new person in the role. The role she played should no longer exist. That's it. Be done with it.
 
In 1982, Days of Our Lives had to deal with the shocking suicide of cast member Brenda Benet. They simply had her character leave a note, saying she couldn't stay there, etc.
 
Veteran actor Benjamin Hendrickson who played Hal Munson for years took his own life and As The World Turns quickly swept him aside as being killed on assignment.

The worst ever had to be Guiding Lights handling of Michael Zazlow whos brilliant portrayl of Roger Thorpe was snuffed when he was diagnosed with ALS, and removed from the show, only to resurface on All My Children as David Renaldi, his previous character there. Even then AMC never referred to the character after Zaslos death.

GL eventually killed off Roger Thorpe off screen, however no flashback scenes were ever used.
 
Studio20 said:
Veteran actor Benjamin Hendrickson who played Hal Munson for years took his own life and As The World Turns quickly swept him aside as being killed on assignment.

The worst ever had to be Guiding Lights handling of Michael Zazlow whos brilliant portrayl of Roger Thorpe was snuffed when he was diagnosed with ALS, and removed from the show.

GL eventually killed off Roger Thorpe off screen, however no flashback scenes were ever used.
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Procter & Gamble had a horrible reputation for the way they treated their veteran soap stars. Another example of this is when "The Guiding Light" failed to write out veteran actress Mary Stuart when she passed away. To this very day "Aunt Meta Bauer" is STILL vacationing with friends in coastal Nova Scotia. :mad:
 
http://www.tvguide.com/news/young-restless-jeanne-cooper-1065591.aspx

The Kay Chancellor character will pass away according to director Sally McDonald. The show has been written into July so there won't be any mention of Kay's death until then.

According to this article, even some former Y&R castmembers (Beth Maitland who played Traci Abbott) will be part of the memorial retrospective. John McCook and Heather Tom from sister show The Bold and the Beautiful will be there as well.
 
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