communities.canada.com/globaltv/blogs/blogal/archive/2011/03/23/days-ultimate-meddling-mama.aspxThis feisty woman has been stirring up trouble in Salem since 1996 as Kate Roberts DiMera. When it comes to possessive mothers, Kate Roberts takes the top prize. She is opinionated, head-strong and a force to be reckoned with.
This consummate professional is one of Salem’s favourite Daytime Diva’s. Koslow is so good at being bad, the fans can’t help but love to hate her and hate to love her. Her presence on-screen demands we all sit up and take notice. Her beauty and poise, coupled with her stellar attitude, make her a triple threat on the Days of our Lives set.
We recently chatted with Koslow about the love she has for Kate, the sexy man she recently lost and hopes for the future of Days.
You’ve been on Days since 1996. What about this job has kept you interested and happy for this long?[Laughs]. Well first and foremost, the fact that it’s a job is really important. I’m almost speechless thinking about how much time that really is. It’s kind of funny. You take a job like this and you hope that you’re going to have a good run at it and I really have. I guess what really keeps me going, in this kind of career, is that the stories really evolve and the characters evolve. I’ve been lucky enough to be cast in a role that is always challenging. There’s always something new for Kate. You never know what she is going to do. For me it’s been very stimulating to play her. It’s really been a joy.
How would you describe who Kate Roberts is and what she is all about? She is definitely multi-faceted [laughs]. She’s a very strong woman; a very independent woman that knows her own mind. She wants her own way and is a bit of a control freak. I don’t like to play her that way, but that’s really who she is. She’s a bit of a narcissist, in the sense that, things tend to revolve around her and her view of the world. Sometimes she’ll make choices and decisions that aren’t the best for the people around her, but because to a degree, her life revolves around herself, that tends to get her into trouble. She really is a passionate and loyal person. She has good attributes too. I mean I could go on and on. I think that’s what is so much fun about playing her; there are so many different levels to who she is. There are so many different colours to her. She’s not completely a bad girl and certainly not a good girl. She’s a real mixture of things and likes to live on the edge. To a degree, she’s a bit of an adrenaline junkie, who’s addicted to danger. I think all of that comes from her past.
Kate is quite the scheming manipulator and yet the fans love her. What do you think the audience finds so appealing about this character?I think she is a challenge, definitely. A lot of what she does comes out of pain, and I think a lot of people can identify with that. She’s been wounded and yet she goes on. That is something many of us have dealt with. She’s a survivor. She always says what she thinks and does what she thinks is right; although, the rest of the world might not always agree with her [laughs]. She would do anything for her family, her children. I think all of these things people can relate to and I think it’s fun for people to watch her.
Kate has done so many unforgiveable things. More recently the way she manipulated Chloe (Lane, played by Nadia Bjorlin). Do you think she ever regrets the things that she does? Well…Hmm..I think the latest thing that she did…[laughs] oh no look at me, I’m so defensive of my character. I like the latest thing that she did with Chloe, because she talked to her. You know, she had one of those little girl talks with her [laughs]. It wasn’t as overt as the year she spent trying to, for lack of a better word, murder her. That was a hard year. When the story goes in a direction like that, there’s a lot of work that you do as an actor to justify it for yourself, motivate the story and make it work. She may be manipulative and unscrupulous sometimes, but I never saw her as someone who was quite that dark. That was challenging for me to do that kind of material. I have a lot of my own private motivations and my own private thoughts as to what was going on with Kate at the time. I think there’s a few times in Kate’s past, where she has gone over the edge. Perhaps she may have even had a mental breakdown of sorts that wasn’t ever diagnosed. I think this last time with Chloe, may have been one of those times. She really was trying to kill her. I think that was when Stefano finally gave her the ultimatum of marriage where he would help her cover up her misdeeds or she’d be on her own. Phillip was so devastated at one point, when he said “you need help, you need to go to a sanatorium,” and that really scared her. I think she realized she had gone over the edge.
Are you enjoying the relationship Kate has with Stefano? Were you surprised by it?Oh, it’s so much fun. I just came from doing a scene where we are in a private dining room together and we have some great, witty repartee back and forth. I was surprised by the twist of it. I was surprised that he came to her rescue in one of her darkest hours ever. He stepped in when no one else would, but that help came at a price. I made the choice when that happened, to accept him completely. I said “I’m going into this as a business deal, but I’m going to be there fully.” I guess the writer’s had this in mind as well, or they saw what we were doing and decided to go with it. People have really embraced the coupling I think. I think it’s a unique kind of partnership. It went from an arranged marriage to one filled with love and a mutual respect for one another. It’s been quite a joy to play.
Do you think Kate is better suited for Stefano or Victor long term?Hmm..Interesting! As of now, I would have to say Stefano/Kate is the better pairing. They are totally in tune with each other. They are respectful of each other and the way things need to be done, after their many blowups of course [laughs]. In Kate’s mind, Stefano is 100 per cent behind her, in terms of who she is. He knows everything about her and is ok with it, in fact, he enjoys it. He likes her strength and likes that she loves power. With Victor, I’m not quite sure if he always wanted her on the same level with him. I think that was part of the problem with their relationship years ago. He really seemed to just want her to be there on his arm. She was not part of the political picture with him. I think Kate/Victor relationship has changed since then. Now they are almost co-conspirators. They are allies and have bonded over Phillip. They have a very interesting relationship in how they deal with one another now. They are more like equals. Hmm…I don’t know. You’re really making me think about this now…… [laughs]
Kate has lost so many family members over the years and now with Jay Kenneth Johnson (plays Phillip Kiriakis) leaving. How are you feeling about this loss?Well that’s exactly it, it’s a huge loss. Losing Jay, he’s such a wonderful actor and such a hot guy to look at. We just got along really well. We have a similar sense of humour. We’re both Pisces. We had a great time working together, so I feel really badly about losing him. I feel so badly about losing the character too. Kate and Phillip have a unique, special relationship. As angry as they got with each other, there was always so much love there. He was her special baby. He’s greatly missed. I really do wish Jay a lot of luck with what he is going to do next. I’m sure he will be so successful. Maybe he’ll even pop back up here at some point. Who knows?
I personally miss the crazy family dynamic between Lucas, Billie, Austin and Kate. Any chance we’ll see some of Kate’s other kids return in the future?I really hope so! That was some of the best stuff. That’s another thing that people can relate to. Everyone, to a degree, has some dysfunction in their family. It always makes you feel a bit better when you see it going on in someone else’s family. When you had Kate with the whole extended group of children, spouses and their children, it’s pretty wild and wacky. Some of my favourite scenes ever, is when we were all together at the dining room table having some kind of squabble over a holiday or family meal. We should do that kind of thing again. Who knows, maybe someone will make a reappearance. We’ll see. Story is always changing and people always come and go, so you never know.
Kate doesn’t seem to have any real girlfriends or friends in general. If you could pick a friend for her, which character do you think she would click best with?It’s quite funny, but I was asked a question similar to this recently. I think people are thinking about it. It’s really funny. She definitely doesn’t have any girlfriends. I think Victor has kind of become her girlfriend [laughs]. It’s like a man-friend. I think Kate is the kind of woman to have man-friends instead of girlfriends. With Victor, they can sit back and share drinks. They discuss business and things. I’ve been thinking about this though. I think perhaps if she did have a female friend it might turn out to be someone like Carly. They come across each other a lot. I’ll usually have a warning for her or news to share. We’ve never had too much to do together, but maybe there’s an affinity there for one another. Most of the other women on the show, I’ve had serious drama with. To a degree with Maggie (played by Suzanne Rogers), they’ve been friends, but that got complicated after the Chloe debacle. I think now Kate has a bemused interest in Maggie and Victor, it’s more playful. There could be a friendship there, but I’m sure Maggie feels pretty burned by Kate. Of course someone reminded me years ago that Kate and Marlena (played by Deidre Hall) used to be friends, but of course that went south pretty fast [laughs]. Looks like Kate’s going to have to stick with the men from now on.
Kate and EJ (James Scott) have a lot of romantic chemistry. Any hope of exploring this relationship further?I don’t know if you remember, but quite a few years ago when EJ came to town, Kate and EJ had a fairly torrid affair. It was pretty funny and wild. They’ve always had a little something. I definitely think there’s chemistry there. Their characters walk the same kind of shady line. They always understand what one another is up to. I think there’s some tenderness there at least in Kate’s head. She cares for EJ. Even when they go at each other, she tries to give him advice based on what she has done wrong in her life. She knows he’s probably not going to listen to her, but she does it anyways. They have this flirtatious relationship. James Scott and I talk about this all of the time, because we have so much fun together.
Kate and Sami have had an intense hatred of each other over the years, but have come together in a common cause once or twice. What’s it like working with Alison Sweeney?Oh I love working with Ali. She is one of those people that I always look forward to working with. I’m always excited about our scenes together. We used to work together a lot, but not as much anymore. We’re always so glad when we finally get to have those intense scenes together. I really think it’s smart how the writers have evolved Kate and Sami’s relationship over the years. Now Sami is part of Kate’s family. She really is. Like it or not, she is the mother of Kate’s grandchildren. I think Kate feels in some weird way, that Sami is like a daughter to her. She has been her daughter in law and it’s been a weird thing that I think they are both uncomfortable with. That is one of the things that motivated Kate to warn Sami about EJ I think. Years ago, Kate would never have done anything like that. Nowadays, family is the bottom line for Kate and Sami has become family. Their relationship has evolved that way and I’d like to see what the writer’s plan to do with it.
What would you like to see happen next for Kate? Any spoilers of upcoming plot lines you can divulge?Well I can tell you we have a big catfight coming up. It will be between Kate and another woman. It involves an old rivalry. It’s always quite fun when these two go to it. This will kick off a new story that will be happening that threatens Kate and Stefano. I am also hoping that some story will lead back to Kate’s past and why she came to town. I’m kind of curious as to who her family is and how she got to this place.
