Katherine Chancellor Murphy (formerly
Shepherd,
Reynolds,
Thurston, and
Sterling) is a
fictional characterA character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr through its Latin transcription character, the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its...
on the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is an American television network, one of television's original "big three", which also include NBC and ABC. Like NBC, CBS started out as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System...
daytime
soap operaA soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on television or radio. The name "soap opera" stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers such as Procter & Gamble,...
The Young and the RestlessThe Young and the Restless is an American television soap opera created by William J. Bell and Lee Phillip Bell for CBS. The show is set in a fictional version of Genoa City, Wisconsin. First broadcast on March 26, 1973, The Young and the Restless was originally broadcast as half-hour episodes,...
portrayed since 1973 by actress
Jeanne CooperWilma Jeanne Cooper , best known as Jeanne Cooper, is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Katherine Chancellor on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless...
. Much of her history on the series revolves around her long-running conflict with her former paid companion,
Jill Foster AbbottJill Foster Abbott is a fictional character on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Much of her history on the series revolves around her long-running conflict with businesswoman Katherine Chancellor...
(portrayed originally by
Brenda DicksonBrenda Irene Dickson ) is an American actress who played Jill Foster Abbott on the soap opera The Young and the Restless.-Work:...
and, since 1987, by
Jess WaltonJess Walton is an American actress, best known for her role as Jill Foster Abbott on the American soap opera, The Young and the Restless.-Early life:...
). Their feud is one of the longest rivalries on any American soap opera.
Writing and portrayal
The character of Katherine Chancellor was introduced in the fall of 1973, several months after
The Young and the Restless premièred that March. Show co-creator
William J. BellWilliam Joseph Bell was the creator and executive producer of the soap operas The Young and the Restless and The Bold and the Beautiful....
was disappointed with the weak ratings, and thus hired veteran actress
Jeanne CooperWilma Jeanne Cooper , best known as Jeanne Cooper, is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Katherine Chancellor on the daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless...
as a quick fix to add some controversy to the program. Singer
Gisele MacKenzieGisèle MacKenzie was a Canadian-American singer, most famous for her performances on the popular television program Your Hit Parade....
briefly substituted for Cooper in a number of episodes in 1986.
Character background
Katherine (
Kay to her closest friends,
Mrs. C to her long-time maid
Esther ValentineEsther Valentine is a fictional character on CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed by actress Kate Linder since April 1982...
and
Amber Moore{stub}Ambrosia "Amber" Moore is a fictional character from the CBS soap operas The Bold and the Beautiful and its "sister soap" The Young and the Restless. Emmy Award-winning actress Adrienne Frantz portrayed the character on The Bold and the Beautiful from July 18, 1997 until April 14, 2005...
) is a wealthy pillar of the
Genoa CityGenoa City, Wisconsin is the fictional setting for the long-running American CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. The real U.S. village of the same name is otherwise unlike and unrelated to the mid-size city depicted in the series.- Overview :...
community. She owns
Chancellor IndustriesChancellor Industries is a fictional business on the CBS daytime drama, The Young and the Restless.It is a major engineering and design company located in Genoa City, Wisconsin...
and, through that, also owns Jabot Cosmetics. Katherine's net worth was estimated to be between 1 and 1.5 billion dollars as of November 2008. She is widely considered the grande dame and matriarch of Genoa City.
Katherine's rivalry with Jill Foster Abbott has been a key plot element since the 1970s, when Jill had an affair with Katherine's then-husband,
Phillip Chancellor IIPhillip Robert Mitchell Chancellor II was a fictional character on CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Phillip was played by two actors, first John Considine from 1973 to 1974. The second actor to play Phillip was Donnelly Rhodes from 1974 until 1975.-Character:Phillip Chancellor II...
(
Donnelly RhodesDonnelly Rhodes is a Canadian actor. He most recently starred as Doctor Cottle on the Sci Fi Channel television program Battlestar Galactica. Before Battlestar Galactica he was probably best known to American audiences as the lovestruck, hapless escaped convict "Dutch Leitner" on the 1970s...
), resulting in Jill becoming pregnant with his son. Phillip subsequently died from injuries related to a car crash caused by a drunken Katherine (she was presumed dead but was then found to be alive in the crash); however, he married Jill on his deathbed. After Phillip's death, Katherine moved to have Phillip's marriage to Jill declared invalid (Katherine had been drunk when she signed divorce papers), putting Jill and Katherine at odds from that moment on. After years of torment from Katherine, Jill turned the tables on her in July 1998 when she discovered a letter penned by the now-deceased Phillip, naming Jill as the sole owner of the Chancellor Estate. Jill
evictedEviction is the removal of a tenant from rental property by the landlord.Depending on the laws of the jurisdiction, eviction may also be known as unlawful detainer, summary possession, summary dispossess, forcible detainer, ejectment, and repossession, among other terms...
Katherine, who then found a legal
loopholeA loophole is a weakness that allows a system to be circumvented. The term loophole could also refer to:* Embrasure, a slit in a castle wall* Loophole , a short science fiction story by Arthur C...
which resulted in Katherine and Jill being forced to live at the Estate together.
Phillip Chancellor II was not Katherine's only husband, and he certainly wasn't her only lover over the years...he also wasn't the only man Katherine and Jill were in competition over. As part of one of her more devious schemes, Jill hired a conman named
Brian RomalottiRex Sterling was a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, played by actor Quinn Redeker from 1987 to 1994, and in a guest appearance on July 6, 2004.-Character's background:...
(the father of
Danny RomalottiDaniel "Danny" Romalotti, Sr. is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. He was played by Michael Damian from 1980 to 1998, returning briefly in December 2002 and on recurring status from November 2003 to mid-2004 before returning briefly again in March, May and...
and
Gina RomaGina Roma is a fictional character in the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless. Actress Patty Weaver has played the role since 1982...
), who she dressed up as a wealthy man and rechristened "Rex Sterling". Jill's plan backfired, though, and Katherine and Rex eventually fell in love for real. Unfortunately, their romance ended tragically when Rex spooked a prowler in the middle of the night and was subsequently shot. There was also Gary Reynolds, Katherine's first husband, and the father of her son
Brock ReynoldsBrock Reynolds is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed by Beau Kazer, from 1973 to 1980, 1984 to 1986, 1988 to 1992; from December 24, 1999 to August 2003, and briefly in 2008 and 2009.-Character background:...
. Judge Arthur Hendricks was Gary Reynold's best friend, and the man with whom Katherine conducted an affair during her time apart from Brock's father. Arthur, as we would learn in 2003, would connect Katherine and Jill in a way that none other could...and neither woman would even know it for many years.
Katherine and Jill were mortified when, in 2003, they are mistakenly led to believe that they are mother and daughter. While her then-husband, Gary Reynolds, was spending time overseas with their son Brock, Katherine had an affair with Gary's best friend, a local judge named Arthur Hendricks. Shortly before Gary returned, Katherine gave birth to a girl and handed her over to a friend from school named Charlotte Ramsey, with instructions to give her up for adoption. Unfortunately, Charlotte was unable to drop the baby off as planned, and was forced to give her own name as the child's birth mother.
Many years later, the woman Jill had always thought of as her mother, Liz Foster, discovered she had a brain tumor. Fearing that her time on Earth was limited, Elizabeth Foster decided to tell Jill that she was adopted. Elizabeth survived, but the secret left Jill reeling. After a long search, she discovered Charlotte Ramsey's name on her birth certificate.
Katherine was shocked when she saw Charlotte back in Genoa City a short time later, but still didn't piece together her connection with Jill.
John AbbottJohn Abbott, Sr. is a fictional character on the soap opera The Young and the Restless. He is the patriarch of the Abbotts, one of the core families that was introduced to the show in the early 1980s...
, also a former schoolmate, recognized Charlotte. He eventually tricked Katherine into revealing that Charlotte had an abortion, which left her unable to carry children, when she was younger. With the truth about her
barrennessInfertility primarily refers to the biological inability of a person to contribute to conception. Infertility may also refer to the state of a woman who is unable to carry a pregnancy to full term...
about to surface, Charlotte went to the Chancellor Estate and confronted Katherine on May 20, 2003. Charlotte then told Kay that Jill was her biological daughter.
The revelation about Jill caused Katherine to have a massive stroke, which left her nearly catatonic for quite a while. Still, there was an even greater sadness attached to this newly-revealed family connection. For years, Jill's son Billy and Katherine's granddaughter Mackenzie Browning had been in love. However, the supposed mother-daughter connection between Katherine and Jill would mean that Mackenzie and Billy were first cousins. Unbeknownst to them, the young couple was married, while a paralyzed Katherine could do nothing but watch. A horrified Jill and John tried to stop the wedding, but they were too late. Eventually, Jill managed to inform the newlyweds of the shocking news before the marriage was consummated. Heartbroken, Billy and Mackenzie (played at the time by
Ryan BrownRyan Brown is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Billy Abbott on The Young and the Restless, from 2002 to 2003.-Career:...
and
Kelly Kruger-Private Life:She was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec and speaks French fluently.-Carrer:She has appeared in The Young and The Restless as Mackenzie Browning as well as several movies. She also appeared in the 2008 TV Series, Knight Rider, in Episode 7....
respectively) had their union annulled, and the two separately left town. Jill helped her mother to recover and the two eventually resolved their differences.
Despite several obstacles along the way, the two former enemies began to form a true mother-daughter bond. Nevertheless, their feud was decades old, and it remains to be seen if Katherine and Jill can continue to be cordial--recent events have caused their deeply-rooted enmity for one another to resurface. Katherine began to have disturbing nightmares involving a baby. She soon determined that they were actually fragments of a repressed memory. Eventually Katherine recalled that years ago--unable to accept the fact that Jill had given birth to a child with her deceased husband Phillip--she kidnapped the baby, and gave him to a woman named Violet Montgomery, whom she met in a bar. Violet was to place the child with a different family. The woman then gave Katherine a different baby that Jill raised as her son,
Phillip Chancellor IIIPhillip Chancellor III is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, played by American actor Thom Bierdz from 1986 to 1989,...
.
While Jill adamantly refused to believe this at first, DNA testing of Phillip's remains confirmed that he was not Jill's biological son. It was then revealed that Jill's real son was, in fact, new-in-town
Cane AshbyEthan "Cane" Ashby is a fictional character in the American soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed by Australian actor Daniel Goddard since January 12, 2007. As part of a retcon storyline that aired in 2007, it was determined that Cane was the real Phillip Chancellor III, a character that...
, who had recently married Amber Moore (
Adrienne FrantzAdrienne Danielle Frantz is an American actress.-Career:First breaking into the soap opera genre in 1997 as Tiffany Thorne on Sunset Beach, Frantz left the show later that year for her role as the villainess turned sympathetic heroine Amber on The Bold and the Beautiful...
). Cane eventually ended his relationship with Amber, after he discovered that she had faked their wedding (with help from her friend Alison Stewart of
Oakdale, IllinoisOakdale is the setting of the television soap opera As the World Turns.- Location :For many years, the writers have been firm on placing the city in the state of Illinois. By all indications, the city is unrelated to the real Oakdale, Illinois. However, show creator Irna Phillips may have modeled...
).
Katherine, however, formed a bond with Amber after being trapped with her under the Clear Springs wreckage in October 2007. She sees a lot of herself in the young woman, and often offers her advice and a shoulder to lean on when others turn against her. Katherine was again furious with Jill upon learning that her daughter was planning on eloping with
Ji Min KimJi Min Kim is a fictional character in the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, portrayed from October 4, 2006 to September 4, 2007 by actor Eric Steinberg...
(
Eric SteinbergEric D. Steinberg is an American actor who most recently played the role of Ji Min Kim in the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless.Steinberg's father is a professor of Asian Studies at Georgetown University; his mother is a Korean soprano, Ann Myungsook Lee...
). She offered Ji Min a bribe not to marry her daughter, but Ji Min declined. He was murdered before he could marry Jill and the investigation proved that David Chow murdered him to pay off some of his gambling debts (associated with the mob).
On January 25, 2008, Katherine collapsed while talking to Amber. She was then examined at her home by a physician and informed on January 30, 2008 that she had a mini-stroke. Following this terrifying experience, Katherine enlisted Amber's help in writing her memoirs--the prospect of which could be frightening to many Genoa City residents. A year later, on January 22, 2009 while still trying to reclaim her true identity as Katherine, Amber accompanied Katherine to the doctor's office for an evaluation including being tested for Alzheimer's disease.
Back in 2005, while eating lunch at the Café Russe in Los Angeles, Katherine was approached by
Massimo MaroneMassimo Marone IV was a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. The character was played by veteran actor Joseph Mascolo from August 23, 2001 to July 7, 2006.-Character:...
(
Joseph MascoloJoseph Mascolo is an American actor and soap opera veteran, best known for his long-running role as Stefano DiMera on NBC's Days of our Lives.-Early life:...
). Massimo introduced her to friend
Stephanie Douglas ForresterStephanie Forrester is a fictional character on the American soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful portrayed since the show's beginning in 1987 by Emmy-winning actress Susan Flannery.- Character creation :...
(
Susan FlannerySusan Flannery is an American soap opera actress. She is perhaps best known for portraying Stephanie Forrester on the CBS Daytime soap opera, The Bold and the Beautiful.-Career:...
), the daughter of an old business acquaintance (John Douglas) belonging to Katherine. It was learned that Katherine was the actual owner of
Forrester CreationsForrester Creations is a fictional fashion house business in Los Angeles, California, USA on the CBS daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. According to the July 2, 2008, episode, the house is located on fictional S...
, via the Stephanie Douglas Trust, which her associate’s daughter sought to reclaim from her estranged husband (
Eric ForresterEric Forrester Sr. is a fictional character on the CBS Daytime soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful, portrayed by John McCook since the show's debut in 1987...
). With Katherine's blessing, Stephanie achieved her goal, leaving the grand dame of Genoa City free to focus on her numerous other assets. (October 31 – November 01, 2005)
Katherine had been having a series of memory lapses that had gotten progressively worse over the weeks. She resisted attempts to get a medical diagnosis on what exactly was happening to her. She has also been trying to help her look-alike friend, Marge Cotrooke, stop drinking and enter rehab. The November 7th episode went off the air with Katherine driving Marge to the rehab center and then getting into a serious car accident during a heavy rainstorm. On the November 11th episode, she was pronounced dead, but her family and friends don't know that it was Marge who died, and that Kay was still alive, lying near the river. Kay was rescued by Marge's friend Patrick Murphy (
Michael FairmanMichael Fairman is an American actor, director and writer best known for his various roles during his long career, which started when he was 37 years old...
), who thought Kay was Marge, and taken back to his mobile home.
Katherine Chancellor has been credited as a billionaire. Her fortune came from a variety of sources, including: her wealthy family, first husband Gary Reynolds, second husband,
Phillip Chancellor IIPhillip Robert Mitchell Chancellor II was a fictional character on CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless. Phillip was played by two actors, first John Considine from 1973 to 1974. The second actor to play Phillip was Donnelly Rhodes from 1974 until 1975.-Character:Phillip Chancellor II...
, and from the many business dealings she conducted as CEO on and off over the years at
Chancellor IndustriesChancellor Industries is a fictional business on the CBS daytime drama, The Young and the Restless.It is a major engineering and design company located in Genoa City, Wisconsin...
.
In late December 2008, Katherine finally regained enough memories to realize she was Katherine Chancellor, not Marge Cotrooke. She convinced Murphy to take her to the Chancellor Mansion. He did, and minutes after she arrived, Jill also arrived and was obviously shocked to see her. After the shock wore off, however, Jill was convinced that Katherine was Marge, seeing as Jill remembered Marge from years ago. Katherine, having little memory still, couldn't disprove Jill's theory, and was arrested for trespassing and fraud. She has already remembered an incident with
Gloria Abbott BardwellGloria Fisher Bardwell is a fictional character, a resident of Genoa City on the CBS daytime drama The Young and the Restless...
upon encountering her at the jail. Time will tell if Katherine will be able to return home where she belongs, or if she will reside in the Genoa City Jail. Katherine subsequently failed a DNA test which would have proven her identity (which calls into question whether she is actually Jill's biological mother).
As of March 12th, she has more than just Amber and Murphy believing in her true identity; she also has Nikki Newman who finally believes her. Katherine left Genoa City once again when the second DNA tests came in again saying she and Jill are not mother and daughter. Katherine returned to Murphy's where they reconciled; only later to be visited by Nikki and Paul believing she is Katherine no matter what DNA testing results state. With the help of Nikki she proved to Victor that she is Katherine as well. On March 26th Murphy presented Katherine with an engagement ring and proposed to Katherine back at the diner where Katherine accepted.
In return for the Jabot shares which Victor purchased from Gloria, Jill allows the corpse buried in Katherine's grave to be exhumed, and it is subjected to a third DNA test. Ultimately, Jill's DNA matches neither the corpse nor Katherine (whom Jill believes to be Marge). Thus, Katherine's claim about her true identity is bolstered, and it is proven conclusively that Katherine and Jill are not biological mother and daughter after all. After a final pair of DNA tests between Katherine and her son Brock are a match, not even Jill can deny the truth any longer. She bitterly rejects Katherine's overtures of affection, and the ensuing argument reignites the feud between the women in full force. Weeks later on May 1, 2009, Katherine and Murphy are married, with Brock officiating the ceremony.
Shortly thereafter (following his wedding to
Lily WintersLily Winters Ashby is a fictional character, a resident of Genoa City in the soap opera The Young and the Restless. Starting off as a rebellious yet naive teenager, the character has become one of daytime's favorite women.. The character made up one half of two popular pairings...
), Cane recalls his telephone conversation years earlier with a man regarding their joint plan to con Jill and Katherine. The man bears a startling resemblance to the supposedly deceased Phillip Chancellor III. On June 10, 2009, it is revealed that Phillip is indeed the other gentleman, and that he is still very much alive (unknown to everyone except Cane).
Katherine suffers a minor stroke after a stressful conversation with Jill on July 1st, but is released. Upon learning that Cane is not Jill's son, and that
Phillip Chancellor IIIPhillip Chancellor III is a fictional character on the CBS soap opera The Young and the Restless, played by American actor Thom Bierdz from 1986 to 1989,...
is alive and has returned to Genoa City, she suffers another mild stroke.