Katherine Shepard Chancellor
Actor History
Jeanne Cooper (1973 to present)
Special Note
Kay Chancellor and Jeanne Cooper had an on-air face lift in 1984
Nicknames
Kay
The Duchess (by Brock)
Mrs. C. (by Esther)
Old Fossil/Crone (by Jill)
* Known as Kay Chancellor, though her last legal name was Sterling.
Occupation
Owner of Chancellor Industries
Former owner of Jabot Cosmetics
Legal Trustee for Forrester Creations
Resides At
Chancellor Estate, 12 Foothill Road
Marital Status
Single
Past Marriages
Gary Reynolds (deceased)
Phillip Robert Chancellor II (deceased)
Derek Thurston (divorced)
Brian Romalotti (AKA. Rex Sterling) (divorced; first time)
Brian Romalotti (AKA. Rex Sterling) (widowed; second time)
Relatives
Unknown first name Clarke (mother, deceased)
Unknown first name Shepard (father, deceased)
Mackenzie Browning (granddaughter)
Phillip Chancellor III (grandson; by Jill with Phillip II; deceased) (later found to have been switched unknown baby)
Ethan "Cane" Ashby (her real grandson; by Jill with Phillip II)
William Foster Abbott (grandson)
Children
Brock Reynolds (son; with Gary)
Jill Abbott (daughter; with Arthur; given up for adoption)
Flings & Affairs
John Abbott (deceased)
Arthur Hendricks
Douglas Austin
Felipe Ramirez
Jerry Cashman (deceased)
Brent Davis (deceased)
Mitchell Sherman
Arthur Hendricks (engagement broken)
Crimes Committed
Katherine's husband Phillip was killed when she drove off a cliff in a drunken rage. She was never prosecuted.
Stole Jill Foster's baby Phillip III, and switched him with another baby out of spite.
Brief Character History
When we first met Katherine, she was married to the handsome, wealthy head of Chancellor Industries, Phillip Chancellor II, and they lived at the luxurious Chancellor Estate. One of her best friends has always been the late John Abbott. They were lovers with fond memories of skinny dipping at the lake together in high school when she was Katherine Shepard. Later we learned of Brock Reynolds, her son from her marriage to Gary Reynolds. Brock was cavorting on his inheritance in Europe with Lori Brooks, daughter of newspaper editor Stuart Brooks, while attending college.
After many years of a loving marriage with Phillip, Katherine became an alcoholic and heavy smoker, and began having sex with the stable boys. She blamed it on boredom, Phillip's long hours, her fading looks, and her estrangement from her son, Brock. Phillip tried to convince her she was destroying herself, as well as their marriage. He suggested she find something to occupy her time or he would leave - to which Kay responded with a suicide attempt. But then Kay took a liking to her poor and innocent young manicurist Jill Foster, so hired Jill as her paid companion, maid and hairdresser. Jill liked Kay as well, and was very supportive in Kay's struggle with her vices. About this time, prodigal son, Brock returned home a changed man, now religious and a practicing lawyer. Even Brock could not convince "The Duchess" to join AA. Phillip told Jill that although he knew he was falling in love with her, he would never leave Kay when she needed him. Kay witnessed their parting embrace which woke her up and sent her to AA, but she started bugging their conversations. Jill felt so guilty, she made plans to leave. Kay offered to pay for a college education, but Jill turned it down. Jill went to Phillip to say good-bye, but they ended up consummating their love - which Kay witnessed.
Kay then arranged for her son Brock, who was attracted to Jill, to propose. Jill accepted, and Brock married them himself. Before it was consummated, Jill found out she was pregnant, and told Phillip. Phillip was overjoyed, and asked Kay for a divorce, which sent her back to the bottle. Kay signed the papers in a drunken stupor, crossing out the property settlement. Without him, she wanted nothing, not even the estate. Phillip flew to The Dominican Republic for a quickie divorce, while Jill broke the news to Brock who agreed to back out of their marriage, which was not legal anyway. Upon Phillip's return, he was met at the airport by a drunken Kay, who offered to drive him home. Kay made a last-ditch effort to convince Phillip to change his mind about their marriage. But when he turned her down, she hit the accelerator while rounding a curve, and the car sailed off a cliff. Kay sustained serious injuries, and Phillip was in critical condition. Jill hovered at his bedside. Phillip asked the hospital chaplain to marry them, and soon afterward Phillip died. Thus began the life long feud between Jill Foster and Kay Chancellor - Jill accusing Kay of murdering her true love, and Kay accusing Jill of stealing hers! Kay decided, in Phillip's memory, to go on the wagon for good.
Jill delivered a son, whom she named Phillip Chancellor III. Katherine tried to buy him from Jill for a million dollars. Jill instead, sued for half of Phillip's estate. Kay hired Attorney Mitchell Sherman to have their marriage annulled, thereby stopping any inheritance, due to the fact that the divorce papers were signed when she was drunk. In retaliation, Jill planted alcohol at the estate to knock Kay off the wagon, and attempted to drive Kay insane.
Next Kay fell in love with and tricked hairdresser Derek Thurston into marrying her. Derek was really in love with - who else? - Jill Foster! But Derek took Kay up on her deal. If he lived with her for a year, she would set up a $100,000 trust for Jill's son and set Derek up in his own salon. Derek turned out to be wanted by the mob, and Kay ended up taking a bullet intended for him which left her paralyzed. Even once Kay regained her abilities, she faked it to hang on to Derek. Then Derek's X-wife Suzanne Lynch arrived in town, bent on getting Derek back. She befriended Kay, and gave her candy laced with drugs, which drove Kay into a sanitarium. Kay's roommate ate some of the candy, went berserk and set fire to the room. Kay escaped, but the roommate's body was identified as Kay because she was wearing Kay's ring. Kay, presumed dead, began haunting Suzanne, sending her into insanity as well. Derek found himself free of both wives, inheriting the Chancellor wealth and free to marry Jill. Guess who showed up at their wedding? - Kay! - very much alive. Kay reclaimed her fortune and Derek, and named him head of Chancellor Industries. They went on a cruise, had a fight, Kay jumped overboard, and was rescued by Felipe Ramirez who held her captive. They fell in love, and he let her return to her world where she divorced Derek.
Many years later Jill found a bum on a park bench, cleaned him up, named him Rex Sterling, and paid him to romance Kay Chancellor. Rex was really Brian Romalotti, the ex-con father of Danny and Gina. What started out as a trick, ended up a wonderful romance. Kay found out who he was, but loved him so, she didn't care. They were married, and Rex signed a pre-nuptial to show his trustworthiness. Then Rex's
former cellmate, Clint Radison, found a woman named Marge Catrooke working at a diner, who was a dead ringer for Kay. He and his cohorts Morey and Lil who went to work for Kay as houseman Robert and maid Shirley, trained Marge to pass for Kay, then held captive Kay and her "ditsy" maid Esther. Meanwhile Marge sold Chancellor Industries, drove Rex away, and he filed for divorce, intending to marry Jill. Clint was now free to liquidate the rest of Kay's assets. But son Brock made a surprise return from his missions in India. Brock, with the help of Mitchell Sherman, discovered the ruse, and rescued Kay and Esther, who was pregnant by a one night stand with Tiny the Plumber. Clint and his cohorts went to prison, but Marge was released as an innocent dupe, thanks to Katherine. Once her baby was born, she was named Kate, after Esther's dear friend and employer Katherine. Kay and Rex were reunited and re-married, and would have lived happily ever after if it were not for Esther's poor choice in men. Esther answered a personal ad and met con man Norman Peterson. In an effort to impress him she posed as lady of the manor, and Kay and Rex went along with it and dressed up as her servants. Norman coerced Esther into convincing Kay to include her in her will and marry him. Kay and Rex were suspicious so arranged a fake wedding. Then, not content to wait for Kay to die to be rich, Norman was caught by Rex breaking into the estate safe. Rex was shot and killed in the altercation, leaving Kay devastated! Norman was arrested for murder and Esther has since been forgiven and named in Katherine's will. Her daughter Kate is currently attending boarding school courtesy of Kay Chancellor.
The latest chapter in the Jill vs. Kay saga began with Jill living temporarily at the Chancellor Estate after her failed 2nd marriage to John Abbott. Living there gave Jill flashbacks to her early days of love with Phillip, which prompted her to rummage in boxes in the Chancellor attic. She found a deed and letter declaring his love and giving her the Chancellor Estate. Jill used these and the crossed out Chancellor divorce property settlement to sue Kay in court, won 1/2 of the estate, and moved back in permanently.
The constant battle of living with Jill drove Katherine close to the bottle again. Rather than succumb, she ran off into the night, contemplated suicide on a bridge, and ended up lost in the streets, her purse stolen, cold and alone. She was rescued by a homeless girl known only as Mac, and brought to the Genoa City Shelter. The elegant rich Katherine Chancellor managed to blend in with the group, befriending Mac and alcoholic Birdie. Mac finally trusted Kay enough to confide in her the letter she carried next to heart - a letter from the father she had never met, written to her mother. Amazingly, the father turned out to be Kay's son, Brock, and Kay realized that Mac was her grand daughter. (Mac's mother Amanda and Brock were in love and working together in India. They split up when Amanda wanted to return to the states, but Brock felt he his calling was helping the needy in India. Amanda did not find out she was pregnant with Mackenzie until long after she returned to the states. Rather than burden Brock with a choice between them and his calling, Amanda chose not to tell him.) The trio of Mac, Kay and Birdie became close, each helping the other, and Kay eventually decided she was ready to return home to the Estate with her friends Mac and Birdie, and to face Jill.
Kay decided to track down her son to meet the daughter he never knew he had, but returned from her search for Brock in India without him. Shortly afterward, Kay received a call that Brock was presumed dead. So of course, Brock showed up and they were reunited after many years. Mackenzie returned to the Estate to get her things, intending to leave town, just as her father walked in and they were finally united. Jill took an instant dislike to Mac. Birdie stopped her drinking, got a job, and eventually moved out to her own place, hoping to clean up her act and reclaim her own daughter. Mac and Brock lived on at the Chancellor Estate, slowly learning to trust and love each other. Something in his past appeared to be haunting Brock, though he wanted to be a father to Mac. Brock went to Louisiana as a volunteer helping to build houses for the poor.
Afraid that Mac's mother Amanda would show up in Genoa City and take her back, Katherine petitioned and was awarded legal custody of Mac. When Amanda did show up, Mac rebuffed her and sent her away. But Amanda had run away from Mac's step father Ralph too, and was living at the same homeless shelter where Mac and her father Brock were volunteers. With her boyfriend Billy's help, Mac and her mother accepted each other in their lives again. Kay asked Amanda to move in to the estate, and Amanda agreed. Then Mac's Step-Father, Ralph, showed up in Genoa City and began stalking her. He coerced Mac's Mom, Amanda, into helping him steal from the Chancellor Estate. Amanda let him into the mansion while all were at the prom, but Mac returned home unexpectedly and much to her horror, was met by Ralph. Billy arrived on the scene as Ralph was about to molest Mac again, confronted him, and whacked Ralph over the head with a fireplace poker. Thinking he had killed Ralph, Billy took Mac to hide out in their special place, the old Abbott playhouse. Thinking they were doomed, Billy and Mac realized they still loved each other. Ralph kidnapped Kay after she returned from chaperoning at the prom, and tied her up in a motel room. Ralph, disguised as a cop, talked Raul into telling him places where he might find them. Meanwhile Larry Warton found and rescued Kay. Ralph showed up at the playhouse, too late, but found them at a campsite where Raul and Billy used to play as kids. Ralph knocked out Billy by whacking him over the head with a rock and grabbed Mac, but our hero Larry showed up in time to rescue her. Larry and Ralph fought, and just before the police arrived, both ended up going over a cliff to the lakeshore below. The next morning Ralph came to and tried to kill an unconscious Larry with a rock. Scared away by the arrival of the police, Ralph disappeared into the bushes. Larry recovered with minor injuries and major thanks from Billy's mother Jill for saving her son's life. Because Jill had video evidence that Amanda had stolen her jewels, and after nearly getting both her own daughter and Jill's son killed, Amanda agreed to leave town if Jill would drop the charges.
Billy left for Louisiana that summer to help Brock build houses for the poor. Mac left Genoa City that fall to attend Northwestern University. Both Billy and Mac returned to Genoa City for Christmas, and decided to attend GCU and now share a loft apartment with Raul and Brittany. By spring Billy had proposed, Mac accepted, and they are to be married in June with Raul as best man and Colleen Carlton as maid of honor in a lavish wedding courtesy of Kay.
Out of the blue in 2003, Jill's mother Liz showed up in Genoa City from her home in England with the news that Liz was to undergo brain surgery, and knowing she may not survive, felt it was time to admit to Jill that she was adopted. All she knew was that her husband Bill brought Jill home wrapped in a blanket as a baby. Jill was fraught with needing to know who she really is. Larry and John did their best to let her know that she is the same person no matter what her parentage, and they cared. The night before Liz's surgery, brothers Snapper and Greg showed up too, not seen in Genoa City in 20 years. Liz survived her surgery. After aborted attempts to con and steal her birth certificate from the hospital records by Jill, then Larry, Jill's friend, banker Frederick Hodges, contacted a search agency. They were able to arrange a meeting between Jill and her birth mother, the always-tipsy, crusty, down-on-her-luck, Charlotte Ramsey. Liz gave her blessing to the meeting while Kay fumed at how Jill was so quick to abandon Liz. Jill and Charlotte were becoming close, while John Abbott was getting suspicious that Charlotte was more interested in Jill's money. John realized that he used to date Charlotte's sister Eileen in high school, and without telling Kay why quizzed her for what she knew about the family. Kay, after much agonizing, revealed the story of how she had once helped Eileen's sister Charlotte get an illegal abortion which she nearly died from which left her unable to have more children. John did the math and realized that there was no way then that Charlotte could be Jill's mother. John confronted Charlotte who broke down and revealed that she and Katherine "ran the town together" during a year of separation from Kay's first husband Gary who took young Brock to Europe. During that time, Kay got pregnant by Gary's golfing buddy Arthur Hendricks. To protect the reputation of the young Katherine Shepard, Charlotte agreed to take Kay's newborn baby girl to a place to be adopted in exchange for a lot of cash and a promise to disappear. The agency refused to take the child without a name on a birth certificate, so to protect young socialite Kay, Charlotte had used her own name. Charlotte went to Kay to tell her story before John did. Kay had a stroke when she realized that the baby she gave up many years ago was now her own worst enemy Jill ! Charlotte told poor Elizabeth the truth and abruptly left town, leaving her to tell Jill that her nemesis Kay is her birth mother and Brock that the young girl he once married in Jill, but fortunately never consummated, was actually his half sister. And worst of all, Mac and Billy who are about to be married, had to be told that they are actually cousins! Mac and Billy both left town on their own, devastated by the news. Jill was left to care for Kay who could not move or talk from the stroke. As Kay got better, she didn't let Jill know, testing her to see if just maybe she might care for her like a mother. But eventually Kay showed Jill she was nearly back to normal, and thanks to the influence of Larry, Jill was able to begin to come to grips with how she really feels about Kay being her mother. Jill and Kay fought over the disruption of having Esther around, so Kay and Esther moved into the Genoa City Hotel to give Jill some space. Jill then became so obnoxious to Larry she drove him away too. Jill is very much alone and turning to the bottle a little too often. Her only friend appeared to be the shady strip club owner, Bobby Marcino.
Jill began her outlandish plans to renovate the mansion to make it her own. Once Kay saw the workmen demolishing the foyer ceiling of her beloved home, she flipped out and began drinking again after 20 years on the wagon. Jill felt guilty that she drove her newly discovered mother to drink. Kay moved back home and the mansion was restored back to the way it was, but Kay was still drinking. So who should suddenly show up in Genoa City to visit Kathryn after a nearly 50 year absence? Retired US Court of Appeals Judge Arthur Hendricks - Jill's biological father - arrived from Seattle. Jill hoped he would be just the ticket to bring Kay back to caring about life again. Meanwhile Jill got to know her father, and he moved into the mansion. Then MacKenzie returned after spending time in the Southwestern US teaching kindergarten and preschool children on an Indian Reservation. Kay's dear friend and maid Esther became a trained alcohol abuse councilor. With her help, Jill, Arthur and Mac staged an intervention, attended by son Brock, friends Nikki Newman, Liz Foster, and Lauren Fenmore. Kay found out, and welcomed all her friends and family with a catered party with full bar! They all pleaded with Kay, then bid her farewell, and left. Alone and drunk, Kay passed out and had a vision where her dear husband Rex and Grandson Phillip returned from the dead to make one final plea. Kay awoke, sure it was a dream, until she found the glass she fell asleep with in her hand, now on the table where Rex had put it. Kay checked in to rehab and is now back living at the Chancellor estate clean and sober.
While sitting in on a Chancellor Industries board meeting for Kay, Jill noticed irregularities, so decided to get more involved. With Jack's help, she discovered financial discrepancies which indicated that CEO Elliott Hampton was living high on company funds. Jill confronted the slimy Elliott, but he snowed her with excuses and charm. Jill then got a tip from former mobster Bobby Marcino that someone was trying to contract a hit on her. Elliott ended up charming Jill into accepting his marriage proposal. But shortly afterward, investigation proved that Elliott had embezzled millions. When Jill confronted him, he tried to talk her into still marrying him and running away with him and the millions. Jack showed up in time to watch Jill regretfully turn him down. After Elliott fled, Jack admitted that he had gotten all of Elliott's offshore accounts frozen pending the investigation.
No sooner had Arthur proposed to Kay, than his step-son Harrison Bartlett showed up claiming that Arthur had killed his mother, Eleanor, for her fortune. Jill had Arthur investigated, but it only proved allegations were made but never proven, and Arthur was never charged. Jill and Kay confronted Arthur, but he refused to explain, saying that Bartlett had ruined his career and his life. Jill was still skeptical, but Kay was determined to take a leap of faith and marry Arthur anyway. But Arthur said goodbye, that he couldn't live with the cloud of suspician and left town. Kay blamed Jill for losing Arthur, and the feud began once again.
Katherine made Jack Abbott CEO of Chancellor Industries, and Jack wrangled a deal to rescue Jabot by making it a subsidiary of Chancellor. After a failed attempt to convince Victoria Newman to return to Genoa City and become Jabot's new CEO, Jill Abbott was given the position after she and Kay finally made amends. Brad, who was expecting to get the CEO position himself, quit his job with Jabot, and considered going into business with Victoria Newman. Jack offered Victoria the position of Jill's right hand at Jabot, but Victor won her back as CEO at Newman while Nick took a leave of absence. Her first move as CEO was to hire Brad.
After Bobby Marcino went into the witness protection plan, Katherine Chancellor convinced his wife Brittany and her baby to come live at the Chancellor Estate with JT and Mac, as it would be the most secure for all of them. Months went by, and finally Brittany shared a short visit with the heavily-guarded Bobby. Not long afterward, she received word that Bobby had been killed by a hit & run driver. Brittany was devastated, and she and Joshua ending up moving to New York City with her parents.
In 2006, only six months into his 7 year prison sentence for the murder of Tom Fisher, Kay's old friend John Abbott was about to be released early due to ill heath when he had a stroke and was rushed to GC Memorial in grave condition. The doctors made the family aware that John would never come out of his vegetative state and had signed a DNR. After much bickering between Gloria and Jack, Gloria decided to use her authority in the DNR to allow John to die. Kay and John's X-wife Jill said their farewells to John in the hospital.
Billy spent a year working on the Katrina Hurricane disaster recovery in New Orleans, then some time as a bartender at Sammy Seagull's Sandpit Bar & Grill in Miami. He returned to Genoa City in 2006 to attend his father John's funeral. Jill and Katherine encouraged him to stay and claim his legacy as both a Chancellor and and Abbott by learning the business of Chancellor Industries and Jabot Cosmetics. Billy relented and began attending GCU as a business major and working his way up at Jabot from the mail room. Turned out that Billy had a bad gambling habit, and that he still owed some bookies in Miami a lot of money, so when no one would give him any, he stole and pawned an antique scrimshaw from the Chancellor estate. Kay discovered it and told Jill and Jack, so they gave him a job as NVP/Jabot Liaison for House of Kim, and shipped him off to Hong Kong.
Shortly after getting a DNA test that confirmed Jill was indeed her daughter, Katherine began having disturbing nightmares of a baby crying. Through the help of psychic Silvia Brown whose card reading turned into a séance with Jill's dead son Phillip, Kay began to remember a ring and a scene where she was handing over a baby. When it finally came back to her she was forced to reveal to Jill that Kay had switched her son Phillip for another baby shortly after his birth, and had given a woman named Violet an expensive ring to secure the deal. Because of her heavy drinking and shame, Kay had blocked this out all these years. Jill was torn between being livid with Kay and relieved that her son Phillip was not dead after all. They hired JT to try to track down the real Phillip Chancellor III. And Amber Moore also did her own research consulting tarot cards and psychics, and the Internet. Amber found Cane whose adopted mother was named Violet. He was searching for his mother and came to Genoa City from Australia on her lead. A DNA test later proved him to be the real Phillip Chancellor, son of Jill. Violet died while he was still a baby. Her brother Langley took the baby home to Australia and raised him as his own, naming him Ethan "Cane" Ashby. Phillips's body was exhumed and found not to be Jill's biological son. It is unknown who Phillip really belonged to. Amber and Cane got cozy, and after she discovered the possible link to the Chancellor millions, she took him to Vegas to get married supposedly to keep him from being deported back to Australia. At the last minute Cane decided against the marriage, so Amber drugged him and got her friend Ali to take his place in disguise, telling him he was too drunk to remember being married the next morning.
Amber continued to trick her way into Cane's heart and impending fortune. She staged power outages in their apartment and a burglary at the Chancellor Estate which eventually led Katherine to ask Amber and Cane to move into the estate. Kay asked Cane to take a position with Chancellor Industries as Clear Springs Property Manager, but he refused, saying that he was not qualified and not wanting a hand-out. But he was talked into taking it temporarily until Kay could get a permanent person. Just as we began to trust Cane that his claim was legitimate, we overheard a phone conversation between him and his uncle Langley in Australia inferring that he is conning them. Cane finally discovered that he and Amber were not legally married, confronted her and made her sign an acknowledgement that she tricked him into marriage to make it void, then threw her out. Jill reacted nastily telling Amber it was time that Cane threw out the trash, but Kay kindly told her that she reminded her of herself, and she really needed to get her act together.
Due to a mini-stroke, Katherine decided it was time to put her house in order. She took a liking to Amber, seeing a lot of herself in her, and hired her to assist in writing her memoires, and also investing in Amber's designer fashion line. Kay made Jill CEO of Chancellor Industries, Cane Director of Acquisitions and later Vice President of Jabot, and mad Nikki Newman CEO of Jabot. Nikki hired her lover (now husband) David Chow as Co-CEO and Brad Carlton as another Jabot executive. Jill is micro-managing Jabot, not being confident in Nikki's abilities. Jill later fired Gloria for incompetence, but Gloria talked Kay into rehiring her as the Jabot receptionist. Jill came on hot & heavy to the newly divorced Jeff, seducing him in her office chair, but it wasn't long before he finally realized that the woman he wanted was Gloria. Jeff broke it off with Jill, and Jill took it out on Gloria, treating her like a slave. Jeff returned to Gloria and asked to start over together. Gloria went along with it half-heartedly until they made love again. Then Jeff coaxed her to his place, showed her 50 million in cash to frolic in, asked her to remarry him, and they eloped to Las Vegas with a wedding officiated by Little Richard. They later spotted David Chow losing big at roulette.
