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The Bold and the Beautiful's:
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Leave it to Reva
Kim Zimmer has played everything from a clone to a princess to an Amish woman. Hey, no one said it would be easy. |
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Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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By Alan Carter
During a two-decade soap opera career, Kim Zimmer has played everything from a clone to a princess to an Amish woman. Hey, no one said it would be easy.
The girl should work for Nike. No matter what the writers of daytime's Guiding Light have thrown at her over the years?and they have thrown a lot (You're Amish! You're a princess! You're time-traveling! You're a clone!)? Kim Zimmer has taken it in stride. "My attitude has always been, they're paying me a lot to act, so act. I just do it."
Candid, honest and always ready with a quip, Zimmer remains one of daytime's most popular actresses. Although many daytime actresses are chewed up and spit out within months — if not weeks — Zimmer, who began on Guiding Light in 1983, is still going strong. And she seems to be doing it well. Zimmer picked up her fourth Daytime Emmy (and 10th nomination) last year. She's had other daytime stints on the now-defunct The Doctors as well as two different roles on One Life to Live, but it was the role of Reva Shayne, the often-married ("eight or nine times — I can't remember") self-described "Slut of Springfield" that made Zimmer a star. "I'm pretty sure Reva has slept with half the a men in Springfield," Zimmer jokes. "It's one reason I never had to have an affair on my real-life husband. I get to make out with great-looking men at work — and get paid for it. Very well paid. I love my job!" Zimmer's not one to complain about some of the more, well, outlandish paces the writers put her through. "My gut feeling is to say, 'Hey, Reva wouldn't do this or that,' and then I remind myself that she has married a man, his brother and their father. She will and can do anything." Here, Zimmer takes a look back at some of the story lines she has loved — and some of the ones she has loathed.
Reva Is a Slut
 "Reva feels the town hates her. She jumps into a fountain and tears her soul out, declaring she is the Slut of Springfield. I never imagined, almost 25 years later, that that scene would be such a headstone moment for her. It really was a defining moment. It really was who she was, and it says, 'This is the pain I'm feeling.' I've done a lot of scenes, and you know the crew has seen a lot, but at the end of that scene they applauded. As an actor it's sometimes hard to judge our own work, but I knew after that scene that it was a good, but a defining one? No, that was a nice surprise. Last year, they had [Reva's son] Jonathan do the same thing, and it helped refer back to who Reva is. I loved that — like mother, like son."
Reva Is a Princess
 "I usually love anything they hand me. But we do have to giggle sometimes [at how silly a plot can be]. I mean, the first time I saw myself in the royal gown I thought, how am I going to pull this off? Gimme a break. I've done some silly stuff, but that was so silly. Frankly, I thought it was ridiculous."
Reva Is in a Coma But Getting Married
"I went out for pilot season, and they had to come up with some idiotic reason to write me out. [Laughs] They needed a reason to have me in the hospital, and they took this static shot of me, and any time anyone needed to talk to me, in a coma, they would just play that shot. I was gone for, I think two months, and I was in the coma all that time. And it was very clever, I thought. And then Alan married me — while I was in a coma. Which I didn't think was legal. I think I fell through the ice. That was truly funny. I'm not sure I said 'I do,' which is why it might not have been legal. I remember reading, 'they marry,' and I'm thinking but she's ... in ... a ... coma."
Reva Has a Midlife Crisis
"I liked that Reva, who is always known to find humor in things, wasn't happy during this period of her life: Her being attracted to another man, and telling Josh, her husband, he wasn't good enough for her when, really, it was her feeling she wasn't good enough for him. This was a favorite of mine. But it just dropped in midstory. I don't know why. Apparently the fans didn't like the idea of me cheating on Josh. She was caught up in it, she had no choice. Her hormones were raging. It was such a real story and I was ready to totally commit to it. And I think it was nice, for a change, to see a midlife crisis story from the female perspective."
Reva Is a Clone
 "I liked that story a lot. None of my co-workers did. [Laughs] Everyone in this story line, hated it. The crew hated it with good reason: Playing the clone meant everyone had to work double. Each scene had to be shot with me as Reva and me as the clone ... I still hear about it, almost 10 years later. It was also hard work. I had to be me, as Reva, and then a different Reva who was naive and innocent at the same time — without a wig or anything else to differentiate the two women. You try it! [Laughs.] I mean, basically she was so innocent she was like a child in this 40-year-old's body."
Reva Is Amish
 "That one was another tough one for me, I'm not going to lie. It made no sense to me. I think in almost 25 years, I've gone up to the writer's room four times and said, 'You want me to do what?' — and that
was one of those times. Reva was missing. I left Springfield. I didn't know who I was. I got amnesia, which only
happens on soaps every other week. Anyway, I washed up on the beach, apparently near Amish country, they took me in and Reva is Amish. I never thought the audience would buy it. We always had the giggles doing that story line."
Match the Hairstyle TO THE DRAMA
Can you match the hairdo to the drama confronting
Reva Shayne-Lewis-Lewis-Spaulding-Lewis-Winslow-Cooper-Lewis-Lewis?
A. Marries first Lewis family member, patriarch H.B. Lewis
B. Discovers her fiance got another woman pregnant then tries to kill herself by jumping off a cliff
C. Marries second Lewis family member, H.B.'s son, Billy
D. Marries third Lewis family member, H.B.'s other son, Josh
E. Journeys to San Cristobal to discover where she was during the five years she was presumed dead
Answers: 1-B, 2-D, 3-C, 4-E, 5-A
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