User:Livelikemusic/Kate Howard

Katherine "Kate" "Kate" Howard (born Constanza Louise "Connie" Falconeri) is a fictional character from the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital. The character was originated by actress Megan Ward, who portrayed the role from 2007 to 2010. In September 2011, the role was re-introduced with actress Kelly Sullivan, who has portrayed the role since.

Casting
The role of Kate Howard was originated by actress Megan Ward in May 2007. Ward remained on contract with the series until 2009, when she and actor Rick Hearst were dropped to a recurring status. Ward continued to make appearances as Kate, until she vacated the role in 2010; her final appearance as Kate was on October 20, 2010. In Summer 2011, it was highly rumored that then-new headwriter Garin Wolf was looking to recast the character. In July 2011, it was confirmed that actress Kelly Sullivan had been cast as the re-cast of the role. Sullivan debuted in the role on September 12, 2011.

Megan Ward
Megan Ward has stated in various interviews that in her opinion, Kate Howard is a woman full of contradictions. She is a character constantly trying to hide where she came from and who she really is, Connie Falconeri:

I'm not just playing Kate, [...] [i]t's Kate and Connie and then the person who was in between in the arc of how she became Kate. There are a lot of contradictions with her because Kate comes on incredibly strong and incredibly dismissive[...] But, the reason she is that way is because she's concealing and hiding. She's projecting a persona to intimidate, but she's also putting up a wall to cover the truth of who she is and the emotion and vulnerability she has. So I have to play all of it [...] Then I also have to play how she responds to being in the presence of Sonny [...] If I don't constantly think about what I need to cover, then I only tell half the story. I have a nice journey ahead of me, to unravel the pieces of her personality.

In an interview with Soap Opera Digest, Megan Ward further adds:

What's been challenging has been playing Kate — that person who is strong and flawed and one can be critical of — but maintaining the qualities of Connie, the girl Sonny fell in love with. She's still completely in there. I have to play the projection of Kate Howard, but it's all covering the Connie Falconeri underneath. Creatively, I've had to constantly balance being forceful and dominating in situations, but still let you see the true girl doesn't mean to be that forceful and dominating. The true girl is someone you'd like to know.

Megan Ward stated in an interview with Soap Opera Weekly:

At least half the inspiration for the character is Anna Wintour, but she is an older woman who's had a long career. I'm not of that age yet, but I imagine Kate could become that person, eventually. I draw from Aerin Lauder, Estée Lauder's granddaughter, who runs the Estée Lauder company, and a well-known interior designer named Kelly Wearstler, who was one of the judges on Bravo's TOP DESIGN. What I loved about her was every week she had a completely different look.

Megan Ward has also stated she relates more to Connie than to Kate:

Connie is a smart girl. She knew what she wanted, but was still grounded in reality and capable of loving and letting someone know she loves them. Kate is a creation, a manufactured identity. What's sad about Connie, and she's learning that as we go along, is she might have been wrong that she had to be Kate Howard to get where she is. That's what Sonny represents for her. You have to be strong and ambitious to accomplish great tasks, but you don't necessarily have to be purely Kate Howard. As Megan, I've made choices to have children and be committed to my marriage, which may have gotten in the way of some of my career ambitions. But for me, life is all about balance. It's choices for good or bad. That's where Connie is now: discovering that some of the choices may not have been for the best.

Kelly Sullivan
During an interviewer with soap columnist Michael Fairman of Michael Fairman On Air On Soaps, Sullivan admitted she wasn't hesitant in taking over the role of Kate. She spoke:

That is a good question. I wasn’t hesitant because I did not really know a lot about Megan and Kate’s story. And, I guess not knowing about it can be good. Ignorance is always bliss. But, I was really excited to start and dig my heels in and it was a really good challenge. Obviously, when I first started I was very much introduced to the soap opera fans, and all the Megan fans. You can’t win em all, but that’s OK. (Laughs) Megan did an incredible job and is such a great actress, and she really set the bar high. So I looked at it more like a challenge to bring my own life experience to the role. It’s my version of the character and that is all you really can do.

Sullivan also admitted she did not know about the "split personality" storyline:

When I first came in to audition, I was not aware of the split personality. But I remember shortly after I started filming, maybe a couple weeks in to it, Garin Wolf was there. I had a meeting with him and that is when he told me about the split personality. He explained it to me in a very cool way, and that he was really excited and passionate about it, which gave me more excitement for myself. So I knew pretty soon on, but I did not know exactly how it was going to unfold. Garin was very secretive about it. And I remember asking him, “Well, what do you mean? Is this like a Black Swan sort of a thing?” And he looked at me and went, “Oh, yeah! I guess you could say it that way.”  And I had just seen the movie and I was like,”Oooh”.

Sullivan also stated she'd love for Victoria Lord (Erika Slezak) and Jessica Buchanan (Bree Williamson) to crossover from One Life to Live to General Hospital to help Kate out with controlling her alter, "Connie":

I have heard that on Twitter and that Bree should come and help, too! And I say, “Bring it on.”  This disease is something that exists and it’s a scary thing. It’s a mental illness and it’s terrible, and how you work through it to get healthy is such a journey. That is why I am really happy that Ron is here at GH. There is a very specific way to deal with this illness. I don’t know much, but I know that they are going to take their time to work it out. It’s not something you can just move past all of a sudden and she is fine.

In an interview with MSN Entertainment, Kelly Sullivan has stated in interviews that coming in as a recast, stating it's never easy to come into a recast and that all she wants is for people to enjoy for the common cause of the series.

Recasting is never easy, for any party involved. Megan [Ward] created the role and set the bar very high. To be able to come in after that is the highest compliment, because she is an incredible actress. She established a strong presence and essence of the character. A lot of her fans were resistant, but it's different now, because we started recreating something that is mine. People have said on twitter and other places, "This is so interesting, where you're storyline's going. I see now why you were cast and what you bring to it." You'll always have the fans who will say, "No, this is not Kate!" But hopefully, as this storyline keeps getting more interesting and crazy, more people will get on board and just have fun. It's all about bringing people in for the common cause of "General Hospital." If I can do that at all, I love that. That's all I want.

She also stated that she's rooting for Kate's alter-ego, Connie, to come out as the underdog winner.

I used to think I was Team Kate, but now I don't know! Connie's a broad and I always root for the underdog, the misunderstood person - Connie's not just "evil." She has a right to feel the way she does. She's hurt and scared. And also overtly sexual! (laughs) Kate is such an awesome character, but I have so much fun playing Connie. She comes from the gut. She's raw. She doesn't apologize for herself. She's just out there. But I love Maurice [Benard, Sonny] and the Kate/Sonny love story. I don't see how Connie and Sonny could work it out. Maybe if Kate and Connie merged...

In the interview, Sullivan also discussed portraying a character with Dissociative Identity Disorder.

It's awesome. When I get my scripts, I can't wait to see what mischief I'm up to. I've been doing the most insane, exciting things and it's all culminating. It's coming to a head soon, and even now, I'm not sure where the writers are going to take this story. That, to me, is great storytelling.

DID (Dissociative identity disorder) stems from past trauma. We spent a bit of time talking about these issues she's never dealt with, regarding her family and her choice to run away and create this whole new reality for herself. Kate is her worst enemy in some ways. With her resistance to violence and guns, she's now neck deep in it again with Sonny. She loves this man so much, but she also has to marry into is his life. Exactly. If Connie was more stable, she would go about this in a different way than going to Sonny's worst enemy and inciting a mob war. It's hysterical. Connie is so determined to save herself and Kate that she'll probably do it with anyone that's willing – So why not just go for the postman?

What's cool is that Kate doesn't have any awareness of what happens when Connie comes out, but Connie knows all. The way they were dropping these hints, like the lipstick, it's been fun to put the pieces together, slowly. The first time Ewen told her, she said, "You're crazy." Now, Kate's embracing it and trying to figure it out. With people who have this disease, a lot of the therapy and rehabilitation comes with hypnosis. The therapist is able to suss out what the alters want and talk to them. Unfortunately, when Ewen brings Connie out, she's so strong she's going to overpower him, in a sense. [The week of April 2] Kate wants him to hypnotize her again and it doesn't go well. She's not one to sit around and talk! Connie's also going to start coming out to more people. That's when it gets really exciting. The responses are almost more interesting than what's going on with her. We're going to see some instances when Connie tries to fool people, and that never goes well. She doesn't do the best job.

Ron Carlivati
In an interview with Michael Fairman of On Air On Soaps, show headwriter Ron Carlivati opened up about the character's decent into her life with D.I.D.. He said:

Well what happened was, the seeds of Connie – this other personality of Kate’s – were planted long before I got there. It was very clear that that’s the direction the story was going in, and I had two options: To continue it, or to drop it. And having written multiple personalities on the other show, at first I felt this wasn’t something I wanted to do again, but it was so beautifully set up. And there is such a great storyline that comes out of it that I decided to run with it, even in the face of people comparing it to OLTL. We get really great story out of it, and we will have a few fun little mentions of the OLTL storyline as well. But I’m trying to give it a different slant as much as possible.

Introduction
Upon first introduction, Kate Howard is approximately 40 years old (born c. 1967, later retconned to 1969. and famous for being the editor-in-chief of a high fashion magazine, similar to the character of Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. Her history is told through bits of dialogue, primarily between her and the character Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard). Through these glimpses, it is revealed Kate Howard was born Constanza Louise Falconeri, Connie for short by those who knew her. She was raised in Bensonhurst, New York, to an Italian American family, where she worked at a bakery and attended Sacred Heart Catholic school in Brooklyn, New York.

At the age of 18, wanting a better life for herself, Connie legally changed her name to Kate Howard, after Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of King Henry VIII. Her desire was to choose an easily recognizable name that alluded to a good background and social standing. She attended Princeton University, on a full scholarship and worked her way up the ranks to become the editor of the fictional top fashion magazine, Couture. Since then, she has hidden her past as Connie Falconeri, claiming instead to be from Connecticut.

Kate and mob boss Sonny Corinthos dated as teenagers and had planned to run away together, but on the night they were to leave, she stood him up. She later explained to him that she wanted to pursue her dreams of having a career, something she could not do had she run away with Sonny.

2007–10
The character was introduced to the show on May 8, 2007 when she walked into Sonny's office unannounced and demanded the use of a phone because her car had broken down. She at first pretended she did not know Sonny, but he eventually recognized her as Connie Falconeri from Bensonhurst. Diane Miller (Carolyn Hennesy), Sonny's lawyer, later mentioned Kate Howard is considered one of the "100 Most Powerful Women in America" in the fictional world of General Hospital. She purchased a mansion next door to Sonny and proceeded to re-decorate to serve as her vacation residence, much to the annoyance of Carly Jacks (Laura Wright), Sonny's ex-wife. However, though Kate knows Sonny is a mobster she is badly shaken when she witnessed Sonny physically threatening Jerry Jacks (Sebastian Roché), and rethinks her desire to pursue a new relationship with him.

During a reception for a charity sponsored by the singer Eli Love, Kate was suffering from a headache and mistook a libido-enhancement pill for ibuprofen, which she found in her boss' jacket, Warren James. She then visited Sonny Corinthos, while she was under the effects of the drug, and seduced Sonny. On another occasion, Kate, who does not swim, rescued Morgan Corinthos from drowning in her pond. While she was in the pond, she was bitten by a snake and was hospitalized.

Kate Howard was arrested for reckless driving and for a hit and run. She side swiped a police car and did not stop. She also has a prior traffic violation in which she also side swiped a parked car, while she was in the Hamptons, but did not stop. She received a six months suspended license for the first violation. Kate cites this as one of the reasons why she moved to Port Charles, New York. Her lawyer had advised her to not visit the Hamptons for a while and thus, she bought the house in Port Charles. She was released into Sonny's custody, after spending the night in jail. Diane Miller was attempting to work on a plea agreement for Kate. As a thank you for her work, Kate was going to reward her by scheduling her a fitting for a custom designer dress. The interim District Attorney, Ric Lansing (Rick Hearst), refused the plea agreement seeking to take revenge on Sonny through Kate.

Kate's friend and former lover was Trevor Lansing, Ric's father and he arrived in town on August 22, 2007. He blackmailed Ric, unbeknownst to Kate, and threatened him with losing custody of his daughter Molly if he did not accept reducing the charges against Kate. The charges were reduced. A plea agreement was reached with a fine and community service.

Upon learning of Kate's close relationship with Sonny, Trevor contacted personal friends to remove advertisements from Couture. He wanted to blackmail Kate into choosing between him and her career or Sonny. She chose her career. After a confrontation between her and Trevor, Kate was drugged and got into a car accident. She was later arrested and tried for reckless driving. She received six months of community service and forced to wear an ankle monitor thanks to Sonny blackmailing the judge. She is now doing community service as part of her six month community service sentence. Trevor had her fired from Couture magazine due to a breach of her contract. Kate has decided to become a fashion designer and start her own magazine. Jasper Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) is financing the magazine. Kate moved back to Manhattan trying to get away from Sonny. Warren offered her her job at Couture. Nevertheless, Sonny went to Manhattan looking for her.

Sonny, after a few days in Manhattan, had to leave the city because of a restriction order. This was filed after he assaulted a man at an art gallery show on New Year's Eve. Kate briefly worked as a collaborator for Couture but is again in charge of the magazine. Sonny later came back to take Kate to Bensonhurst. They visited several memorable places from the youth. Sonny then proposed. Kate did not answer and ran away. She later went looking for Sonny in Port Charles and she told him that she did not accept his proposal because he does not love her as who she is now. He loves Connie from Bensonhurst. Megan Ward echoes her character's words; she stated Kate "fears that Sonny is really in love with the girl she was and not the woman she has become". Kate's cousin Olivia Falconeri (Lisa LoCicero) moved to Port Charles to be her maid of honor.

An emotional Kate met with Jasper Jacks. Megan Ward explains her character was "feeling very lost" and that is "why she came clean to Jax". She told him about her life as Connie in Bensonhurst. Jax questioned her about what her family thought about this. Before she could answer, Carly interrupted. Sonny has asked the same question, which Kate has not answered. Fans and soap opera magazines speculate the character of Kate Howard is keeping a secret which forces her to keep her real identity secret.

Later, Kate met with Sonny in an attempt to reconcile with him and kissed him. Kate, while visiting a building she wanted as a based on operations for her new magazine, was shot by Sonny's son, Michael Corinthos (Dylan Cash), by accident. Sonny found her and rushed her to the hospital. Kate survived the surgery but knows the gunshot wound took some years off her life. She forgave Michael for what happened.

Kate and Sonny knew each other since their childhood in Bensonhurst, a tough Italian area of New York City. They often talk about their shared past and wonder what would have happened if Connie and Sonny had run off and gotten married. Kate and Sonny have been dating off and on since September 2007. Kate did not like Sonny's sons, finding them ill-behaved, until they became part of the package of dating Sonny. She helped Sonny with getting his daughter Kristina into a private school.

Sonny has cheated on her twice, once with Claudia Zacchara (Sarah Joy Brown) and once with ex-wife Carly on the way back to Port Charles after dropping off their son Michael in his permanent care facility. Sonny was worried Carly was pregnant in late July, but it turned out to be a false alarm.

Sonny and Kate attempt to marry, however, their happiness was cut short due to her getting shot at the alter. Sonny was as well stabbed on Halloween and saved by his Carly. Kate then learns from Jax that Sonny and Carly slept together again; this leads Kate to officially end her relationship with Sonny.

Kate learned Sonny's late wife Claudia is the one that hired Dr. Ian Devlin to shoot Sonny (which led to Michael getting shot instead). She later learned that Anthony was the one that shot her.

In 2010, Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna), then known as Dominic, was found out to be Sonny's son from his short-lived relationship with Kate's cousin, Olivia. Sonny and Kate have a conversation about Kate's knowledge of Dante and the fact she kept it from him since they were teenagers. Kate also acknowledges she finally knows that they were never meant to be, with Sonny nodding his head in agreement. It is also implied Sonny doesn't hold a grudge that Kate didn't tell him about Dante.

2011—
In September 2011, after almost a year off-screen, Kate (now portrayed by Kelly Sullivan returned to Port Charles, resuming her role at Crimson. Since returning, Kate has been helping Sonny come to terms with his childhood abuse from his father. The pair return to Bensonhurst in December, and spend Christmas together. They later decide to re-bond and re-build their relationship slowly.

Kate admits to Sonny that whenever she's leaving town, she's not going to meetings, she's seeing a psychiatrist. It's later revealed that during her run-in with Jax, he signed over his share and rights to the MetroCourt to her, making her Carly's partner in the running of the hotel. After an argument with Sonny, it's revealed that Kate still has possession of her bloody wedding dressed, locked away in an oak chest. Kate continues to get dropped phone calls and mysterious calls from unknown callers.

At the Pulmonary event at the MetroCourt, Johnny unveils that Anthony is not his father but his grandfather. He promises to make Sonny pay for destroying his family. In the parking garage, a hitman shoots at Dante; Sonny interferes and gets shot himself. Upon finding out Sonny had been shot, Kate rushed to the garage and began to zone out of reality. She then visited Sonny in the hospital and left his side after he wanted to take revenge, ending their relationship again. She then goes to the dock, in her bloody wedding gown and is unsure of why she's there. She continued to act very despondent, and had difficulty recalling the events on the night. Kate then confesses to Dr. Ewen Keenan (Nathin Butler) that she's been finding random pieces of paper with names and phone numbers on them following her blackouts.

After splitting with Sonny, the two reconnect on her desk. She continues to insist she is not "Connie" but "Kate. However, once he leaves, she continues to smell her old perfume. She shows up at Johnny Zacchara (Brandon Barash)'s and insists she is "Connie" and that "Kate" is the one with the problem. As "Connie" hatches her plan to use Johnny as a ploy to get "Kate" away from Sonny, "Kate" continues to struggle with her memories fading in and out. She confesses to Ewen that does still does not remember certain things about her days and he insists she possibly suffers from Dissociative Identity Disorder, also know as DID. Johnny then arrives at the Crimson offices and pushes Kate to let Connie out, who ropes Johnny back into her plan, despite his decision to not go ahead with it. As they begin to have sex on her office desk, Kate re-emerges and throws Johnny out, cowering into her sweater, confused over her actions.

As Kate continues to be forced between herself and Connie, sometimes losing control for several hours at the time, she begins seeing Ewen as her official therapist. Ewen suggests that they he hypnotize her, in order to find out why "Connie" was created. As Connie emerges, she reveals that she was created to protect Kate from Sonny's hold and that he's almost gotten them killed one, and that he's on the verge of having it happen again. She also confesses to planting a gun in Kate's office in order to send Sonny to jail for murdering Cole Thornhart (Van Hughes) and Hope Manning-Thornhart.

In April 2012, Kate agrees to have herself voluntarily committed into a mental institution, to gain control of herself from Connie. She agrees to it, as long as she's able to say goodbye to Sonny. She then arrives at Sonny's home, and tells him she has something to tell him. However, she's interrupted by the jury's verdict in Sonny's trial, which resulted in him being found guilty. They are interrupted again by Max and Olivia, the latter of whom attacks Kate once again over changing her name and alienating her past. Cracking under Olivia's pressure, Kate runs off and has a confrontation with Connie (through her psyche) and results in Connie, once again, being unleashed.

Connie (as Kate) then decides to throw Sonny a birthday party, mixed with a party for him being found not guilty on charges of murder. At the party, Connie destroys his birthday cake and then sleeps with Johnny. After Sonny catches "Kate" with Johnny, he breaks off their relationship with Kate then returning. When she agrees to Dr. Keenan's terms of turning herself into the psych ward, Connie reemerges, bashing Ewen over the head. Connie then decides to leave Port Charles, but not before getting into a physical altercation with Carly, who discovers a paper labeling Kate with DID. At the airport, Kate attempts to escape, with no avail. When her plane is about to board, she runs into Jason, who stops her from getting on. After Jason rattles Connie, Kate re-emerges, only to be contained by PCPD for attacking Dr. Ewen. Jason helps arrange a meeting between Sonny and Kate, in which she admits she has a multiple personality that has caused the rift between them.

During her time in a psych hospital, Kate relives painful memories concerning her teens. She relives the painful memories of being raped by Joe Sully, Jr. (Richard Steinmetz), which resulted in her pregnancy. She admits that while left Sonny because of the pregnancy and for the fear of what Sonny could have done if he ever knew. She confesses that after having her son, she left him in a drawer in her boarding school, and legally changed her name to Kate Howard to escape the painful past. Kate later discovers her son is alive, and living under the name Trey Mitchell (Eric Valdez), who is currently dating Sonny's daughter Kristina Davis (Lindsey Morgan). After Sonny proposes, Kate begins to feel conflicted again, and transitions back into Connie. At their wedding, Connie unveils herself and reveals her marriage to Johnny, as a blackmail situation to keep Johnny's secret over killing Cole and Hope, a confession Connie took credit for.

Reception
General Hospital fan response has been overwhelmingly positive of the pairing of Sonny Corinthos and Kate Howard. They are consistently among the Top 10 Couples with the wedding of Sonny and Kate becoming a sweeps event for GH. Fans were disgusted in March 2009, when ABC announced General Hospital was dropping Megan Ward to recurring status and Rick Hearst (Ric Lansing) off contract, which resulted in him last airing that June.

Following Sullivan's inception of the character, she was given the title of "Performer of the Week" on On Air On Soaps. Site editor, Michael Fairman, stated:

And in a startling, intense, heartbreaking tour de force, GH’s Kelly Sullivan is showing what she is made of playing the complex DID storyline and making it fresh, when many said it couldn’t be done! With her magnificent scene partner, Maurice Benard (Sonny) playing the beats of a heartbroken lover who deep down loves Kate, he watches in shock and sadness as Kate talks to her alter Connie who is trying desperately to deduce what happened the night Anthony Zacchara’s tires were shot out, which in turn killed Cole and Hope. Then, when Sonny meets Connie for the first time, Sullivan really pulled out all the stops! We loved when Connie imitated Kate when she said, “Oh Sonny. I have to see Sonny”  Then the line that followed (which we also loved) was Connie telling Sonny about Kate not being able to stay away from him,   “She’s an addict and you’re a big hunk of crack.”    It was drama at its best and Sullivan and Bernard made this work!

Alternate personalities

 * Connie: Connie is believed to be the manifestation of Kate's hatred for her live in Bensonhurst and the equivalent of One Life to Live characters Victoria Lord and her alter Niki Smith and Jessica Buchanan's Tess. Unlike Kate, Connie has a strong disliking her the fashion industry (often criticizing Kate's sense in fashion as "stupid") and Sonny.

In popular culture
The character of Kate Howard is reminiscent of Miranda Priestly (portrayed by Meryl Streep) from The Devil Wears Prada and Anna Wintour, editor of Vogue. Megan Ward has stated she has also based her character on Aerin Lauder and Kelly Wearstler.

Kate Howard's real name, Connie Falconeri, may be a reference to The Godfather's Connie Corleone, who is the sister of Michael Corleone and Santino "Sonny" Corleone (whose names are reminiscent of Sonny Corinthos).