| Kath Day-Knight | |
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Full Name |
Kathleen Darleen Day-Knight (née Day) |
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Occupation |
House Wife |
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Spouse |
Gary Poole (1978-2004) |
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Family |
Kim Craig (Daughter) |
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First Appearance |
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Last Appearance |
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Kathleen "Kath" Darleen Day-Knight is a character portrayed by Jane Turner on the Australian sit-com Kath & Kim. The character had previous appeared on Fast Forward, Big Girl's Blouse and the short-lived Something Stupid. Kath's character is considered an Australian Comedy Icon.
Molly Shannon portrayed her in the American version of Kath & Kim.
Background
Kath was born in 1954, and was married to Gary Poole from the late seventies. Gary left just after Kim was born, saying he was going out for cigarettes. When Kim was only one day old, he ran off with Wendy Patterson and spent twenty years in exile in Hong Kong.
She lived in Fountain Lakes with Kim for 24 years, before meeting Kel, and the arrival of Brett and Epponnee-Rae to the family. It was revealed during the series (after her marriage to Kel in a big wedding) that she was still married to Gary. They officially divorced and she married Kel legally this time after a two-year invalid stretch.
While sorting through old family pictures, She realizes that she is of Aboriginal descent ,and, after taking a DNA test in the episode Roots it is proven. She is also of Manx and Chinese descent.
Appearance
Kath is extremely proud of herself and her looks, despite being a smoker. She is confident; in fact the opening of Sex features Kath, herself, reflecting on herself and how proud she is of her looks and calls herself "high maintenance".
Kath wears flamboyant clothes sometimes, and normal clothes as well. She dresses in a style which resembles 80s fashion, with Tussles, Shoulder Pads and tight metro coloured pants all included in her wardrobe.
Despite never having self-imagery problems, she does experience problems with her age; feeling too old at times, as she is four months older than Kel
Personality
Kath has had her fair share of wild escapades throughout the show's episodes and has had a wide range of careers, ranging from an actress to a real estate agent. In addition, during the season finale, Kath & Kel make their house into a Bed and Breakfast named Kath & Kel's Kountry Kottage. Apart from this, she has failed to have a full-time job.
Kath has many different habits and lines which she continues with throughout the series. She often talks to herself in her mind while making grinning faces; She also says "make a mental note Kath.." and says the mental note out loud. When Kath knows something is going to happen she remarks "I can Feel it in me waters!".
When Kim, Sharon, Kath and others are in a "rough" or "sticky" situation, or having an augment she will stop and say "Look at me (pronounceable as Look at Moi)" and gets everyone to stare her in the eye. She will then go on to say "I've got one word to say to you", which will often be more than one word. When Kath (with Sharon and Kim) see something they like or something out of the blue, they all say to each other "It's Nice, It's different, It's unusual" all at the same time.
Kath has completed no less than 34 TAFE courses, several courses that Kath has done are Interior Design, re-cycling, White Witchcraft, E-bay-ing, Real Estate, Floral Design and Business Studies.
Relationships
Kim Craig
Kim, being Kath's only child, had always been the centre of Kath's attention; causing her to always act self-absorbed even to this day as an adult. Kim continues to take advantage of Kath, always living in her house and messing it up (which Kath hates as she is a "Neat-Freak"). Kim took large advantage of Kath growing up, due to the fact that they had no male figure (Kath's husband & Kim's father Gary Poole left them to fend for themselves while Kim was an infant) with them. During the final season, Kim got to be such a bother to Kath & Kel that they opted to purchase their next-door-neighbour's Mansion like House; but were unsuccessful as no one auctioned to buy their own house. Kim and Kath however have always had a good relationship when it comes to agreeing on situations (which usually includes Sharon, Kim's second best friend and a family friend) and gossiping about the latest buzz.
Kel
Kel Knight is Kath's metro husband. Their relationship has always been fun, with the two "Oldies" feeling liberated. They married and moved in together. Despite an almost picture-perfect marriage, they have had minor downfalls, such as the times when Kel took over duties of the house I.E cooking, cleaning and maintaining the house, which bothered Kath to the brink; also the fact that Kim hates Kel and has never accepted her mother getting married at fifty years old and having a life outside of her.
Sharon
Sharon Strzelecki is Kath's daughter's best friend. During the series Kath and Sharon like each other, Kath is usually the one standing up for Sharon when Kim throws a tantrum at Sharon (usually concerning food). The only time Kath is seen throwing a tantrum at Sharon is when her drink was spiked in the episode Party
Brett
Brett is Kath's Son-in-Law, during the series Brett is bombarded with Kath and Kel's sexual relationship (usually when they would just come back from a holiday). In the episode "Holiday" Brett and Kim plan a romantic trip to Queensland, however Brett ends up going to Queensland with Kath and Kel also Sharon, Brett eventually yells at Kath making her upset and their relationship is temporarily ruined, however after returning home they reinstate their relationship.