Kate Fleming

They didn't come any more professional than Kate Fleming. Whether for ads or long-form reading, she was one of the best voice-over actors in Seattle. She came in early, she came in prepared, and she always delivered 100%. I'd recorded a few things with her, as she started to hit her stride in the latter part of my studio career, but one of the last sessions I did at Bad Animals was her voicing a television ad for a Reno hospital. She did a couple of "buy" takes, never less than stellar, and that was it. She was gone in five minutes. She did spots for Evergreen Hospital here locally, and she was usually the voice of the "charity" ads for SleepCountry USA (as opposed to the regular mattress ads). Kate had an very empathetic voice, heavy in the mid-range, that "connected" with people's sympathies. Plus she was a great actress, which she showed to far more effect in the many audio-books she voiced. And she was a joy in the studio with a sharp wit, and a breezy professional attitude that made any session go smoother. One Kate Fleming performance sticks in my mind. It was for Channel 11's 10 o'clock newscast, in a series of radio ads that lampooned competing 10pm drama shows. This one was a spoof of "NYPD Blue," and in it, a bad-attitude cop shows his disdain for his precinct captain by dropping his pants in protest. Kate chimes in with a pitch-perfect Bronx accent: "Riite ahn!" It only took a moment! But the timing and performance always made me laugh out loud. Perfection! Such a talent!
It was a shock to hear that Kate died in the recent storm. She was the unfortunate woman caught in her flooded basement--no doubt trying to rescue valuable recording equipment. Such a tragedy. And if there was anyone who could provide comforting words to understand something this senseless it would've been Kate.