Cleaning soap opera veteran Denise Alexander, greatest identified for her starring roles on long-running sudsers Basic Hospital and Days of Our Lives, has died on the age of 85.
A mainstay within the cleaning soap world within the ’60s and ’70s, she portrayed Susan Hunter Martin on the NBC drama and Lesley Webber on the ABC sequence.
Alexander started her profession within the Fifties, making her Broadway debut in The Youngsters’s Hour. She made her movie debut 4 years later and appeared as a frequent visitor star on primetime tv, together with The Twilight Zone.
Embarking on her eventual cleaning soap stardom, the actress debuted in CBS’ short-lived sudser The Clear Horizon in 1960, after which she appeared in a 1962 unaired pilot for Basic Hospital, then titled Emergency Hospital. Three years later, she portrayed a minor character on the present, earlier than returning in full pressure in 1973; this 12 months additionally marked her exit from Days, to the chagrin of followers who have been sad to see her depart as a nasty affect and driver of lots of the sequence’ dramatic twists and turns.
From 1966 to 1973, Alexander logged over 800 episodes for Days. Whereas there, she additionally met her longtime husband, Richard Colla, a director and actor who died in 2021. The 2 have been married for over 40 years.
The transfer from Days to Basic Hospital, as Alexander recalled, generated a “large press uproar” and despatched shockwaves all through the leisure trade, and was not a choice she took flippantly as she didn’t initially need to go away the “pretty, cozy, loving nest” of the Days set.
On the time, Basic Hospital was struggling creatively and ratings-wise, however quickly righted the ship with a brand new head author and govt producer, in addition to a simmering love triangle between Alexander’s Lesley, Chris Robinson’s Rick Webber and the late Leslie Charleson’s Monica Quartermaine. In 1976, Alexander earned a Daytime Emmy nod for the function.
In 1984, shockwaves as soon as once more subtle amongst cleaning soap followers, who protested Alexander’s departure from GH as a consequence of shifting private priorities and failed contract negotiations (her character was killed off). Throughout this time, Alexander appeared on the cleaning soap One other World.
Nevertheless, she returned to GH in 1996 — as her character was revealed to be alive and along with her daughter Laura (Genie Francis) — on and off by means of 2009. She returned once more in 2013 for the present’s semicentennial, in addition to 2017, 2019 and her final look in 2021. Total, the actress marked over 1,000 episodes with the sequence.
In a brand new interview with TV Insider, Francis remembered of Alexander: “I cherished her. She cherished me. I stole her good things. Once I have a look at myself generally on tv, which I don’t do actually because I don’t actually like to observe myself, however I’ve seen myself do stuff and been type of shocked as a result of I spotted I simply did Denise. So after I say I stole her good things, I’m saying I used to be so younger, she imprinted on me. And a few of my performing, a few of my type of performing, was straight imprinted on me by Denise Alexander. And he or she was very, superb to me as I used to be rising up.”
Susan Seaforth Hayes — her longtime pal and co-star on Days — paid tribute to Alexander, who was established as an on-screen rival to her character Julie Olson Williams. “Denise Alexander was a pal to treasure and an actress to applaud. She was nicely established on Days after I joined the solid as Julie #4 (a substitute for 4 earlier actresses). She watched [the late Days star] Billy [Hayes] and I fall head over heels in love and, being a romantic woman herself, cheered us on. Such comfortable reminiscences of her years in Salem and her nice success on Basic Hospital. We each started as youngster actors, each had robust moms and each have been raised as Christian Scientists in our early years. I used to be grateful for her knowledge, style, humor, and goodness each time I noticed her. It was by no means sufficient. And my love for her won’t ever be over. ❤️#DeniseAlexander,” she wrote on Instagram.
In the meantime, GH govt producer Frank Valentini wrote in a social media remembrance submit: “I’m so very sorry to listen to of Denise Alexander’s passing. She broke obstacles on-screen and off, portraying Dr. Lesley Webber – one of many first feminine docs on Daytime Tv – for practically 5 many years. It meant a lot to have her reprise her function lately and I’m honored to have had the chance to work along with her. On behalf of your entire Basic Hospital household, I lengthen my heartfelt sympathies to her household, associates, and longtime followers. Could she relaxation in peace.”
