Re: Denise Alexander Dies: ‘General Hospital’ & ‘Days Of Our Lives’ Star Was 85

anim8rfsk wrote:

https://deadline.com/2025/05/denise-alexander-dead-general-hospital-days-of-our-lives-1236392632/
 
Denise Alexander Dies: ‘General Hospital’ & ‘Days Of Our
Lives’ Star Was 85
 
By Natalie Oganesyan
May 10, 2025
 
Soap opera veteran Denise Alexander, best known for her
starring roles on long-running sudsers General Hospital
and Days of Our Lives, has died at the age of 85.
 
A mainstay in the soap world in the ’60s and ’70s, she
portrayed Susan Hunter Martin on the NBC drama and Lesley
Webber on the ABC series.
 
Alexander began her career in the 1950s, making her
Broadway debut in The Children’s Hour. She made her film
debut four years later and appeared as a frequent guest
star on primetime television, including The Twilight Zone.
 
Embarking on her eventual 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
General Hospital, then titled Emergency Hospital. Three
years later, she portrayed a minor character on the show,
before returning in full force in 1973; this year also
marked her exit from Days, to the chagrin of fans who were
unhappy to see her depart as a bad influence and driver of
many of the series’ dramatic twists and turns.
 
From 1966 to 1973, Alexander logged over 800 episodes for
Days. While there, she also met her longtime husband,
Richard Colla, a director and actor who died in 2021. The
two were married for over 40 years.
 
The move from Days to General Hospital, as Alexander
recalled, generated a “big press uproar” and sent
shockwaves throughout the entertainment industry, and was
not a decision she took lightly as she did not initially
want to leave the “lovely, cozy, loving nest” of the Days
set.
 
At the time, General Hospital was struggling creatively
and ratings-wise, but soon righted the ship with a new
head writer and executive producer, as well as 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 role.
 
In 1984, shockwaves once again diffused among soap fans,
who protested Alexander’s departure from GH due to
shifting personal priorities and failed contract
negotiations (her character was killed off). During this
time, Alexander appeared on the soap Another World.
 
However, she returned to GH in 1996 — as her character was
revealed to be alive and with her daughter Laura (Genie
Francis) — off and on through 2009. She returned again in
2013 for the show’s semicentennial, as well as 2017, 2019
and her last appearance in 2021. Overall, the actress
marked over 1,000 episodes with the series.
 
In a new interview with TV Insider, Francis remembered of
Alexander: “I loved her. She loved me. I stole her good
stuff. When I look at myself sometimes on television,
which I don’t do often because I don’t really like to
watch myself, but I have seen myself do stuff and been
kind of taken aback because I realized I just did Denise.
So when I say I stole her good stuff, I’m saying I was so
young, she imprinted on me. And some of my acting, some of
my style of acting, was directly imprinted on me by Denise
Alexander. And she was very, very good to me as I was
growing up.”
 
Susan Seaforth Hayes — her longtime friend 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 friend to treasure and an actress
to applaud. She was well established on Days when I joined
the cast as Julie #4 (a replacement for 4 previous
actresses). She watched
[the late Days star] Billy [Hayes] and I fall madly in
[love and, being a
romantic lady herself, cheered us on. Such happy memories
of her years in Salem and her great success on General
Hospital. We both began as child actors, both had strong
mothers and both were raised as Christian Scientists in
our early years. I was grateful for her wisdom, taste,
humor, and goodness every time I saw her. It was never
enough. And my love for her will never be over.
❤️#DeniseAlexander,” she wrote on Instagram.
 
Meanwhile, GH executive producer Frank Valentini wrote in
a social media remembrance post: “I am so very sorry to
hear of Denise Alexander’s passing. She broke barriers
on-screen and off, portraying Dr. Lesley Webber – one of
the first female doctors on Daytime Television – for
nearly five decades. It meant so much to have her reprise
her role in recent years and I am honored to have had the
opportunity to work with her. On behalf of the entire
General Hospital family, I extend my heartfelt sympathies
to her family, friends, and longtime fans. May she rest in
peace.”
 

Sad to hear. I remember her as Leslie Webber on GH back
in the day.

Valentini isn't quite correct though. The NBC soap The
Doctors had *two* female doctors on that show from its
beginning: Dr. Maggie Powers and Dr. Althea Davis.

Nyssa, who enjoyed the early years of The Doctors since
it was more of a one-story-a-week show than a continuing
story soap