Played General Hospital’s Monica Quartermaine

Leslie Charleson, who played Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital for nearly 50 years, has died. She was 79.

Charleson’s death was announced Sunday on the Instagram account of the ABC daytime drama series. The announcement was attributed to General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” Valentini’s statement read. “Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on General Hospital alone and, just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew. I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set. On behalf of everyone at General Hospital, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”

A cause of death was not given, though she reportedly had been battling an illness for some time.

Charleson played Quartermaine, a cardiologist, at the hospital featured on the soap, since 1977. For her role, she received four Daytime Emmy Awards nominations along with two Soap Hub noms and four Soap Opera Digest noms. In 2010, she was reportedly reduced to recurring status. She continued to appear on the show, though, with her last appearance in December 2023, making her the show’s longest-running castmember. 

Born Feb. 22, 1945, the Kansas City native started her career on ABC’s daytime soap A Flame in the Wind in 1964. Two years later, she appeared in As the World Turns and then from 1967–73 she was part of the cast of the CBS soap Love Is a Many Splendored Thing.

Her other early credits include guest-starring roles in The Wild Wild West, Adam-12, Emergency!, Mannix, Ironside, Happy Days, Marcus Welby, M.D. and The Rockford Files. 

During her career, she also appeared in 1973 science-fiction film The Day of the Dolphin, with Shelley Winters in the 1971 television movie Revenge! and with Deirdre Hall in the 1993 TV movie Woman on the Ledge.

More recently, she guest-starred on Dharma & Greg (2001) and on Friends (2004).