Denise Alexander, better known to play General hospital‘S Lesley Webber, died on March 5 at 85.
Born in New York on November 11, 1939 and raised in Long Island, Alexander began to act as a child, appearing as the daughter of Perry Como Perry Como Chesterfield supper club in 1949 and other prime time series in the 1950s and 60s, including The father knows best,, The Danny Thomas showAnd The twilight zone.
She made her first feature film, Crime in the streetsWith John Cassavetes, at 14, and made his right part of the radio work from the age of 6, saying that we love Soaps TV in 2010: “My father, at some point, counted the number I had made, and it was 2,500 radio shows. Outside and on the next.
ABC
Alexander made his soap opera as laws Adams THE Clear horizon In 1960, but her big break occurred in 1966 when she was interpreted as Susan Hunter Martin Days of our lives While frequenting university at the UCLA. As Susan, Alexander played a multitude of dramatic tales, notably the murder of her husband David Martin (played by Clive Clerk) in May 1967 after the death of their son.
“She started as the bad girl and was thrown out of boarding school for smoking and drinking,” recalls Alexandre for We Love Soaps TV. “The character has come back and triggered something with the public, and this is how Susan became an important part of the show. I was there for almost seven years…. I had such a wonderful moment Days. It was like going to camp every day for me. I loved people, I loved the show and I loved what I have to do. They loved the character and loved me as an actor and gave me a lot of neat things. I didn’t even ask for a vacation for five years because if I worked 365 days a year, I thought I was great. It was a very good time in my life.
Everett collection
In 1973, Alexander was in contractual negotiations with Days When ABC offered significant advantages to the actress to join General hospital To play Dr. Lesley Williams. Although Alexander loved her time to Salem, she decided to leave. “It was (executive producer of days) Betty Corday who sent me to General hospital“Said Alexander at Weelovesoaps.net.” She said: “You have to do it.” So when I went to General hospitalThey had no character for me. They had a character arriving, a woman doctor who was going to have a romance with John Beradino (Steve Hardy). And it was obviously bad for me or for John, but they took the character and some scripts from his arrival that they had written and had to rush to create a scenario. »»
Alexander was a great success in the role, winning an Emmy Daytime Emmy Prize in 1975, becoming the mother of Laura Vinc (Genie Francis) and Foster Mom in Blackie Parrish (John Stamos), and was a star player in the ascent of the show at the number, thanks, in part, in Torrid Lesley, Rick Webber (Chris Robinson) (Lerslie Charleson) and at Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charleson). In a 2010 interview with DigestAlexander noted, I always say that, and I hope that Leslie Charleson will do it too: the first time that General hospital I already went to the number one in our time, it was on the Lesley / Rick / Monica script. It was not Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura. They went further than anyone who did not dream possible, of course, but it was a great triangle at the time. Lesley was killed on soap in 1984, only to be resurrected in 1996, when she resumed until 2009. She appeared again in 2013, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
In an exclusive interview with TV Insider, Francis returns to his relationship with Alexander. “I loved him. She loved me, ”she said. “I stole his good things. When I sometimes look at myself on television, which I do not often do because I don’t really like to look at me, but I saw myself doing things and I was sort of surprised because I realized that I come from Denise. So when I say I stole her good things, I say I was so young, she was printed on me. And part of my act, part of my style, it was very very significant on Denise by Denise. I grew up.
Everett collection
Alexander gave Francis a precious memory which has a particular meaning. “She actually gave me this pretty necklace,” says Francis. “It’s like a little angel that stands on a cloud, and it is on a pearl. It was a charm, and I wore it all the time. And then when my daughter wanted to become an actress when she was young, I said:” You must have your charm of luck. “So I said:” I’m going to give you this little angel that was worn by two actresses, and now it’s you. And so (her daughter) Eliza (Frakes) to that, and it’s important for her too.
Alexander is survived by a daughter-in-law, Elizabeth Colla, of her marriage to the late Richard A. Colla.
