Doris Belack has passed away

[DRW50]

As Vee mentioned in the OLTL episode thread, Doris Belack has passed away. On October 4, to be exact.

Doris had so many theater, film, and primetime credits, but she should also be remembered for her groundbreaking roles on soap opera. Doris was one of the first actresses who transitioned off the beaten path characters into mainstream soap roles. When Agnes Nixon took over writing AW, she reinvigorated the show with poor, struggling, but still relateable and entertaining characters like Ada, Rachel, Lahoma, and Madge, played by Doris Belack. When Agnes left for OLTL, Doris followed, and played Anna Wolek for almost a decade. Anna was poor but proud, again someone viewers could know and understand, in contrast to the rich Lord family. Viewers watched Anna, Larry, and Vince struggle for every dime, find a place in the world, and earn love and success on their own merits. No character like Anna Wolek would be allowed on soaps today.

I'm not sure I can embed this as the user said they didn't want it uploaded anywhere else, but there's a 1969 episode on Youtube which has Doris.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0067497/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doris_Belack

http://www.igs.net/~awhp/1madge.html

[EricMontreal22]

And as I mentioned in the other thread, she has a cameo in one of the 1970 AMC episodes, as her OLTL character, on agnesnixon.com RIP

Actress Doris Belack dies at 85

Appeared in 'One Life to Live,' 'Tootsie'

By Variety Staff

Actress Doris Belack, who appeared as the original Anna Wolek Craig on "One Life to Live" and recurred as a judge on "Law and Order" during a long career in television and film, died of natural causes in Manhattan on Tuesday, Oct. 4. She was 85.

Belack's feature film credits included "Tootsie," in which she played the exasperated producer of the soap opera within the movie, and "What About Bob?" She often played professional or authority figures, frequently in comedy.

Her husband, theatrical producer Philip Rose, to whom she was married for 65 years, died just four months ago.

In 1955 she performed with Sidney Poitier on the record "Poetry of the Negro," produced by Rose.

Belack appeared in an episode of "Treasury Men in Action" in 1951, but her TV career really got going with a 1963 appearance on "East Side/West Side," a guest role on two episodes of "The Patty Duke Show" and subsequent work in daytime soap operas. She recurred on "One Life to Live" from 1968-77 and also appeared on "The Edge of Night," "Another World" and "The Doctors."

Belack appeared in a 1975 episode of "Barney Miller" as Fish's wife Bernice and had a starring role as a police captain in brief CBS sitcom "Baker's Dozen" in 1982.

The actress made her feature debut with a leading role in the 1977 family drama Looking Up," and she made an impression in 1982's "Tootsie," where her performance as a strong female leader echoed and reinforced some of the film's themes.

Other movies during the 1980s included "Fast Forward," "*Batteries Not Included," and "She-Devil."

On TV she was busy guested on the likes of "Family Ties," "The Cosby Show," "Cagney and Lacey," "Remington Steele" and "The Golden Girls" during this period.

She was a series regular on ABC's brief 1992 series "Laurie Hill," and the next year she starred in another brief comedy, CBS' "Family Album." Belack played Judge Margaret Barry on 10 episodes of "Law and Order" from 1990-2001 and two episode of "Law and Order: SVU" in 2000-01.

She guested on "Picket Fences," "Chicago Hope," "Sisters" and "Ellen," among other shows, during the '90s.

Her last TV appearance was in an episode of "Sex and the City" in 2003.

Film work in the 1990s included the comedies "Opportunity Knocks," "What About Bob?," "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" and

"Krippendorf's Tribe." In 1999 she did voicework for "Doug's 1st Movie" after having done so for the Disney Channel series.

Belack's last films were "Prime," with Uma Thurman and Meryl Streep; "Delirious," with Steve Buscemi; and "Arranged."

The actress even contributed to videogames, voicing characters in "True Crime: New York City" and, in her final credit, "Grand Theft Auto IV" in 2008.

A joint memorial for Belack and Rose will be held Oct. 17 at noon at the Ambassador Theater. It will be open to the public.

[DRW50]

I'll have to check that AMC episode. I had a tough time navigating the site a while back.

I didn't remember her being on Sex and the City.

I have a few articles with her too if I can ever find them. If you want to see some old cast photos of her here's one set.

[Marco Dane]

Damn I hoping that someway OLTL could had brought her back for a cameo

[EricMontreal22]

Ha, I just checked the website (which only works in Firefox for me, not my other browsers) and it's Eileen Siegal who visits Joe, not Anna... So nevermind (though it is worth checking out the episode).

[Marco Dane]

what is the link to see the episode ?

I hope OLTL can pay tribute to her on a episode

[EricMontreal22]

Which one the amc or the oltl? The Amc is the second episode in black and white at www.agnesnixon.com/videos titled episode 41--Eileen appears (wth the first, I believe, Kate Martin, who stumbles over her lines) at the Martin place in the third section.

[DRW50]

This is from an early 1972 TV Dawn to Dusk.

[DRW50]

[DRW50]

November 1974 Afternoon TV Stars

[All My Shadows]

Of course, I associate her most with early OLTL, but I didn't realize until today that she was the voice of Mrs. Wingo on Doug. She also voiced Mrs. Dink.

Her husband also died this year

[DRW50]

Was she married to the same man as in the article? At least they had a happy marriage to the end.

[All My Shadows]

Yep, wiki says they were married in 1946. And I just notice that his death was mentioned in one of the obit Eric posted above. 65 years of marriage!

[DRW50]

Thanks. So often spouses do end up passing away within a short space of time. 65 years, that's amazing.

[Paul Raven]

For the record Doris Belack's soap roles

Kate Hopkins EON 58

Carol EON 66

Madge Murray AW 66-67

Anna Wolek OLTL 68-77

Nora Simpson AW 78

Claudia Howard TD 80

Beth Bryson EON 81,82