Damn.

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Soap Opera icon, Leslie Charleson, known as Monica Quartermaine on “General Hospital,” died Sunday morning after a long illness. She was 79.

“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” “General Hospital” executive producer Frank Valentini announced. “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.”

The beloved actress who joined the soap in 1977, has had some health ups and downs over the past few years, which has limited her time on the ABC soap, where she hasn’t appeared since December 2023. In recent years, she has suffered several falls that prevented her from getting around. Although it impeded her mobility and resulted in her need for a walker, it never got her spirit down. She was hospitalized last week after one such fall.

The Kansas City native began her long career on daytime television in 1964 when she was just 19 in the short-lived ABC soap opera “A Flame in the Wind.” A few years later she began a 3-year-run on CBS’s “Love Is a Many Splendored Thing,” where she played Iris Donnelly Garrison, who was in a popular love triangle with characters played by Donna Mills and David Birney. In 1970s, she guest starred on many of the best known shows of the time, including “The Rockford Files,” “The Wild West,” “The Streets of San Francisco,” “Marcus Welby, M.D.,” “Mannix,” “Ironside” and “Happy Days,” where she played divorcée Dorothy Kimber and was the first on-screen kiss for actor-director Ron Howard (who played Richie). In 1973, she starred opposite Shelley Winters in the film “The Day of the Dolphin.” She fell in love with the aquatic mammal and collected dolphins for the rest of her life.

In later years, she guested on “Dharma & Greg,” “Diagnosis: Murder,” “Friends” and starred alongside fellow soap stars Deidre Hall (“Days of Our Lives”) and Colleen Zenk (“As the World Turns”) in the 1993 made-for-television movie “Woman on the Ledge.”

 

Although her primetime time appearances were plentiful, she returned to the world of soap operas in 1977, when she was hired to replace Patsy Rahn as Monica Bard on “General Hospital.” Charleson used to joke that she wasn’t received with open arms by many of the cast and crew, who were upset that her predecessor was given the heave-ho. However, her humor quickly won them over.

During her 40-plus years on “GH,” Charleson’s Monica was part of one of daytime’s biggest and most popular love triangles (Rick/Monica/Alan), has given audiences doses of both comedy (she had a thing for slapping people and was as a member of the super-wealthy, perennially quarrelsome and dysfunctional Quartermaine family) and drama (including surviving breast cancer and the loss of three children), and has been shot and held at gunpoint more than once. Along the way, she earned four Daytime Emmy nominations for outstanding lead actress.

After 30 years on “GH,” she was taken off contract and reduced to recurring status in 2010, for which her fans and fans of the show protested. In 2017, Charleson tripped while walking her dog and injured her leg, causing her to be replaced for two months on the show by one-time child star Patty McCormack while she recovered. Several years later, she suffered another fall and was once again recast for a single day. Last October, it was announced that it was unlikely she would return. Monica, however, continues to be mentioned in storyline when the Quartermaines are gathered, referring to her as being upstairs in their mansion.

I personally knew Leslie. Very well, in fact. She was a very good friend to me. No one was more kind, fun-loving, loyal and generous. I remember times at her beautiful house, when she’d let her turtle wander in her luscious backyard and it would disappear into the bushes; when we’d sit in the kitchen nook and gossip; when I would tease her about her love of Elvis Presley and the Eagles. She was a good laugher, she was. It was deep and seemed to work its way up from her feet. And the things she loved most: her horse and “General Hospital.” She loved the show and being a part of its legacy. And the fans, she loved them with her whole heart. I hope she knows how much she was loved back… and how much she will be missed.

Edited January 12Jan 12 by Vee

2025 is not starting well. She was wonderful as Monica.

Frank's full statement is in the above article, but also here on the GH Threads account.

 

I knew we didn’t have long but it’s still sad and shocking. May she rest in peace 

I have many, many issues with Frank Valentini's stewardship of GH, but I'll never forget what he did for many vets over the years to pay respect to them, starting with what he did in John Ingle's final days which was reported in great detail by his grateful family. I never forgot either the seemingly spontaneous applause for Rachel Ames when she appeared at the nurses' station during the anniversary in 2013. I don't believe she knew about it; she looked very surprised. And the tributes for Jackie, for Sonya Eddy, for John Reilly, etc. were wonderful and kind.

GH has many glaring flaws but they kept Monica very involved in recent years before Leslie's recent injury and illness, with the Qs and at the hospital. They endeavored to keep her involved any way they could, via voice or by brief appearances in the last couple years. I am grateful to FV and to GH for that.

I knew this was probably coming but it's still very sad. Leslie was vital to revitalizing this show and making it a generational force, and to modernizing soaps in general, as others have noted re: recent discussion of Love is a Many Splendored Thing and her work there. I held out hope we could see her one last time.

We probably knew this was coming, but it’s still sad. May she RIP. 
 

 

I was just thinking again recently about her absence and then was reminded in a Donna Mills interview I found yesterday about how important she and Leslie were to Love Is a Many Splendored Thing. 

Heartbreaking. So many losses for the GH family but this is one that directly affects so many of my GH memories.

By the time I started watching GH, Monica was more of a support character, but I still appreciated Leslie's work in any scene she had. There are few soap actors who ever crackled with as much life force as Leslie did. She could often be reserved in drama and wry in comedy, but you never sensed she didn't care. No matter how rote the material might be, she always gave everything she had. I was fascinated when watching her. She was one of the most intelligent actresses soaps ever had. And something she never got enough credit for was just what an easy chemistry she had with all her scene partners, whether in love or war, in giving medical news or being a mother or having a coffee with Bobbie or putting up with Amy's nonsense. 

She loved the Quartermaines even when the show didn't. I remember her quote about how Gloria Monty had tried to get rid of the family with the Eckers, and by the end, most of the Eckert scenes took place in the Quartermaine living room. I'm sorry she wasn't able to be there during the relative renaissance period of the last few years for the family, but they wouldn't have even gotten to this point without her. 

I've never forgotten the interview she gave to SOD about how uncomfortable her debut as Monica was because she had to tell her co-stars that Patsy Rahn (Monica #1) had been fired. She was also a huge Elvis fan, and Elvis had recently passed away. Eerie as Elvis had his birthday not long ago. 

She has some good stories here on this subject:

https://www.soapoperadigest.com/content/tbt-leslie-charleson-2/

At least she’s with “Alan” now… 

Just now, DRW50 said:

I'm sorry she wasn't able to be there during the relative renaissance period of the last few years for the family, but they wouldn't have even gotten to this point without her. 

I do think she was there for part of it over the last ten years or so. I seem to recall a lot of stuff with her and both Drews, and with the resurgent Q canvas before her injury. It surprised me to tune in here and there and see her so often. She was also in a fair bit of hospital stuff with the current crew, which makes her thankfully still relevant. And again, they always took care to reference her being around or used her voice where they could. I'm very grateful for that.

I will watch a '90s episode in her honor tonight, probably the breast cancer story she was so good in. Monica was too real for the room sometimes, and that was all Leslie.

Thank god I got to meet her in 2018 and Jacky/Bobbie too.

now two of my favorite GH women are all gone  

RIP… I mean her health has been on the decline for serval years but I really thought she would at least come back again for a few appearences

no more Alan, Monica  IT will always be YOUR House ! 

Damnnnn. RIP to her.

RIP to another legend!! 😢😢🙏🙏 just too many losses for that daytime family! Hope she’s now reunited and laughing with her friends from the show who have also passed! 

May she rest in peace.

 

Damn. I hope she is at peace, somewhere riding her beloved horses, which she had not been able to do for a long time. I remember a Michael Logan interview with Jane, Tony, and Kin where I first learned her on set nickname, Lester, which I found endearing for some reason and it stuck with me.

As @DRW50 mentioned, Leslie had easy and great chemistry with nearly everybody. As rivals with Leslie Webber and Tracy, romantic with several men, and maternal with her onscreen children. I think she and Stuart as Monica and Alan are one of the most important couples in daytime history.

Luke and Laura get all the credit, and they certainly were a cultural phenom, but Rick/Leslie/Monica/Alan was a story engine that drove the show up in the ratings in the classic soap sense. She was a pivotal recast!

Those first Quartermaines- David Lewis, Stuart, Jane, Anna Lee and Leslie were something special.

Edited January 13Jan 13 by titan1978

Just now, titan1978 said:

Damn. I hope she is at peace, somewhere riding her beloved horses, which she had not been able to do for a long time.

That's such a beautiful image. I'd like to believe that's what she is doing right now.