DAYS/GH: RIP Denise Alexander

[janea4old]

https://x.com/GenieFrancis/status/1921259296840364222

[John]

I hope GH gives Lesley an on screen memorial

I'd love to have Scott, Robert, Holly, Rose Kelly, Mike Webber, Blackie Parish  & Claudia Phillips return for the episodes

Edited yesterday at 03:44 AM by John

[Bright Eyes]

One of the soap greats. I wish I had a stronger connection to her, but her major soap stints passed me by. However, the way veteran watchers have described watching her back in the day makes me yearn for the glory days of soap.

As a DAYS fan first, her time on the show is basically an enigma. As years have passed as a member of this board, previous and current members have talked in fondness about her obviously major story with Dickie and David's death, but even more interestingly, her romance/friendship with Bill, and the fascinating tangled tale of her encounter in the park with Eric Peters. It's such a shame DAYS never swayed her back home where she belonged. Though I am more than thankful RC and JG didn't get their grubby paws on her, especially with the horrible example of how they saw fit to write Marie and Liz's relationship with all the nuance and sophistication of a pigpen. 

SSH's remembrance of her was wonderful to read, so thank you to whoever posted.

Could be cool too if any of her Clear Horizon material popped up. Does anything of that show exist?

[Paul Raven]

Denise's daytime/soap resume courtesy of Slick Jones' Soap Hoppers thread

THE CLEAR HORIZON         Lois Adams       1960

BEN JERROD                        Emily Sanders     1963

GENERAL HOSPITAL          Lorna Hill            May 1965

DAYS OF OUR LIVES           Susan Hunter Martin Peters    1966-73

GENERAL HOSPITAL      Dr.  Lesley Sullivan Williams Faulkner Webber Webber   1973-84; 1996-09;(occasional); 2013; 2017; 2019; 2021

ABC AFTERNOON  PLAYBREAK    "The Gift of Terror"    Laura    4/5/1973

HOTEL                                 Gail McClain         1984

ANOTHER WORLD             Mary Callahan McKinnon (LaSalle) McKinnon   1986-89

SUNSET BEACH                 Sister Beatrice         1997-98

PORT CHARLES Dr. Lesley Williams Faulkner Webber 1999

[DRW50]

A very very brief excerpt from a CBS special is up. That's it.

@jam6242 Thank you for the lovely Susan article. I adore that photo of her with Denise - such strong yet different personalities on display. 

I remember seeing that photo of Denise, Bill and Susan on soap magazines like Afternoon TV. I wonder if they took it or if DAYS did.

[yrfan1983]

Did Denise give any interviews where she talked about her first few years on GH... '73-75?

I wonder if she had any regrets leaving Days for GH, as from what I've read, the show was in the dumps writing-wise, so am thinking she didn't have great story?

Any Leslie story highlights I've seen always start with '76, after Gloria Monty took charge.

[titan1978]

She has a very comprehensive We Love Soaps interview where she does go in depth a little about it. One of the things I remember is that she said the GH studio and equipment was very dated compared to what they were using at DAYS. They didn’t really have a fully fleshed out character for her, and she didn’t feel settled until they added the Laura element- first as a dead baby then realizing she was switched at birth.

Apparently Tom Donovan was the EP that got things moving in the right direction as far as both her character and the bts needs of the show. He also lured Leslie Charleston to play Monica, then was fired and Monty was brought on board to save the show or let it go out with some dignity.

Her character clearly was loved by Bill Bell. I am not a surprised at her never returning to DAYS, because the ties were so slim for her there compared to GH. What I wonder is if Bill Bell ever tried to hire her again for Y&R or B&B after she left GH.

Denise has said she left DAYS when he was focusing on other things besides Susan, and her contract had lapsed, that Bell needed time to figure out what to do with Susan moving forward and needed to concentrate on other characters and creating Y&R. ABC offered her a lot of money, and Betty Corday encouraged her to go. The people at DAYS then were apparently lovely people.

[yrfan1983]

Thanks. Well, if things were shaky in the beginning for her, at least she had that nice paycheck.

[DRW50]

I assume not as we would have probably heard, but she could have been a good fit. I could see her being a good Leslie Brooks recast, although by that point the show had fully moved on from Leslie. 

I'm not sure who she could have been on B&B, although I could see her playing yet another Beth Logan recast.

[Contessa Donatella]

I just start to laugh thinking about the interview where Leslie related its being Tom Donovan who talked her into doing GH & then, once she was settled in & looked around for him, he had JUST vanished!! 

[Liberty City]

I don't know if I could have seen that from her, honestly. But I feel like, outside of GH and her original DAYS stint, American daytime really didn't pay much attention to her, even though they should have.

[DRW50]

I think she would have been fine, although Beth was a thankless part.

She probably was seen as aging out of the genre after AW. 

I forgot she was on Sunset Beach. 

[Liberty City]

To me, Judith McConnell (Sophia, SB) was more poised for Beth than anyone else.

Yes, she was, as Sister Beatrice.