Soap Opera Legend Dead at 79

The actor who played Monica Quartermaine on General Hospital for nearly 50 years died Sunday at age 79. Leslie Charleson, who joined the soap opera in 1977, hadn't appeared since December 2023 amid ongoing health struggles, Variety reports. She was hospitalized last week after a fall. "Just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew," said GH executive producer Frank Valentini in a statement. "I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set." Charleson had been a cast member longer than anyone else on the soap, People reports.

Charleson, a Kansas City native, started working on daytime TV in 1964 at age 19 with a role on ABC's A Flame in the Wind. She moved on to other soaps and also guest-starred on 1970s primetime shows including The Rockford Files, Marcus Welby MD, and Happy Days, in which she was Ron Howard's first on-screen kiss. After joining GH, she continued guest-starring in other shows and also made film appearances. She was nominated for a best leading actress Daytime Emmy four times over the course of her career, and she once said she'd had an "amazing time" playing the character of Monica, whose storylines included love triangles, getting shot, surviving breast cancer, losing children, and family drama. (More General Hospital stories.)