Actress Denise Alexander, best known for roles on General Hospital and Days of our Lives, has died at the age of 85, General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini wrote in a post shared on his X account on Friday (May 9).
"I am so very sorry to hear of Denise Alexander’s passing. She broke barriers on-screen and off, portraying Dr. Lesley Webber - one of the first female doctors on Daytime Television - for nearly five decades," Valentini wrote. "It meant so much to have her reprise her role in recent years and I am honored to have had the opportunity to work with her. On behalf of the entire General Hospital family, I extend my heartfelt sympathies to her family, friends, and longtime fans. May she rest in peace."
Alexander made her television debut on The Ford Theater Hour in 1949 and her first feature film appearance in Crime in the Streets in 1956, the same year she was cast as Susan Hunter Martin on Days of Our Lives, a role she continued for seven years. The actress left Days of Our Lives in 1973 and was immediately case as Lesley Webber on General Hospital, a role she received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for in 1976.
Alexander appeared as Webber on General Hospital on and off for nearly 50 years, with her character having been killed in 1984, but resurrected in 1996 and her final appearance coming in 2021.
“I was sad when I left the show,” Alexander told We Love Soaps in 2010. “When you have played a character that long and had fun with it, you can feel the fan’s sorrow.”
“I missed the character and it’s a fun thing for me she came back to life. It’s a character I know, and there’s still a few people I know there," she added at the time.
Alexander's cause of death wasn't revealed as of Sunday (May 11) morning.