Leslie Charleson

Infobox Actor
bgcolour=
name =Leslie Charleson
caption | Early image of Alan Quartermaine and Monica Bard, one of the longest running supercouples on "General Hospital"
imagesize =
birthdate =birth date and age|1945|02|22
location = Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. Flagicon|USA
birthname =
spouse = Bill Demms, 1 April 1988 - 1991
(divorced)
notable role = Monica Quartermaine on "General Hospital"
emmyawards = Nominated: Outstanding Lead Actress
1980, 1982, 1983, 1995, "General Hospital"

Leslie Charleson (born February 22, 1945 in Kansas City, Missouri) is an American actress most famous for her work in daytime television.

Career

Her career began on short-lived soap "A Flame in the Wind" in 1964. She then moved to "As the World Turns" as Alice Whipple, but when she learned of the length of the contract she was supposed to sign, she left almost immediately.fact|date=July 2007 In 1967 she was an original cast member of "Love is a Many Splendored Thing". She played Iris Donnelly Garrison and was a part of a highly popular love trianglefact|date=July 2007 with David Birney and Donna Mills. She left the show in 1970.

In the 1970s Leslie gave Ron Howard his first on-stage kiss in an episode of Happy Days.

The next seven years brought guest-starring roles in several primetime series. In 1977 she was asked to join the soap "General Hospital", which by that time was near the bottom of the ratings and months away from cancellation.fact|date=July 2007 Charleson replaced Patsy Rahn as the high-strung Monica Webber, a doctor caught between her husband Jeff Webber and his back-from-the-dead brother, her true love Rick Webber.fact|date=July 2007 Charleson's first day was, according to her, nightmarish, for a number of reasons.fact|date=July 2007 When she was a teenager, she was president of a local Elvis Presley fan club and he had died the day before she started at "GH". She had to take her own clothes to work and do her own makeup because of a hair and wardrobe strike at ABC. Finally, "GH"'s producers had not informed the cast or crew of Rahn's dismissal.fact|date=July 2007 She had to break the news to people who were not thrilled to learn of the change.

In spite of these pressures, Charleson was accepted backstage and was a big hit with viewers,fact|date=July 2007 especially when Monica entered into an initially loveless marriage with roguish millionaire Alan Quartermaine, played by Stuart Damon. The love/hate relationship between the two, all while Monica fought to be with Rick Webber, electrified viewers and was one of the stories which helped propel the show towards #1 in the ratings. The Webbers were eventually phased out, but Monica and Alan remained, through a series of affairs, divorces and remarriages.

In 1990, Gloria Monty, who had created the Quartermaine family while producing "GH", returned and attempted to push them off of the show because she felt they were "old hat".fact|date=July 2007 She planned to replace them with the Eckert family. Angry viewer response and falling ratings convinced Monty to change course.fact|date=July 2007 Charleson said she felt it was poetic justice that the last few Eckerts had to film nearly all their scenes in the Quartermaine living room.fact|date=July 2007 In 1994, Charleson was given some of the best dramatic material of her career, as Monica faced a long battle with breast cancer. Charleson was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for that year's performances. As of July 2007, Charleson remains on "GH", but due to the extremely limited role ABC Daytime now has for actors over 40, she has moonlighted on such series as "Friends" and "Dharma & Greg". In February 2007, she protested the firing of her on-screen husband Damon, telling the press that she was not happy with the decisions of the producers and that all the actors on the show over 40 were worried about their own fate. [cite news | title="General Hospital Heartbreak" | date=2007-02-13 | publisher= "Soap Opera Weekly"| pages = 1-2 ]

Personal life

Charleson is a trained and award-winning equestrian. She married Bill Demms in 1988. They divorced in 1991.

Roles

* "The Return of the Muskrats" (2006)
* "Friends" (2004)
* "General Hospital" (Dr. Monica Bard Webber Quartermaine #2 - 1977- Present)
* "Dharma & Greg" (2001)
* "Port Charles" (Dr. Monica Bard Webber Quartermaine #2 - 1997-2000)
* "" (1997)
* "Woman on the Ledge" (1993)
* "Greatest Rescues of Emergency!" (1978)
* "The Rockford Files" (1977)
* "The Streets of San Francisco" (2 episodes: 1974-1976)
* "Barnaby Jones"
* "Cannon" (3 episodes, 1972-1975)
* "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner" (1975)
* "Happy Days" (1975)
* "Marcus Welby, M.D." (2 episodes, 1972-1973)
* "The F.B.I." (1973)
* "The Day of the Dolphin" (1973)
* "Emergency!" (1972)
* "Adam-12" (1972)
* "Mannix" (1970)
* "Love is a Many Splendored Thing" (Iris Donnelly Garrison #1 - 1967-1970)(original cast)
* "As the World Turns" (Alice Whipple #2 - 1966)
* "A Flame in the Wind"/"A Time for Us" (Pam - 1965)

References

External links

* [http://www.lesliecharleson.net/index.html Official page]
*imdb|0153184