And then there’s Jennifer Harmon, who rose to fame in her role in the beloved daytime soap opera One Life to Live. She’s 82. Her family said the actress died on May 9 in New York, completing a celebrated career on Broadway, on television and in daytime drama. Jennifer Harmon was so famous in the theatre and also on TV for her versatility that she is even better known for it.
Millions had followed her through the span of One Life to Live, and she had had a storied Broadway career with more than 21 stage productions in nearly five decades. Harmon was especially well-liked by soap opera lovers, most notably for playing Cathy Craig Lord in One Life to Live from 1976 to 1978.
She was the fifth actress to win a Daytime Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for starring in the role. Her management as a manipulative and widely polarising lady has made her one of television’s most memorable antagonists.
Reports have said one of her shows was the abduction of Viki Lord’s baby. It would become one of her biggest successes and best-known story lines. Harmon’s connection to the program further intensified when she was drafted to a new position on the show in the early 1990s and joined its cast.
More than One Life to Live, Harmon also appeared in soap opera shows and TV dramas such as How to Survive a Marriage, Guiding Light, Another World and Loving. She went to the best-rated shows in particular, and was the guest star in shows like Dallas, Law & Order, Oz, Rescue Me and The Good Wife.
Her influence in television was not confined to television alone. Harmon played on Broadway in 1965 in a revival of You Can’t Take It With You, and also appeared as the stars in prize-winning productions like The Glass Menagerie, Barefoot in the Park, Blithe Spirit, The Little Foxes and The Sisters Rosensweig.
During her stardom onstage, she both teamed up and understudied superstars like Judi Dench, Jessica Lange and Stockard Channing. Born in Pasadena, California, in 1943, Harmon grew up in New Orleans, attended the University of Mississippi and the University of Michigan and then came to New York City to study acting.
She is known for her love of the theatre and television. Fans and other actresses are dissecting her, and some are reminding you that she is a star and big screen presence and well educated in theatre. So far:
The cause of death is not known publicly.
