STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Leslie Charleson spent more than four decades on the ABC daytime drama "General Hospital" playing the cardiologist Monica Quartermaine. "General Hospital" is the longest-running scripted drama in the United States, and Charleson was one of its longest-tenured cast members. She died yesterday at age 79. NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has this appreciation.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Leslie Charleson broke into show business early in her life. Her first gig? - a car commercial with her mom. Here she is describing her experience on set during an interview with the New York City talk show "Something To Offer."
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LESLIE CHARLESON: And all I had to do was just to pretend to be asleep in the back seat, and they had to say how nice the car rode and everything like that. And I just remember my mother turning around and saying with a big smile, if you don't close your eyes Leslie, you're never going to see 8 years old. Do it right now.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: As she got older, Charleson got serious about her career. She told the talk show "Something To Offer" that as her acting ambitions grew, her mom warned her...
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CHARLESON: Don't. Think about it. And of course, if your mother says, don't do that, that's all you want to do.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Charleson appeared in a string of TV roles in the '60s and '70s before landing the role of Monica Quartermaine on "General Hospital" in 1977. During an appearance on Maurice Benard's podcast, Charleson said her first day on the soap coincided with the death of Elvis Presley.
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CHARLESON: I remember tears coming down my cheeks as I was driving for the first time to the studio.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: To make matters worse, she arrived to find the crew on strike. And as she told Benard, nobody was particularly nice to her in the beginning.
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CHARLESON: There was another Monica before me, and she had been rather, I guess, rudely fired. And so I came into a kind of hostile environment.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: But she nailed her role as Monica Quartermaine, a razor-sharp cardiologist with an embattled personal life full of marriage, divorce, heartbreak and affairs.
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STUART DAMON: (As Alan Quartermaine) Well, I'm very pleased to see that you're showing some sense, Monica.
CHARLESON: (As Monica Quartermaine) About what?
DAMON: (As Alan Quartermaine) About not moving out and that (ph) you and Alan Jr. are still here.
CHARLESON: (As Monica Quartermaine) The hell we are. I am now leaving for the gatehouse with my son.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In her more than four decades in the role, Charleson played Quartermaine as she undergoes many obstacles, including a breast cancer diagnosis.
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CHARLESON: (As Monica Quartermaine) I also have a career. I have a family. I seem to be, like, third on the list of priorities. I mean, who said you could do it all?
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) A man.
CHARLESON: (As Monica Quartermaine, laughing) Right.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Charleson earned four daytime Emmy nominations for "General Hospital." She also appeared on shows like "Dharma & Greg" and NBC's "Friends." She died on January 12 after a long illness. In a statement to NPR, close friend and entertainment journalist Rosemary Rossi called Charleson a soap opera icon. She said that, quote, "her arms and heart were always open. Everyone who was ever in her orbit felt that."
Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
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