Very sad news to report as we close out 2010 from Soap Opera Digest today. Soap opera superstar of the 60′s, 70′s, and 80′s, Jacqueline Courtney (pictured here in a scene from OLTL with Erika Slezak) who made Alice Frame a household word on NBC’s Another World has passed away. Apparently the reports say that Jacqueline passed away on December 20 of metastatic melanoma.
“Any letter that she wrote to people recently ended with, ‘Stay out of the sun. Wear sunscreen,’ ” her daughter, Jennifer, told Soap Opera Digest. “She was very healthy her whole life and then suddenly everything just started snowballing. She went really quickly. She had just turned 64, so she was still pretty young.”
Courtney was half of the supercouple of Alice and Steve Frame, opposite George Reinholt on Another World. Jackie played the role from 1964-1975, and again from 1984-1985. Big news happened for One Life to Live, when the show lured Courtney, after she was dismissed from AW over to Llanview, and Reinholt followed shortly thereafter to try to rekindle their magic on the ABC network. At OLTL, Courtney played Pat Ashley and later her evil twin, Maggie, and Reinholt played Tony Lord, Viki’s brother. Pat was also one time romantically involved with Bo Buchanan, who is still played today by Robert S. Woods. Courtney retired from acting in 1987.
Our thoughts and prayers are with Jacqueline’s family and friends as she was one of the most widely recognized heroine’s in the daytime soap opera medium.