Former General Hospital star Leslie Charleson has died at age 79.
General Hospital executive producer Frank Valentini announced Charleson’s death via the show’s official Instagram account on Sunday, January 12.
“It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” he wrote. “Her enduring legacy has spanned nearly 50 years on General Hospital alone and, just as Monica was the heart of the Quartermaines, Leslie was a beloved matriarch of the entire cast and crew.”
Alongside the message, Valentini shared a photo of the four-time Daytime Emmy nominee smiling. “I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set,” he continued. “On behalf of everyone at General Hospital, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”
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Charleson began playing the role of Monica Quartermaine on the soap opera in 1977, making her the longest-running cast member on General Hospital.
“I started the show the day Elvis Presley died, and being such a huge fan, I of course was very upset driving to the studios, and then getting there I was told that they hoped I had brought my own wardrobe and makeup because there was a strike going on — and that was before I even got in the building,” Charleson recalled to Soap Opera Digest in 2022.
“Then I got in the building and I realized that no one really liked me, because the girl playing Monica before me was very rudely fired,” Charleson continued, referring to Patsy Rahn, whom she replaced.
After 30 years on the show, Charleson appeared on General Hospital in a recurring status in 2010. Charleson, who has had health ups and downs, had returned to the show a few times — most recently appearing in a wheelchair in December 2023.
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While speaking with Soap Opera Digest in 2016, Charleson — who was married to Bill Demms from 1988 to 1991 — reflected on her General Hospital legacy.
“It has been quite a long run,” she said at the time. “I am just so pleased because, unlike some of the actors that have come and gone, and gone on to other soaps or other things, this has really been my home since I started here, way back then, hundreds of years ago. I am very grateful to keep working at something that I love to do, and I am certainly grateful that it has endured.”
