Jennifer Harmon, a television and Broadway actor known for her role on “One Life to Live,” has died. She was 82.
Harmon joined “One Life to Live” in 1976 to play Cathy Craig, the show’s first longtime villain. The fifth and final actor portraying the character, she earned a Daytime Emmy nomination for lead actress in a drama series for the role in 1978.
The soap star died Saturday, her family announced. No cause of death was provided.
A longtime New York resident, Harmon began her acting career on stage. She made her Broadway debut in a revival of Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s “You Can’t Take It With You” in 1965 at the Lyceum Theatre. She appeared in several other Broadway shows before 1970 as a member of the APA-Phoenix Repertory, including revivals of Henrik Ibsen’s “The Wild Duck” and Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard.”
Her first big break on television came in 1974 as part of the main cast of “How to Survive a Marriage.” Harmon played Chris Kirby — tackling storylines involving divorce, child custody battles and alcoholism — for the entirety of the show’s two-year run.
She then took over the role of Cathy Craig on “One Life to Live” from Dorrie Kavanaugh. The character had previously been portrayed by Catherine Burns, Amy Levitt and Jane Alice Brandon. Harmon left the soap in 1978, but returned in the early 1990s to play a lawyer representing Cathy’s rival Viki Lord.
Born Dec. 3, 1943, in Pasadena, Harmon was raised in New Orleans and attended the University of Mississippi and the University of Michigan before her acting career took her to New York, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
Her 50-year career included 21 Broadway shows, such as “Blithe Spirit,” “The Glass Menagerie,” “The School for Scandal” and “Other Desert Cities.” She understudied or performed alongside actors such as Stockard Channing, Judi Dench, Jessica Lange and Blythe Danner.
Harmon’s television credits also included appearances on “Dallas,” “St. Elsewhere,” “Guiding Light,” “Another World,” “Law & Order” and “The Good Wife.”
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