Charleson is best known to audiences for her longtime role as Dr. Monica Quartermaine on ‘General Hospital’. Leslie Charleson, the beloved soap opera veteran who starred as Dr. Monica Quartermaine in 2,079 episodes of the long-running series General Hospital, has died at the age of 79.
![[Leslie Charleson was the longest-serving cast member on ‘General Hospital']](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/13/14/shutterstock_1624759486.jpg)
Charleson’s death was announced on Sunday (January 12) by executive producer Frank Valentini from the hit series’ official Instagram page. “It is with a heavy heart that I announce the passing of my dear friend and colleague, Leslie Charleson,” he wrote, alongside a picture of her headshot.
“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.”. Valentini continued: “I will miss our daily chats, her quick wit and incredible presence on set. On behalf of everyone at General Hospital, my heartfelt sympathy goes out to her loved ones during this difficult time.”.
Charleson starred in the ABC daytime soap as Monica, a cardiologist at the eponymous hospital — a role she had been playing since 1977 and for which she earned four Daytime Emmy nominations. She continued on the show until December 2023 when she was forced to exit the show for health reasons.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1945, Charleson grew up acting as a child and in high school before studying theater at upstate New York’s Bennett College. She landed her first on-screen role in NBC’s melodrama A Flame in the Wind in 1964. She was later cast in a 1966 episode of As the World Turns before she moved on to playing Iris Donnelly Garrison on CBS’s Love is a Many Splendored Thing. She appeared in 1,427 episodes from 1967 to 1973.
