Celebrity News April 10, 2023
Elizabeth Hubbard, Daytime Legend for Her Work on 'The Doctors,' 'As the World Turns,' Dies at 89
Elizabeth Hubbard, a legendary soap actor with two Emmys to her name, died Saturday at 89.
Her son, Jeremy Bennett, confirmed to THR that Hubbard died of cancer at her Roxbury, Connecticut, home.
Bennett wrote on Facebook, "I’m sorry to say with a broken heart mi mum passed over the weekend. Thank you for being an unmovable rock that guided me through life. I will try to honour your memory for as long as I live.”
Born December 22, 1933, in New York City, she was the daughter and namesake of a woman who pioneered homeopathic medicines. Elizabeth Wright Hubbard had become one of the very first women to earn a medical degree from Columbia.
Hubbard attended Radcliffe and began a career she thought would be primarily on the stage, taking her first Broadway bows in the original production of "Threepenny Opera" in 1955.
She appeared on Broadway another 13 times, most recently in 1983's "Dance a Little Closer."
Hubbard took her first steps toward becoming of the soaps' most high-profile and respected actors with brief stints on "Guiding Light" in 1962 and "The Edge of Night" the following year.
From 1964-1969, 1970-1978, and 1981-1982, she was Althea Davis on "The Doctors." Hubbard's character was one half of a fan-favorite couple, opposite the late Gerald Gordon as Dr. Nick Bellini.
She was Estelle Chadwick from 1983-1984 on "One Life to Live," and went on to portray iconic businesswoman Lucinda Walsh on CBS' "As the World Turns" from 1984-2010. Her tough character's cancer battle in 2005 was a highlight of her tenure on the series.
She was nominated for an incredible 11 Daytime Emmys, becoming the first-ever Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winner when she was honored for her work on "The Doctors" in 1974. She won a second Emmy as the wife of President Woodrow Wilson in the 1976 TV movie "First Ladies Diaries: Edith Wilson" and had also appeared in the digital series "Anacostia" (2016).
Hubbard's film work included "I Never Sang for My Father" (1970), "The Bell Jar" (1979), "Ordinary People" (1980), and "Center Stage" (2000).