There will be one startling omission from Palmer Cortlandt's upcoming funeral. When "the good guy who made good" Pete Cooney made his premier in Pine Valley, there was a dark figure by his side: mysterious house-maid, Myra Murdoch.Residents of the gothic Cortlandt Estate were valid to think that something was awry. Myra was not just the help; she was Palmer's mother-in-law. She posed as a house servant to keep an eye on her granddaughter, Nina, after Palmer disavowed the existence of her mother, Myra's daughter Daisy Murdoch. Myra was the closest thing to conscious for the Electronics Executive.
The role of Myra was played by Elizabeth Lawrence from 1979-1991. Lawrence passed on in 2000. Since Lawrence was no longer on the canvas, Myra's fate was never addressed onscreen.
Check out this classic Palmer/Myra moment (time 2:10):
RIP Ms. Lawrence. Good help is always so hard to find.
Is Ronald Drake (Jasper) still alive?
ReplyDeleteEric, I cannot find any information on Mr. Drake. He aired on AMC until 1992.
ReplyDeleteYeah I know that's so weird. Not one website has his bithdate and if there is a death date.
ReplyDeleteI've been watching Elizabeth Lawrence in re-runs of "The Doctors" on Retro as Virginia Dancy, a role she played from 1976-1978. Her character was a gentle lady, housekeeper to wealthy Mona Croft (basically that show's Phoebe Tyler Wallingford), and mother to some troubled children. Basically, her character was similar to Mona Kane in that one of her children (Nola) wanted the good life, her husband abandoned her (later came back and they quickly reconciled), and she became surrogate mother to several of the show's other characters, including the motherless Tom Carroll who sadly died in the same fire that took Virginia's life. Following her exit from "All My Children" (she was simply just tired of opening the front door and telling off Palmer), Elizabeth had some high profile movie roles (including "The Crucible") and was on several soaps, most notably "Guiding Light" as the very feisty Bess Lowell, Brandon Spaulding's former secretary who knew the truth about the contract between Brandon and Jenna Bradshaw's father that Jenna sued Spaulding over. Bess suffered a stroke during her year on the show, and much footage showed her trying to recover from that, aided by Eleni Cooper. Bess's last words to Alan Michael Spaulding have stuck in my mind as she flirted with the much younger man, "If you had been around in my day, we would have made history". Multi-nominated for Emmy's as Myra, Elizabeth deserved another nomination for this role. She remains one of my favorite soap character actresses to this day!
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