Tony winner and One Life to Live favorite Patricia Elliott passed away in her Manhattan home on Sunday, November 20, after a battle with cancer, according to her niece, Sally Fay. Elliott was 77.
"Patricia Elliott was a great lady, a cherished performer and a great friend to so many. For more than two decades she delighted daytime audiences with her 'divine' talents on One Life to Live," ABC said in a statement. "Our deepest condolences to her family and loved ones."
Born July 21, 1938, in Gunnison, Colorado, Patricia Elliott was drawn to the theater all her life. As a child in Denver, Colorado, she was, by her own admission, a "constant show-off." After a brief stint working in a public relations office at Harvard, she headed for England, where she had been accepted at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts.
In 1973, Ms. Elliott made her Broadway debut as the Countess Charlotte in the critically acclaimed Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music. This appearance (her first musical and her first Broadway show) won her New York's triple crown -- the Tony Award, a Theater World Award, and a Drama Desk Award. Then came an equally dazzling performance in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Shadow Box, which earned her a second Tony nomination. Her other Broadway ventures include The Elephant Man, opposite David Bowie, and A Month of Sundays, opposite Jason Robards.
In 1987, the actress was cast as One Life to Live's Renee Divine Buchanan, a former madam turned society matron, and the frequent wife of feisty oil baron Asa Buchanan.
In addition to those triumphs, the actress headlined in extensive off-Broadway and repertory productions, tackling everything from Greek tragedy to French farce. She played Dorine in the Circle in the Square revival of Tartuffe (and won her second Drama Desk nomination), starred in Bunker Reveries and Misalliance at New York's Roundabout Theater, and sparkled as Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing at the American Shakespeare Festival. She won a Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for her performance in Noel Coward's Hay Fever at the Ahamson Theatre. She most recently starred in Durang! Durang!, Christopher Durang's satirical evening at the Manhattan Theatre Club.
She guest starred on numerous primetime television series, including Kate & Allie, Spenser: For Hire, St. Elsewhere, and Hill Street Blues. Her other television appearances included starring roles in Sometimes I Don't Like My Mother, The Ladies, The Cartier Heist, The Adams Chronicles, and Man Without a Country. In 1984, she was a regular on Empire, a situation comedy series satirizing corporate America.
Ms. Elliott also appeared in three feature films: Somebody Killed Her Husband, Natural Enemies, and Morning, Winter and Night.
Ms. Elliott served on the board of Plays for Living, an organization that produces inspirational plays performed at schools, shelters, prisons, churches, and corporations. She was also the chairperson for the Theatre World Awards Fund.
"So sad to hear Patricia Elliott has passed away," tweeted OLTL's former head writer, Ron Carlivati. "Such an honor to have written for Renee on #OLTL. She was divine!"
"So saddened to hear the passing of the glorious Patricia Elliott," shared Kassie DePaiva (ex-Blair, OLTL). "Such an earth angel. An amazing person!"
"RIP #PatriciaElliott what an honor to know and work with such an amazing woman," added Eddie Alderson (ex-Matthew Buchanan)
"As talented as she was kind, loving and charming," Michael Easton (ex-John McBain) shared on Facebook.
To read what Emmy winner Erika Slezak had to say on Elliott's passing, please click here.
In addition to her niece, Ms. Elliott is survived by an aunt, Claudine Walker, and several cousins.
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