Elaine Weston, actress, writer, and producer who has appeared on Broadway, Be smart, Swat He died and wrote songs for a pair of Lesley Gore’s comeback albums. She was 87 years old.
Weston died May 28 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said her friend, producer and manager Susan Zachary. Hollywood Reporter.
The New York native portrayed Robin Fletcher on CBS. The guiding light In 1963-1964, Carol Pearson and Karen Gregory on NBC Another world In 1964-1965 and Susan Thurston on CBS. The young and the restless In 1978-80.
She wrote for the CBS soap Capitol In 1986, he was then appointed by Guidance light Executive producer John Conboy was hired in 2003 to serve as co-head writer on that daytime drama. “I like to think of every day as a little movie,” she said in an interview with the magazine. Soap opera summary.
Weston shared the WGA award for her work and remained in the job for nearly two years before being replaced by David Krezman.
Ellen Ruth Weinstein, the daughter of a teacher, was born in New York on April 19, 1939. She said that when she was a child, she dreamed that she was a twin.
“One was always the beloved, beloved star,” she explained in a 1968 interview. “The other was the poor soul, the nebbish.” “Show business always seems untouchable, like Cinderella. But I also always instinctively felt there was something subversive in it and sensed an imminent danger in craving it.”
She attended High School for the Performing Arts, Hofstra University, New York University, and Hunter College, and in 1960 she arrived on Broadway as an understudy in drama. Games in the atticStarring Jason Robards Jr. and Maureen Stapleton and directed by Arthur Penn.
The following year, the doe-eyed Weston was the sister of Sigmund Freud (portrayed by Stephen Hill) in A distant country In 1962, she replaced Betsy von Furstenberg in the cast of the long-running comedy Jean Kerr. Mary, MaryStarring Barbara Bel Geddes.
Weston appeared as Dr. Steele, a sexy Control chemist who also works as a showgirl, in the third season (1967–1968) of the NBC show. Be smart She recurred as Betty Harrelson, wife of Steve Forrest’s Lt. “Hondo” Harrelson, in the first season of the ABC series. Swat In 1975.
Her television resume also included stops Run for your life, NYPD, Bonanza, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, Manix, fascinated (like Countess Piranha), Hawkins, Harry O, Barnaby Jones, The Bob Newhart Show, cannon, Baretta and Wonder Woman.
As a lyricist, Weston wrote seven songs with Gore on the singer’s 1972 album “It’s My Party,” Somewhere else now – her first LP in five years – and all the tunes for her next album in 1975, Love me by nameproduced by Quincy Jones.
“Together they would write 60 great original songs,” Trevor Tolliver wrote in his 2015 book. You Don’t Own Me: The Life and Times of Lesley Gore. “The combination of Leslie’s musical knowledge and Elaine’s genius as a wordsmith was genius.”
Weston went to law school later in life and worked at CBS in business affairs. Her first television film was sold and produced, and her credits as a writer and/or producer include the 1999 films And the beat goes on: the story of Sonny and Cher For ABC.
Survivors include her son, John Weston, a sound designer. She was married to music engineer Ami Hadani (co-founder of Los Angeles recording studio TTG) and composer Marvin Laird. Both marriages ended in divorce.
In a statement, her friends described her as “a rare person with skill in using both the right and left hemispheres of her brain… She was as adept at presenting legal briefs as she was at handling a knitting needle.”
“She was our counselor who offered advice, wisdom, compassion and care in equal measure – especially when we needed an ear, a shoulder and a true confidant most. She was more than just a loyal friend – she was a fierce advocate for each and every one of us.
“She took excellent care of herself, always dressed beautifully, had perfect makeup and more. To the end, she was still dancing and taking new lessons; the last of which was a pottery class taught by a dear friend, which ended a month before her death.”
