Monday, May 13, 2013

Dr. Joyce Brothers Dead at 85

Lynn Benisch (Meredith Lord) and Dr. Joyce Brothers in ONE LIFE
TO LIVE in 1972.
Joyce Brothers, who pioneered the television advice show and was called the mother of media psychology, has died, her daughter said Monday. She was 85.

"She passed away peacefully and in her home ... with her family all around her," Lisa Brothers Arbisser said.

Brothers became a television star as a game show contestant, a sports interviewer, then as a psychologist answering audience questions about relationships and other emotional subjects.

She grew her fame as a frequent guest on television talk shows and as an advice columnist for Good Housekeeping magazine for four decades and for newspapers throughout the United States.

She also made many cameo appearances parodying herself on television sitcoms and in movies.

Dispensing advice on public airwaves didn't please all of her colleagues. Some members of the American Psychological Association asked early in her media career that her membership be revoked because they didn't think dispensing advice outside a one-on-one setting was appropriate.

Media psychology became part of the organization's structure in 1986, according to the APA website.

Born Joyce Diane Bauer, she married Milton Brothers in 1949, according to a biography provided by her family. He died in 1989.

Brothers became a practicing psychologist in 1958, five years years after she got her masters at Columbia University.

In 1958, she was the host of a self-titled show on local television that became so popular NBC syndicated the program nationally.

In 1972, Brothers appeared on ABC daytime soap opera ONE LIFE TO LIVE.

"I've never appeared in a serial before," Brothers said at the time. "Not only is this an exciting experience for me personally, but with the popularity daytime dramas have today, they are a perfect vehicle for informing the public about important issues. I'm so glad Doris Quinlan, producer of ONE LIFE TO LIVE, has asked me to take the part."

Dr. Brothers helped the residents of Llanview starting with Meredith Lord.

In 1981 she appeared on AS THE WORLD TURNS as an old friend of Bob Hughes and counseled Sofia against using angel dust.

She also appeared on SANTA BARBARA in 1989 and MELROSE PLACE in 1995.

Brothers is survived by her sister, Elaine Goldsmith; her daughter; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

The family didn't disclose the cause of her death, which happened in Fort Lee, New Jersey.

 Her funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at Riverside Memorial Chapel in New York.

1 comment:

  1. I remember this OLTL episode with Dr. Joyce compassionately counseling Meredith when I was a high school student during the early 1970s.

    Rest In Peace, Dr. Joyce!

    Brian :-|

    ReplyDelete