Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Doug Stevenson Dead at 56, SEARCH FOR TOMORROW's Lee Sentell

Actor Douglas Stevenson, who played Lee Sentell on SEARCH FOR TOMORROW, from 1979 to 1982 has died at age 56.

SEARCH fans will remember that Lee was the younger cousin of Travis, the popular her of the show during that time. Lee was married to Cissie Mitchell Sentell, played by Patsy Pease. There was a lot of baby drama around little Roger Lee at the time.

Stevenson appeared on the cover of Soap Opera Digest in September 1980 with co-star Marcia McCabe with the headline "Daytime's Sexy Southerner". Sunny fell in love with Lee but he eventually left town with Cissie.

SEARCH was his first major TV role after graduating from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1976. He came to SEARCH around the same time as Kevin Bacon with an extensive theater background.

Steveson's film roles included Breaker! Breaker! and The Prowler. He also guest starred on primetime series such as MURDER, SHE WROTE and MONSTER SQUAD.

Stevonson was born on July 18, 1955 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He was once married to THE ADDAMS FAMILY and AS THE WORLD TURNS star Lisa Loring.

9 comments:

  1. This is very sad. He was so young. RIP.

    ReplyDelete
  2. RIP!

    My Mom and later me actually had this SOD Issue, until I had to dump them.

    ReplyDelete
  3. OMG--I loved watching Doug Stevenson as Lee on SFT. I did have a crush watching him on TV.

    Roger, was he ill for very long? RIP, Doug!

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
  4. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, that is such sad news. I loved Doug as Lee Sentell and was disappointed when he was written off Search.what did he die of?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I was sad, sorry and shocked to hear about the death of Doug Stevenson. He and I had a blast working together for 4 years on SFT and the memories will be in my heart forever! Our location shoot in Jamaica in particular was so much fun!![ 1981! Yikes!] He and I were also grand marshals at "THE ST. PAUL WINTER CARNIVAL", along with Willard Scott, and I met Doug's parents then. He was born and raised in Minnesota and all the local folk were so proud of their hometown boy!!
    The last time I saw him was in L.A about 10 years ago, and as always...it was so great to be with him . I send my love and sympathy to his daughter Mary ann, and ex wife Lisa Loring. He will be missed by so many friends who loved him. Marcia McCabe

    ReplyDelete
  7. Doug grew up in a reatively small suburb of Mpls called Mound, MN. He was my husband's best friend when they were kids. They had wonderful times boating on Lake Minnetonka, going to movies and just hanging out. Doug loved being a part of the high school plays - truly loved acting. Doug's death is very sad - my husband took it hard. We worried about Doug alot when he lost his sister, Betsy, to brain cancer. I'm not sure he ever recovered from that devasting loss. We pray that Doug is at peace - we'll miss him. Gerri P.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gerri, are you Pat's wife? I too was a very close friend of Doug's all through school even though I was in Minnetonka and he was in Mound. We stayed close for some time and then gradually lost touch. I was googling him to see if I could find him and found this. I am devastated. I didn't know about Betsy either. Would you please contact me at [email protected].. Thank you.. Susan

      Delete
  8. My deepest sympathies go out to Douglas Stevenson's family. Over the years I had tried to find info about Doug on the internet without much luck. I was so saddened to run across this very sad news. I was a huge fan of the "Lee and Sunny" storyline. I remember coming home from school just to watch SFT. I had a huge crush on Doug Stevenson. I had heard most of the footage of SFT had been destroyed by a fire. Not sure if this is true but from time to time I try to look up anything I can find and just recently found some on YouTube. To Marcia McCabe I just wanted to say you are a very classy lady and really appreciate you sharing your memories of Doug. Once again I just I send my condolences out to Doug's family. God Bless. Sandi B.

    ReplyDelete