Singer/actress Kaye Stevens, a longtime resident and commercial champion of Margate, Florida, died Wednesday at the Villages Hospital, north of Orlando. She was 79.
Stevens had been battling breast cancer and blood clots, according to Gerry Schweitzer, a close friend.
Stevens is credited with helping to put Margate on the map. The community's developer, Jack Marquesee, hired her to do the first commercials for Margate in the mid-'50s. She went above and beyond, often mentioning the town during her TV appearances. She once quipped on Johnny Carson's THE TONIGHT SHOW that the entrance and exit signs for Margate are back to back.
As a token of appreciation, the city named a park for her at the corner of Copans Road and State Road 7. Stevens lived in the west Broward community until 2004, when she moved to Summerfield, north of Orlando.
From 1974 to 1979, she played Jeri Clayton on DAYS OF OUR LIVES. Jeri sang at Doug's Place (pictured above with Bill Hayes) and was Trish's mother. After an affair with Larry Atwood, Jeri tried to commit suicide but Marlena saved her, and then Jeri left town.
She appeared in guest roles on many series, inlcluding CHIPS, POLICE WOMAN and B.L. STRYKER.
A TV game show regular, she appeared on Hollywood Squares; Tattle Tales; Show Offs; To Tell the Truth; Celebrity Sweepstakes; Match Game; $25,000 Pyramid; The Price is Right and Password.
Since 1994, he was a regular guest on Rev. Robert Schuller's famed HOUR OF POWER television show.
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Kaye was very, very talented as a singer, dancer, ensemble player and actor ... and she had a sense of humor bar none! I had no idea that she was an alcoholic or that she had died in 2011. When you had Kaye Stevens on your team, there was little chance of failure. RIP, Baby
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