Monday, February 13, 2012

Zina Bethune Dead at 66 In Hit and Run While Helping Injured Animal

Authorities are searching for suspects after a former LOVE OF LIFE actress and dancer was killed in a hit-and-run accident in Griffith Park.

Zina Feeley, 66, who went by her maiden name Zina Bethune, died shortly after midnight Sunday while trying to help an injured animal along Forest Lawn Drive.

Bethune was driving westbound on Forest Lawn Drive when she stopped and parked her car along the road. Officials said she walked toward the animal, which was on the eastbound lanes, and she was struck by a car. She was later hit by a second vehicle.

Bethune was a noted ballet dancer in her youth and later acted in film and TV, including several soap operas. She played Barbara Sterling on LOVE OF LIFE, Robin Lang Holden on GUIDING LIGHT, Priscilla MacIntosh on SANTA BARBARA, and Lisha Steele on YOUNG DOCTOR MALONE.

"I played the same character from the time I was a baby right on to adulthood," Bethune once said. "Every time I was on a soap, I was a daughter upset by a parent getting remarried."

Her role as Gail Lucas, the student nurse on the 1960s primetime soap, THE DOCTORS AND THE NURSES, may have been her most famous. After that she began to focus on her first love, dance.

Below is a 1963 appearance on THE JUDY GARLAND SHOW while she was starring on THE NURSES:



In later years, Bethune focused her life on teaching dance and acting to children with disabilities.

"She's brought light and joy to so many people through her art, through her dancing, through the program for these beautiful children," said friend Paula Woodley. "Think of the lives that she has made bright and now hers is gone."

Authorities are looking for a white car that left the scene of the accident.

Anyone with information was asked to contact the Los Angeles Police Department at (877) LAPD-24-7.

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6 comments:

  1. I am heartbroken to hear this news. I remember Zina Bethune not only from her 'Love of Life' days but also in the 1960 film 'Sunrise at Campobello' in which she played the daughter of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt.

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  2. God Rest Your Beautiful Soul, Zina--Bless You!

    Brian :-)

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  3. RIP so sad, cant believe someone would do this. Condolences to the family and friends, God be with you all. Sad day in the soap world as well. A good person to the end.

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  4. RIP Zina. I loved dancing with her. She was so nice to my mom and I. I only danced with her once, but it is something I will never forget.

    ~Alyssa~

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