Sunday, June 1, 2014

Lee Chamberlin Dead at 76

Lee Chamberlin four decade career included daytime
soaps All My Children and Loving.
Playwright and stage, television and film actress Lee Chamberlin died of cancer at 76 on May 25, 2014. Her death was confirmed by her family.

Her acting career began on the New York stage in a production of Amiri Baraka's "Slaveship." She was an original cast member of The Electric Company on PBS from 1971-73, along with Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman and Rita Moreno.

In 1973, she played Cordelia in the Shakespeare in the Park production of "King Lear" alongside James Earl Jones, Paul Sorvino, Rosalind Cash and Ellen Holly.

She co-starred with Bill Cosby and Sidney Poitier in two of the more popular film comedies of the 1970s, Uptown Saturday Night and Let's Do It Again. in the media, other than the "Blaxploitation" genre so popular at the time.

From 1982-1991 she played Angie's (Debbi Morgan) mother, Pat Baxter, on ABC daytime soap opera All My Children. She also made an appearance on Loving in 1995 as Pat.

Chamberlin other television credits included Lou Grant, The White Shadow, Diff'rent Strokes, NYPD Blue, Roots: The Next Generations and Touched By an Angel.

In 2010 she founded the Playwrights' Inn Project in France. The Playwrights' Inn Project developed works of diverse American playwrights, including women and people of color, traditionally underserved in the play development process.

She is survived by her father (Bernando LaPallo), sister (Nandra Gant), daughter (Erika Chamberlin), son (Matthew Chamberlin), and two grandchildren.

Watch a 1983 All My Children scene featuring Lee Chamberlin's Pat and Debbi Morgan's Angie below:



In the clip below, Pat counsels Kate Collins' Natalie on sexual assault:

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 1, 2014 at 4:00 PM

    Rest in peace.

    ReplyDelete
  2. UnknownJune 1, 2014 at 7:32 PM

    I've only seen her AMC work through clips, but she was wonderful as Pat, a voice of wisdom and strength who never seemed preachy. This was so important for Natalie's rape storyline, because viewers could trust Pat and understand what she was saying.

    I also love this clip of her, where she stands up to Jesse when he accuses her of taking Angie's side.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcPjyoJp6uo

    I sure wish we'd seen her in those last years of AMC. I wonder if perhaps Lee wasn't able to work.

    ReplyDelete
  3. David J. McRaeJune 1, 2014 at 10:36 PM

    R. I. P.

    Whatever became of Pat?

    ReplyDelete

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