Margaret DePriest, an actress-turned-writer for soap operas including General Hospital, Days of Our Lives and All My Children, has passed away. She was 94.
Videos by Suggest
According to The Hollywood Reporter, DePriest died from natural causes on Sept. 29. Her daughter, Sara Kimbell, confirmed the news.
Born in 1931, Margaret DePriest began acting in the late 1950s. She appeared as Abby Cameron on the crime drama soap opera The Edge of Night from 1965 to 1966, and as social worker Mrs. Berger on The Doctors.
Along with her acting credentials, DePriest was a co-creator and co-head writer of CBS Daytime’s Where the Heart Is. She went on to write for General Hospital, Days of Our Lives, All My Children, One Life to Live, Sunset Beach, and Another World.
For her work, DePriest secured multiple Daytime Emmy Award nominations and a Writers Guild of America Award. She officially retired in 1999.
Margaret DePriest’s Daughter Speaks Out About Her Mother’s Passing
Speaking about her mother’s success over the years, Kimbell said the late actress/writer was “exacting and unafraid to challenge executives. “She favored strong female leads and layered storylines that tackled social changes, class, and identity.”
DePriest’s daughter also recalled how her mother moved her and the rest of their family to Los Angeles after writing scripts in New York. “Back then, there were no computers, fax, FedEx, or email,” Kimbell said. “Just typewriters, carbon paper, and ‘the overnight pouch.'”
Kimbell further shared, “My mom began every morning with The New York Times crossword – in pen. She was a lifelong voracious reader, a lover of poetry (especially Seamus Heaney) and literature, and a lifelong seeker of knowledge. She read the Bible and the Quran not for faith, but as literature. She loved architecture, art, history, flowers – she had a great green thumb – antiques, and beauty in all forms.”
DePriest is survived by her daughter, as well as son Jake, son-in-law Wayne, and grandchildren Eli and Chaya.