Rebecca Balding, the American actor best known for her appearances on ‘Charmed’ and ‘Soap’ died on Monday, in Park City. She was 73.
Balding appeared opposite Billy Crystal on ‘Soap’ and played the newspaper boss to Alyssa Milano on ‘Charmed’. Her husband, writer-director-producer James L. Conway, announced she was battling ovarian cancer.
The actor starred in horror films like ‘The Silent Scream’ and ‘The Boogens’. The latter was directed by Conway and Balding met him during her first audition. He was also the producer on ‘Charmed’ the series where Balding played Elise Rothman, editor in chief of the paper where Milano’s character worked as the advice columnist. Balding and Conway were married for 41 years.
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Balding was born on September 21, 1948, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and she attended the University of Kansas where she studied acting. Balding then worked in local theatre circuits in Chicago before going to Hollywood.
‘Lou Grant’, the 1977 CBS show, was one of her first gigs there, and Balding played reporter Carla Mardigian in the first three episodes. She then appeared in the 1971 comedy ‘Makin’ It’.
Balding appeared in the 1977 holiday telefilm ‘The Gathering’ as well as its follow-up.
She’s been on several television shows since then, like ‘MacGyver’ and ‘Melrose Place’. However, her reputation as a character actor comes from the role in ‘Soap’ where she plays Carol David, an attorney who makes repeated attempts to and eventually succeeds in seducing Crystal’s gay character.
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She gets pregnant with the character’s child and he agrees to marry her. However, David then runs off to join the rodeo, leaving the male character to raise the child alone. Balding’s character would often appear to make the protagonist’s life hell before disappearing from the show completely.
Apart from her husband, she is survived by daughters Sarah and Kathleen, and their granddaughters.
