[
Jennifer Leak, a soap opera star best known for her roles in The Young and the Restless and Another World, has died. She was 76.
Her ex-husband and Yours, Mine and Ours co-star, Tim Matheson, announced the news of her death in a Facebook post.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of Jennifer Leak’s passing. She wasn’t just my screen sister in Yours, Mine and Ours, but also my beloved first wife,” he wrote. “Jennifer was a remarkable woman, strong, lovely, and incredibly talented.”
The duo played step-siblings in the 1968 family comedy, which also stars Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. They were married from 1968 to 1971.
Leak died at her home in Jupiter, Florida on Monday, March 18, according to her obituary. She had been battling a rare neurological disease called progressive supranuclear palsy for the last seven years.
“Her courage and bravery tried in vain to fight the disease,” James D’Auria, her husband of 47 years, said in the obituary, adding that she donated her brain tissue to the Mayo Clinic for further research into the disease.
Born in Wales in 1947, Leak was only 17 when she began her acting career in a pilot for the Canadian drama Wojeck. Two years later, she landed her role as Ball’s daughter in Yours, Mine and Ours. She also appeared in episodes of The Good Guys, Hawaii Five-0 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show.
However, she is arguably best known for appearing in a number of soap operas. Leak played Olive Randolph on Another World from 1976 to 1979. She also originated the role of the prostitute-turned-nun Gwen Sherman in The Young and the Restless. And in 1986, she guest-starred on an episode of One Life to Live.
“[She was] a shy and private person, never desiring to be the center of attention or having the need for an audience,” D’Auria said of his late wife. “She saved those feelings and exhibited them only when on camera, and then she became electric.”
Leak is survived by her husband and her brother, Kenneth Leak.
