Denise Alexander (November 11, 1939 – March 5, 2025), was born in New York City and raised on Long Island.
Alexander first broke into the soap opera genre by playing Susan Hunter Martin on Days of Our Lives.
Alexander's role on General Hospital, Dr. Lesley Williams, would become a long-running role. She stayed with the show for eleven years as one of the show's most popular leading ladies, leaving in 1984 after a contract dispute. In 1986, she was offered a big salary to portray McKinnon matriarch, Mary, on Another World. When the commute from her home in Los Angeles to Another World's studio in New York City proved to be difficult for her, she left the show, filming her last scene in 1989, but briefly returned for a guest appearance in 1991. In 1996, she returned to the role of Lesley (brought back from the dead after almost 13 years!) on General Hospital, which she continued playing on a recurring basis until 2009 when the character simply faded from view. She reprised the role in time for the show's 50th anniversary in 2013 and remains on canvas as a recurring character.
Alexander died in Boulder, Colorado, on March 5, 2025, at the age of 85. According to her stepson, she died of natural causes.