Rebecca Balding, the energetic actress who appeared opposite Billy Crystal on Soap and portrayed the newspaper boss of Alyssa Milano on charmed, has passed away. She was 73.
Balding died Monday in Park City after a battle with ovarian cancer, her 41-year-old husband, writer-director-producer James L. Conway, announced.
Kalende also starred in the horror movies The silent scream (1979) and the Conway-directed The Boogens (1981). They first met during her audition.
Conway was a producer at The WB’s charmed when his wife portrayed Elise Rothman, editor-in-chief of The Bay Mirror, where Phoebe Halliwell of Milan worked as an advisory columnist. She appeared on 22 episodes during the last five seasons (2002-06) of the Supernatural series.
On the ABC sitcom SoapBalding returned as attorney Carol David, who seduces Crystal’s openly gay Jodie Dallas and becomes pregnant. When he decides to “do the right thing” and marry her, she leaves him at the altar and then kidnaps the baby.
Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Balding studied acting at the University of Kansas and worked in the local theater in Chicago before going to Hollywood.
In one of her first TV appearances, she played reporter Carla Mardigian alongside Ed Asner in the first three episodes of CBS’ Lou Grant in 1977, then starred with David Naughton in the 1979 comedy Fix it, which represented a rare failure for producer Garry Marshall.
She also portrayed Asner’s daughter in the 1977 holiday telefilm The meeting; after his character dies, she reunites with Maureen Stapleton in the 1979 follow-up.
In addition to her husband, there are her daughters, Sarah and Kathleen, and her grandchildren.
