Man, this one hits hard. Denise Alexander, whose enviable daytime career took her from Days of Our Lives to General Hospital to Another World, has died at 85 years old, Soap Opera Digest reports.

The actress, a native of New York City, relocated to the West Coast when her talent-agent father did so. (He represented such notables as Rebel Without a Cause scene stealer Sal Mineo.) Alexander made her big-screen debut at just 14, in the John Cassavetes film Crime In the Streets.

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The future soap legend wasn’t an overnight sensation in daytime; she paid her dues, toiling away on The Clear Horizon before landing her breakout role of Julie’s frenemy Susan Hunter on Days of Our Lives in 1966. Seven years later, Alexander was such a hot commodity that General Hospital moved heaven and earth to entice her to jump ship and move to Port Charles. The soap’s combo of a then-unheard-of salary and perks package did the trick, and she joined the cast that same year as Dr. Lesley Williams.