‘Guiding Light’ star Lee Lawson dead at 83

Lee Lawson, a star on the long-running soap opera “Guiding Light,” has died at 83.

“We love you,” Lawson’s daughter Leslie Bova wrote on Facebook Tuesday. “You fought Cancer & COVID-19 like a champ. Rest, you brilliant, woman Thank you, mom. R.I.P.”

Guiding Light (CBS/)

Lawson played boarding house operator Bea Reardon for nearly a decade before leaving the CBS daytime program in 1990. She appeared on more than 50 episodes of the soap opera, which ran from 1952 to 2009.

The New York City native also appeared on episodes of “Maude,” and “Kojak,” as well as the soap “One Life to Live.”

Lawson’s son, playwright Christopher Stetson Boal, told the Daily News his mom died at Cedars Sinai hospital in Los Angeles with family by her side. An obituary provided by her family traces Lawson’s acting career back to her childhood, when she appeared on shows including “Howdy Doody.” She also appeared on Broadway several times, including a 1965 performance of “Cactus Flower” opposite Lloyd Bridges.

Her obit states that after leaving acting, Lawson continued her education and became a psychologist and crisis counselor in Los Angeles. According to Lawson’s IMDB listing, she last acted on screen in the 1991 TV series “Reasonable Doubts” featuring Mark Harmon and Marlee Matlin.