Rebecca Balding, the prolific television and stage actress best known for her breakthrough role opposite Billy Crystal in the soap opera spoof comedy Soap, has passed away. Following an ovarian cancer diagnosis, her husband James L. Conway reports that she died on July 18th. After playing Alyssa Milano’s boss on the original Charmed from 1998 to 2006, she had been absent from the screen for a long time. She was 73 years old when she died. Balding’s career began in Chicago, where she was a theatrical actor before moving to Hollywood. In 1976, she appeared in two episodes of the Emmy-winning action series The Bionic Woman, which sparked a succession of guest appearances on shows including Lou Grant, The Rockford Files, and Starsky & Hutch, among others.
Between The Gathering and The Deadly Game, Balding appeared as the girlfriend of James Cromwell, Andy Griffith’s deputy, who played the character of Abel Marsh in The Gathering. She had a recurring role on Makin’ It as Corky Crandall before appearing on Soap. Soap opera viewers first learned about Carol David (played by her on-screen daughter Jodie Dallas, formerly known as Crystal) in a shocking plot twist. A soap opera villain, Carol seduced Jodie into a one-night affair in order to have a child with her, ditched him at the altar when he wanted to wed her out of parental responsibility, and then kidnapped the child when she lost custody of her child. Iconic: The weird narrative solidified her as one of the show’s most devious and unforgettable characters.
Eventually, she departed when the baby struggle was over and went on to feature in programmes like MacGyver and Family Ties. After Soap, she had recurring roles on Paradise and Charmed, where she played Elise Rothman, a powerful witch. Elise worked as the magazine’s editor for Milano’s Phoebe Halliwell’s advice column in the fictitious tabloid The Bay Mirror. From the show’s inception in 1998 until its conclusion in 2006, she appeared in 23 episodes. Balding was a legendary scream queen, appearing in horror films like Silent Scream and The Boogens despite frequently appearing in sitcoms or dramas on television.
Her husband, Conway, was behind the camera for the later picture, which brought her together with him for the first time. In a tweet, her cousin, fellow horror veteran and Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 actor Caroline Williams lauded her long and varied career.