Ellen Holly Dies: Trailblazing ‘One Life to Live’ Star Was 92
Ellen Holly
Ellen Holly, the first Black actress to have a lead role in a U.S. soap opera, has died. She was 92.
Holly died on Wednesday, Dec. 6, at a Bronx hospital, per a statement shared by her publicist Cheryl L. Duncan, per The New York Times report. No cause of death was given.
Born in Manhattan on Jan. 16, 1931, to parents William Garnet Holly, a chemical engineer, and Grayce Holly, a writer, the trailblazing soap star grew up in Queens and after graduating from Hunter College, she made her Broadway debut in Too Late The Phalarope (1956). She went on to star in several other Broadway and Joseph Papp New York Shakespeare Festival productions.
In 1968, Holly was cast in, arguably, her most memorable role as Carla Benari Hall on One Life to Live. According to the NYT, she landed the casting after TV producer Agnes Nixon stumbled upon Holly's op-ed discussing the difficulty of finding roles as a Black woman with lighter skin. Her role as Carla, which she held from 1968 to 1980 and 1983 to 1985, explored racial identity as it saw her character, who passed as white on-screen before revealing she was Black, in a love triangle with two doctors: one white and one Black.
“The one thing that we will not do in real life — pass for white — is the only thing they will let us play on camera. That’s how your whole life and career become ironic from the very outset.” — Ellen Hollyhttps://t.co/BqpJjAryWf
— The Langston Hughes Review (@LangstonReview) December 8, 2023
Despite leading the show to success and solidifying her career as an actress, the show's producer reportedly received hate mail over the interracial relationship. One station in Texas even stopped airing the show, per the Times.
Soaps and live theater weren't Holly's only claim to fame, as she also portrayed Judge Frances Collier in The Guiding Light from 1988 to 1993 and In The Heat of the Night as Ruth Peterson from 1989 to 1990. In 2002, she starred in the TV movie 10,000 Black Men Named George.
After retiring from acting, she became a librarian and spent years working at the White Plains Public Library.
Holly never married, though she is survived by several grand-nieces and extended family members. In keeping with her wishes, there will be no funeral. As an expression of sympathy, donations may be made to The Obama Presidential Center or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
