Actress Jennifer Leak, who once starred in a movie alongside Lucille Ball and had roles in several soap operas, including “The Young and the Restless,” has died at the age of 76.
According to an obituary in The East Hampton Star, Leak died on March 18 at her house in Jupiter, Florida, according to People magazine.
“Virgin River” star Tim Matheson mourned Leak’s death on Instagram, according to USA Today. Matheson is Leak’s ex-husband and played her stepbrother in the 1968 film, “Yours, Mine and Ours,” which starred Ball and Henry Fonda.
“It is with a heavy heart that I share the news of Jennifer Leak’s passing. She wasn’t just my screen sister in ‘Yours, Mine and Ours,’ but also my beloved first wife. Jennifer was a remarkable woman, strong, lovely, and incredibly talented,” Matheson said.
Leak later married James D’Auria, USA Today reported.
The East Hampton Star’s obituary said that over the last seven years, she had been battling a rare disease, progressive supranuclear palsy, USA Today reported.
Progressive supranuclear palsy is a rare brain disease that affects walking, balance, swallowing and eye movement, according to the Mayo Clinic. The disease is called called Steele-Richardson-Olszewski syndrome. It can worsen over time and lead to other complications like pneumonia and trouble swallowing.
Leak donated her brain tissue to the Mayo Clinic for research, USA Today reported.
She was born on Sept. 28, 1947, in Cardiff, Wales, according to People, Leak moved to Los Angeles and got her first film role in “Yours Mine and Ours,” where she played Ball’s daughter.
Leak also appeared in some soap operas, including two episodes of “The Young and The Restless” in 1974 and one episode of “Guiding Light,” according to IMDb.com. She left screen acting in the mid-1980s and worked as a sales agent at a real estate company, Deadline reported.
“Her courage and bravery tried in vain to fight the disease,” D’Auria wrote, according to The East Hampton Star.
D’Auria described his wife in the obituary as “a shy and private person, never desiring to be the center of attention or having the need for an audience. She saved those feelings and exhibited them only when on camera, and then she became electric,” according to the newspaper.
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