Lee Lawson, best known as Bea Reardon on Guiding Light , dies at 80

Lee Lawson, a veteran actress perhaps best known for portraying no-nonsense mother of seven Bea Reardon on the popular soap Guiding Light, has died. She was 80.

CBS Lee Lawson, best known as Bea Reardon on 'Guiding Light,' dies at 80

Her daughter Leslie Bova announced in a Facebook post that her mother had died on May 22, writing that Lawson "fought cancer and COVID-19 like a champ. Rest, you brilliant, woman ❤️."

Born Oct. 14, 1941 in New York City, Lawson was married to Joseph Bova from 1970 until his death in 2006. Lawson is survived by children Leslie, Chris, and Gaby, and grandchildren Gianna, Wilder, and Sterling.

Before joining Guiding Light, Lawson played Barbara Sterling on the CBS soap Love of Life in 1965. Splitting her time between the stage and television, Lawson made her Broadway debut in the comedy Cactus Flower opposite Lauren Bacall, replacing Brenda Vaccaro in the role of Toni — the 1969 film adaptation would win Goldie Hawn an Oscar in the same role.

Lawson would star in two other Broadway comedies before the end of the decade, playing the titular role in Agatha Sue, I Love You; and My Daughter, Your Son by Phoebe and Henry Ephron, Nora's parents. During the '70s, Lawson made appearances on Maude, Kojak, and One Life to Live, while acting in the plays The Plough and the Stars, An American Millionaire, and Teibele and Her Demon, in which she starred alongside F. Murray Abraham.

From 1981-90, Lawson appeared in 52 episodes of Guiding Light — the second longest-running drama in TV history — as Springfield's own Bea Reardon, owner of the Seventh Street Boarding House. Reardon used the boarding house to support herself and her seven kids after her husband apparently left them all behind. This being a soap, however, Bea eventually learns her husband was actually murdered, prompting her to leave Springfield.

Friend and fellow actress Marian Hailey-Moss mourned Lawson on her Facebook page. "My down-to-earth, sassy smart and beautiful friend Lee Lawson is telling it like it is in a better place," she wrote. "A fine actress and a super generous friend. I'll meetcha there Lee!! 1941-2022❤️"

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