{"id":2582,"date":"2026-06-26T10:38:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2582"},"modified":"2026-06-26T10:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T10:38:15","slug":"ellen-weston-get-smart-actress-and-guiding-light-writer-dies-at-87","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2582","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Weston, \u2018Get Smart\u2019 Actress and \u2018Guiding Light\u2019 Writer, Dies at 87"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tEllen Weston, the actress, writer and producer who appeared on Broadway, Get Smart<\/em>, S.W.A.T.<\/em> and soap operas and penned songs for a pair of Lesley Gore comeback albums, has died. She was 87.<\/p>\n

Read more Phoebe Bridgers Drops New Single \u201cLost Boys\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tWeston died May 28 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, her friend, producer and manager Susan Zachary, told The Hollywood Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe New York native portrayed Robin Fletcher on CBS\u2019 The Guiding Light<\/em> in 1963-64, Carol Pearson and Karen Gregory on NBC\u2019s Another World<\/em> in 1964-65 and Suzanne Thurston on CBS\u2019 The Young and the Restless<\/em> in 1978-80.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe wrote for the CBS soap Capitol<\/em> in 1986, then was hired by Guiding Light<\/em> executive producer John Conboy in 2003 to serve as co-head writer on that daytime drama. \u201cI like to think of every day as a mini-movie,\u201d she said in an interview with Soap Opera Digest<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tWeston shared a WGA Award for her work and remained on the job for about two years before she was replaced by David Kreizman.<\/p>\n

\n\tA daughter of educators, Ellen Rachel Weinstein was born in New York on April 19, 1939. She said that when she was a kid, she used to dream that she was a twin.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne was always the adorable, well-loved star. The other was the poor soul, the nebbish,\u201d she explained in a 1968 interview. \u201cShow business always seemed so untouchable, like Cinderella. But I also always felt instinctively that there was something destructive about it and sensed some imminent danger in wanting it so badly.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe attended the Performing Arts High School, Hofstra University, NYU and Hunter College and in 1960 made it to Broadway as an understudy in the drama Toys in the Attic<\/em>, starring Jason Robards Jr. and Maureen Stapleton and directed by Arthur Penn.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe next year, the doe-eyed Weston was the sister of Sigmund Freud (portrayed by Steven Hill) in A Far Country<\/em> and in 1962 replaced Betsy von Furstenberg in the cast of the long-running Jean Kerr comedy Mary, Mary<\/em>, starring Barbara Bel Geddes. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWeston showed up as Dr. Steele, a sexy CONTROL chemist who doubles as a showgirl, on the third season (1967-68) of NBC\u2019s Get Smart<\/em> and recurred as Betty Harrelson, the wife of Steve Forrest\u2019s Lt. \u201cHondo\u201d Harrelson, on the first season of ABC\u2019s S.W.A.T.<\/em> in 1975.<\/p>\n

Read more Scott Pelley, Fired \u201860 Minutes\u2019 Star, Signs With CAA<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tHer TV r\u00e9sum\u00e9 also included stops on Run for Your Life<\/em>, N.Y.P.D.<\/em>, Bonanza<\/em>, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir<\/em>, Mannix<\/em>, Bewitched<\/em> (as the Countess Piranha), Hawkins<\/em>, Harry O<\/em>, Barnaby Jones<\/em>, The Bob Newhart Show<\/em>, Cannon<\/em>, Baretta<\/em> and Wonder Woman<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tAs a lyricist, Weston wrote seven songs with Gore on the \u201cIt\u2019s My Party\u201d singer\u2019s 1972 album, Someplace Else Now<\/em> \u2014 her first LP in five years \u2014 and all the tunes for her follow-up 1975 album, Love Me by Name<\/em>, produced by Quincy Jones.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cTogether they would write a stellar 60 original songs,\u201d Trevor Tolliver wrote in his 2015 book, You Don\u2019t Own Me: The Life and Times of Lesley Gore<\/em>. \u201cThe meshing of Lesley\u2019s musical know-how with Ellen\u2019s genius as a wordsmith was genius.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWeston went to law school a bit later in life and worked at CBS in business affairs. Her first spec TV movie sold\u00a0and got made, and her credits as a writer and\/or producer in that realm included 1999\u2019s And the Beat Goes On: The Sonny and Cher Story<\/em> for ABC.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe was married to music engineer Ami Hadani (co-founder of the Los Angeles recording studio TTG) and composer Marvin Laird; both marriages ended in divorce. She is survived by her son, Jon Weston, a sound designer. <\/p>\n

\n\tIn a statement, friends called her \u201ca rare person who had both right and left-brain proficiency \u2026 she was as skilled at a legal brief as she was with a knitting needle.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe was our consigliere dispensing advice, wisdom, compassion and care in equal measure \u2014 especially when we most needed an ear, a shoulder and a true confidante. She was beyond a loyal friend \u2014 she was a fierce advocate for every single one of us.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe took excellent care of herself, always tastefully put together with gorgeous outfits, the perfect makeup and more. Up until the very end, she was still dancing and taking new classes; the latest was a pottery class taught by a dear friend that ended a month before her passing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more Iranian Oscar Nominee Jafar Panahi Was on Karlovy Vary\u2019s Guest List. Then Came the Travel Ban.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ellen Weston, the actress, writer and producer who appeared on Broadway, Get Smart and soap operas and penned songs for Lesley Gore, has died at 87.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[153,39],"class_list":["post-2582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-broadway","tag-obituaries"],"yoast_head":"\nEllen Weston, \u2018Get Smart\u2019 Actress and \u2018Guiding Light\u2019 Writer, Dies at 87 - US Property Moves<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uspropertymoves.com\/?p=2582\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ellen Weston, \u2018Get Smart\u2019 Actress and \u2018Guiding Light\u2019 Writer, Dies at 87 - 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