Leslie Graves(1959-1995)
- Actress
Leslie Graves (the original Brenda Clegg) was born on September, 29th
1959 in Albuquerque or Silver City, New Mexico. She started her carrier
in entertainment industry in the late '60s and early 70s when she was
very young (approximately at age of 10) with small roles in a Broadway
play "A Cry of Players" (1968-1969) written by William Gibson and in
several TV series: Sesame Street (1969, first 13 episodes), Mary Tyler
Moore Show (1972, just the episode titled "Baby Sit-Com"), Here We Go
Again (1973). After that, she disappeared for about ten years. Her come
back in early '80 was marked by some nude photos (OUI Magazine, a
Playboy corporation affiliate, tributes her the honor of the cover and
photo shoot by Phillip Dixon in November 1980 and again in May 1981 a
photo shoot by five photographers) and small roles in slasher movies:
Piranha: the Spawning (1981) and Death Wish II (1982). This helped her
to be noticed and finally she apparently found her way to success when
CBS in 1982 cast her, at age of 23, for the role of Brenda Clegg in the
daytime soap Capitol, for which she is still remembered with
admiration. She found in Carolyn Jones (the original Myrna Clegg) a
sort of second, supportive mother both on the Capitol set and in her
life. When Carolyn died, Leslie was devastated. One day in late Summer,
1984, Leslie passed out on the set of the CBS sudser. Heroin overdose.
She recovered but left the show for good.
Her last appearance to the public was the nude photo shoot by Jean Rougeron in October 1984 issue of the magazine OUI. And nothing about her was known until the Soap Opera Weekly announced her death in Los Angeles area in August, 23rd 1995 due to an AIDS-related illness. Married to Jerry Schoenkopf, they had two children: a girl (Amanda) and a boy (Jimmy, b. 1994).
Her last appearance to the public was the nude photo shoot by Jean Rougeron in October 1984 issue of the magazine OUI. And nothing about her was known until the Soap Opera Weekly announced her death in Los Angeles area in August, 23rd 1995 due to an AIDS-related illness. Married to Jerry Schoenkopf, they had two children: a girl (Amanda) and a boy (Jimmy, b. 1994).
