Daytime soap opera actress Jennifer Harmon dies at 82

For years, Harmon stood patiently ready in the backstage shadows for legendary stars like Stockard Channing, Judi Dench, and Jessica Lange—serving as the highly trusted, elite understudy who had to be technically brilliant on a mere moment’s notice. Operating at that level of constant readiness takes a unique brand of professional courage that few audience members ever truly see and even fewer ever think to applaud. Her final formal bow on Broadway came in the 2011 production of Other Desert Cities, but the deep emotional echoes of her decades of performances still remain in the theater community. For every working actor who fights every day just for one good role, her long life is a beautiful proof that a steady, deeply devoted flame can burn just as bright and endure just as long as a blazing, temporary spotlight.