"Guiding Light, Procter & Gamble Productions and the entire daytime world has lost a woman, an actress, and a friend who showed us how to do daytime with grace, class and humor for over 50 years," said Mary Alice Dwyer-Dobbin, Executive-in-Charge of Procter & Gamble Productions. "We mourn her passing."
Stuart was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1995, and was the first daytime performer to be nominated for an Emmy Award in 1962, competing against primetime stars before there was a separate category for daytime. She later received four Daytime Emmy nominations and was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Last October, she celebrated 50 years in daytime television.
Guiding Light Executive Producer Paul Rauch thoughtfully revealed, "I first met Mary when I was a young stage manager on Search for Tomorrow . What struck me most about Mary then -- and now -- is what a consummate professional she was. Her infectious spirit pulled her cast together as a unified group and provided them with a sense of purpose. I never saw Mary give less then her total commitment from the day I met her until her last performance on Guiding Light on Tuesday, February 26."
Born on July 4, 1926 in Miami, Florida and raised in Tulsa, Oklahoma, she was a contract player for MGM while still a teen-ager and was cast as the leading lady in Search for Tomorrow which ran from September 3, 1951 to December 26, 1986. She is credited with being the first actress to have a pregnancy written into the storyline of a live daytime drama and the first soap opera performer to sing on air. The apron she wore as Jo on Search for Tomorrow resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Stuart joined the cast Guiding Light as Meta Bauer on November 22, 1996. "We are deeply saddened by the passing of Mary Stuart," said Lucy Johnson, Senior Vice President Daytime/Special Programs, CBS Entertainment. "She was a master of her craft and played a durable role in the success of CBS for five decades."
Mary is survived by her husband of more than twenty years, architect Wolfgang Neumann; her two children from a previous marriage, Jeffrey Krolik and Cynthia Stuart; and two grandchildren. Donations in Stuart's memory can be made to the Screen Actors Guild Foundation - Mary Stuart Book Fund, 5757 Wilshire Bouleevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036.