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- Millette Alexander is an American actress and concert pianist, best known for being the third and longest-running actress to portray the role of Dr. Sara McIntyre on the serial The Guiding Light. Alexander played the role from December 1968 until June 1983, playing the adoptive mother of Kevin Bacon's character T.J. Werner in 1979–1980. Her character was abruptly written out in 1983; on the day she was to renew her contract for three more years, the actress reportedly entered producer Gail Kobe's office and was told she would no longer be needed. She has never spoken publicly about the incident. In an effort to retool the show, focusing on younger demographics, Alexander, along with longtime cast member Robert Milli, who had played her husband Adam Thorpe, were written out of the show, their characters depicted as moving to Portland, Oregon. Nevertheless, the move coincided with Alexander's wish to pursue the piano full-time professionally, with her duo-piano partner Frank Daykin. Alexander is also remembered for playing three different characters on The Edge of Night in the 1950s and 1960s. Those characters were named, Gail Armstrong (1958 - 1959), a commercial artist; Laura Hillyer (1966), a socialite, married to Orin Hillyer; and lastly, her look-alike cousin, Julie Jamison (1967-1968). Her first soap role was as gun moll, Gloria Saxon on the short-lived series, From These Roots, and was also on As the World Turns from 1964 to 1966 in the role of nurse, Sylvia Hill. Millette's children are Adam, William and Jennifer. She is also a grandmother. She was the daughter-in-law of Oscar Hammerstein II before she divorced her husband. The piano duo Alexander and Daykin has performed in Paris' Salle Gaveau and New York's Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall (three times) to critical acclaim. They have recorded two CDs for Connoisseur Society: Bach's "Die Kunst der Fuge" (winner of American Record Guide 10 Best New Releases of 1996), and "Paris Originals" (20th century French masterworks for four hands). The New York Times said: "They make music as one. " And the Toronto Citizen, in a review of the Bach CD hailed them as "surely one of the finest piano duos in the world today. " Millette Alexander is the founder of Chamber Music Central, a summer chamber music camp for children in Fairfield County CT.
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