Rachel Ames

Rachel Ames (born Rachel Kay Foulger, November 2, 1929)^[1] is an American film and television actress.^[2] She is best known for her role as Audrey March Hardy on the soap opera General Hospital. Ames' role is the longest-running in the series' history, spanning over fifty years and earning her multiple Emmy Award nominations.^[3]

Ames also had a brief career in films, appearing in When Worlds Collide (1951), Arrowhead (1953), and Daddy's Gone A-Hunting (1969). She is the daughter of actors Byron Foulger and Dorothy Adams.

Early life

Ames was born Rachel Kay Foulger in Portland, Oregon,^[1] the only child of actress (and later college drama instructor^[4]) Dorothy Adams and actor Byron Foulger. Through her father, she is of English descent, the fourth generation of English immigrants from Norfolk who settled in the Salt Lake City area of Utah, United States.^[1]

Ames spent her early life in Portland, but relocated to California so her parents could work performing and teaching at the Pasadena Playhouse.^[5] She graduated from University High School and later enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles, where her mother was a professor in the university's drama department.^[6]

Career

Early work

Ames debuted professionally in 1949 in Pilgrimage Play, and she joined her parents in acting in One Foot in Heaven at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California.^[6] She transitioned into film under the stage name Judith Ames, and was under contract with Paramount Pictures for three years in the early 1950s; her first feature film was When Worlds Collide (1951), a science fiction thriller based on the 1933 novel of the same name.^[6] The same year, she had appeared in Toast to Our Brother, a short film documenting fraternity life at UCLA, where she was a student at the time.

Ames as Audrey March in General Hospital, 1973

She had an uncredited role in the film noir The Turning Point (1952), followed by a minor part in the Western Arrowhead (1953) with Charlton Heston. The following year, she had a supporting role in the Western comedy Ricochet Romance (1954). In her only regular role on prime-time television, Ames played Policewoman Sandy McAllister on The Lineup in that program's final season during 1959. Ames also had dozens of other guest-starring appearances in television, on series such as The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, The Virginian, Ironside, Wagon Train, Ben Casey, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and six different appearances on Science Fiction Theater.^[7] She appeared in a lead role in the 1960 Western Gunfighters of Abilene, opposite Buster Crabbe and Barton MacLane.

General Hospital

On February 23, 1964, Ames debuted on ABC's daytime serial, General Hospital, playing Audrey Hardy, R.N..^[8] Her tenure in the part is the longest-running role in the network's history, spanning five decades.^[3] She also played Audrey Hardy on the General Hospital spin-off series Port Charles in the late 1990s. Her contract was not renewed for General Hospital in 2003, but she still appeared as a recurring character from 2003 until 2007, and made a brief appearance in 2009. On February 13, 2013 Genie Francis (Laura Spencer) announced on Katie that Ames returned to the show on March 29, 2013. She reprised the role again for one episode on October 30, 2015.^[9]

Ames has been nominated three times for a Daytime Emmy Award as "Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama" for her role on General Hospital. In 2004, Ames was honored with a "Lifetime Achievement Award" at the 31st Daytime Emmy Awards ceremony at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.^[10][11] In 1997, she appeared on ABC's special two-hour primetime preview of new daytime series Port Charles, a spin-off of the long-running Emmy winning hit General Hospital. Ames played her signature role of Audrey Hardy.

Later career

In 2007, Ames retired from General Hospital after 43 years. However, it was announced on October 1, 2009, that she would reappear as Audrey in mid-October after a two-year absence from the show.^[12][13] She reprised Audrey again in April 2013, to coincide with General Hospital's 50th anniversary and again on October 30, 2015.^[9]

Personal life

Ames married Jack Genung January 31, 1952, in Los Angeles.^[14] She and her second husband, Canadian-born actor Barry Cahill, had two daughters, Christine and Susan, and two grandchildren, Jocelyn and Marc.^[15] (One source says that Susan was Ames' daughter by her first marriage.^[6]) Cahill died in April 2012, after forty-two years of marriage.^[16]

Filmography

Film

Television

References

Bibliography

• Aaker, Everett (2006). Encyclopedia of Early Television Crime Fighters. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-6409-8. 

External links

• Rachel Ames at the Internet Movie Database