General Hospital's Erika Slezak remembers Lynn Benisch, the late OLTL co-star who helped her become Viki

For a long stretch, General Hospital's Erika Slezak wasn’t just on One Life to Live — she carried it, day after day, year after year, without ever seeming to announce the weight of that responsibility.

When she popped up on GH as Ronnie Bard, it didn’t feel like a comeback so much as proof that the muscle memory never left; the timing was still there, the bite was still there, the ease was unmistakable. So when she wrote about someone who helped her at the very beginning, it didn’t read like a legend looking back, but like an actor remembering who steadied her before any of this felt certain.

Before General Hospital, someone showed ser the way

On her personal website, Slezak wrote, “I recently learned that Lynn Benisch, who portrayed my sister Meredith on One Life to Live, has passed away. After she left California, Lynn and I had lost touch. Lynn was incredibly supportive during my early days on the show, providing invaluable help throughout my first year on OLTL.”

She continued with, “She led me by the hand and told me where everything was and what the schedule was. She and Syd Andrews, our stage manager and Ernie Graves, who was Victor [Lord], literally walked me through that first day. Lynn’s kindness will always be remembered. May she rest in peace.”

Her heartfelt message read less like a formal remembrance than a moment paused long enough to say thank you. The kind of gratitude that only shows up when someone remembers how disorienting the beginning can be. Slezak wasn’t mythologizing those early days or polishing them into lore; she was naming the people who made it survivable, and by doing that, quietly reminded anyone who’s ever been new somewhere that being guided, even briefly, can change the shape of an entire career.

The things that stick

What lingered in Slezak’s words wasn’t grief dressed up as tribute but gratitude that had clearly been sitting with her for years. Benisch was one of those actors who just kept working. She spent several years on OLTL as Meredith Lord, and people still remember her most for the storyline where Meredith lost a child, because she didn’t play it big or tidy it up for the audience. She stayed in the craziness of it, which is why it stuck.

Outside of OLTL, she moved through other soaps and a long list of primetime shows, popping up on programs like Gunsmoke, Happy Days, Rhoda, Little House on the Prairie, The Doctors, and The Young and the Restless. It wasn’t a flashy career, and it wasn’t built on hype.

Trending

Before Erika Slezak became a name people spoke with reverence, she was simply new and trying to keep up, and Benisch was one of the people who stood close enough to make that first stretch survivable.

General Hospital can be seen weekdays on ABC and Hulu.

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