Louise Sorel Biography

Louise Sorel (born August 6, 1940) is an American actress.

Biography

Early life

Louise Jacqueline Cohen was born in Los Angeles into a theatrical family; her mother was actress and pianist Jeanne Sorel, and her father was producer Albert J. Cohen. She received theatrical training at the Neighborhood Playhouse in New York. She briefly attended the Institut Français abroad.

Career

Sorel's early career was on the stage; she spent several years on Broadway, playing roles in Take Her, She's Mine and Man and Boy. She appeared in stage productions of The Lion in Winter and The Sign in Sidney Brustein's Window.

Sorel's first feature film appearance was the 1965 film, The Party's Over. She appeared in Plaza Suite, Every Little Crook and Nanny, B.S. I Love You, Airplane II: The Sequel, and Where the Boys Are '84, among others. She has made guest appearances on more than 50 prime time programs and television movies, making a notable guest appearance on Star Trek as Rayna Kapec. She also portrayed Terry Waverly, the sister-in-law of Dr. Richard Kimble in an episode of The Fugitive, starring David Janssen in 1965. She made other guest appearances on such television programs as Bonanza, Daniel Boone, The Virginian, Route 66 (guest-starring with William Shatner), The Big Valley, Vega$, Medical Center, Charlie's Angels, Hawaii Five-O, Night Gallery, Knots Landing, and Sabrina the Teenage Witch, among others. She had a principal role on The Don Rickles Show. Sorel played Helena Varga, a young woman from a disadvantaged background whose photographic memory becomes valuable to a drug kingpin in the 1974 Wolper-produced TV movie Get Christie Love, starring Teresa Graves. In 1982 she played Eleanor Greeley in the Magnum, P.I. episode "One More Summer".

Her first daytime dramatic role was as eccentric, meddlesome Augusta Wainwright on the NBC daytime drama Santa Barbara. She appeared on Santa Barbara from 1984 to 1986, from 1988 to 1989, and finally from 1990 to 1991. In between stints, she also spent a year appearing as Judith Russell Sanders on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live, from 1986 through 1987. She played villainess Vivian Alamain on the NBC daytime serial, Days of our Lives from March 1992 until February 2000. Sorel's performance as Alamain garnered her five Soap Opera Digest Awards as "Outstanding Villainess" in 1994, "Outstanding Showstopper" in 1997 and again in 1999 as "Outstanding Scene Stealer".

In 2000, shortly after being let go from Days of our Lives, Sorel briefly joined the cast of the Port Charles as fashion maven "Donatella Stewart" (a play on the names Donatella Versace and Martha Stewart). The role lasted for a month. In 2001, she had a brief role on another ABC soap opera All My Children as "Judge Kay Campobello". She made a brief appearance on Passions as cannery worker Dort in 2004. In December 2009, she was invited to reprise her villanous role on Days of our Lives.

In June 2011, Sorel was let go from Days of Our Lives along with many other actors to make room for the return of supercouple John and Marlena and other characters that have yet to be named.

Personal life

Her first husband was late comic actor Herb Edelman, who was perhaps best known for his roles as Murray the cop in the film version of The Odd Couple and as Stanley Zbornak on The Golden Girls. Edelman and Sorel were married from 1964 to 1970. Their divorce was evidently amicable as Sorel was later Edelman's co-star on the series, Ladies Man, made several years after their divorce. She met stage, film and television actor Ken Howard in 1972. They married the following year, but divorced in 1976. Neither marriage produced children.

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result
1986	3rd Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Comic Relief Role on a Daytime Serial	Santa Barbara
1986	3rd Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role on a Daytime Serial	Santa Barbara
1993	9th Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Villain/Villainess	Days of our Lives
1994	10th Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Villain/Villainess	Days of our Lives
1995	11th Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Outstanding Female Scene Stealer	Days of our Lives
1996	12th Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Actress in a Supporting Role	Days of our Lives
1997	13th Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Female Showstopper	Days of our Lives
1999	15th Soap Opera Digest Award	Outstanding Female Scene Stealer	Days of our Lives