PHYLLIS FRELICH passed away at 70

After Dane Witherspoon’sdeath few weeks ago, one more big loss for Santa Barbara’s lovers: Phyllis Frelich has passed away. On SB she portrayed Sister Sarah from June to August 1988. Capital witness in the murder of Mark McCormick, Sister Sarah was a deaf and dumb nun, who officiates at the catholic mission directed by Father Michael Donnelly. Moreover she turns to be the best friend of regretted Sister Mary DuVall.

Sister Sarah’s character  was strongly desired by Nancy Lee Grahn. Ms. Grahn proved to be the conduit between Phyllis and the show. The two met at a celebrity benefit, A Night at the Movies, and hit it off marvelously. By coincidence, a few days later, SB's executive producer, Jill Farren Phelps, weary from the effects of the writers' strike, half-jokingly announced to the cast, "I'll pay ten bucks to anyone who comes up with a good storyline". "And I'll do anything for ten bucks," cracked Grahn. She immediately went to work devising a plot line that would heavily feature her and Frelich. Nancy's idea was nixed (though production staffers who read it insist that it was superior to the one the show ultimately settled on) but Phyllis got cast anyway. That is, after a degree of deliberation. 

Reports Grahn, "They were hesitant about it. They worried that the audience wouldn't like a deaf character or that a story line with a deaf character would be boring or that it would be difficult to communicate the plot points. All the typical things that someone who's never worked with deaf performers might think. But I just didn't let up on them. It got to the point that when Jill saw me coming down the hall, she'd lock her door, moaning, 'Shaddup, already. I don't want to hear about it any more." The determined actress even made her pitch to Brian Frons, NBC's vice-president of daytime programming. Once victorious, Grahn applauded the decision. "Hooray for them for trying it. I didn't think it was risky, but for them, it was. That's the one thing about SANTA BARBARA, it takes risks. I was so confident that they would love Phyllis - and they did. When she does her scenes ,everybody comes down to the studio floor to watch her work.”

Frelych was born on February 29, 1944 in Devils Lake, North Dakota. Her parents were deaf and she was the oldest of 9 deaf children.

She is best known for being the lead female role in the Broadway production of Children of a Lesser God which is the role that won the 1980 Best Actress Tony Award. The play was also named Best Play in 1980 as well.

Her latest work on Television was on CSI during the episode - The Two Mrs. Grissom's. She has also acted on E.R (98-99) and Diagnosis Murder(99). Some of her movie roles included Love is Never Silent (1985), Bridge to Silence (1989), and Sweet Nothing in My Ear (2008).

Marleen Matlin tweeted yesterday about Frelich’s death: