In Memoriam: leslie Shreve

leslie Shreve was a bright light, a perpetually radiant spirit, who never lost her joie de vivre or her huge smile, even as she valiantly stood by her husband as he slowly lost his battle with Parkinson's (he died almost exactly four years ago), and then herself battled cancer the last few years.

A graduate of the Theatre Department at Ithaca College, leslie received an outstanding actor award from Business Week for her portrayal of Harpo Marx. She also played Mabel in The Pajama Game; Mrs Diana Trapes in The Beggars' Opera; Eva Tanquay in A Salute to the Palace Theatre; Rossignol in Marat/Sade, and Mrs Banks in Sunday in the Park - where she "rolled 'em in the aisles with laughter." A cable television pioneer with her award winning children's program, Leslie the Shreve, she also played Kay Sybers in HBO's Autopsy 8.

She was primarily known for her announcing and voiceovers. She narrated an exhibit for the Smithsonian; created sounds for many furry and oddball characters; and doubled voices in re-creations of programs from radio's Golden Age for the Friends of Old Time Radio.

leslie served long term as National Chair for the Women's Committees for both AFTRA and SAG, and then for SAG-AFTRA. In that capacity, she was one of the earliest board members of the Women in the Arts & Media Coalition, and served three different terms as Co-President. She was the first, and thus far only, Past President to be named as Special Advisor to the Coalition. Her activism included serving on the National Boards of SAG-AFTRA and AFTRA; the Council as well as the Grants Committee for the Episcopal Actors Guild; and the steering committee for the St. Lukes/Roosevelt Hospital's Crime Victims Treatment Center.

Along with being a member of LPTW, she was a Lamb; a member of the Dutch Treat Club; ATAS; the Blue Hill Troupe; The Village Light Opera Group (Lifetime Honoree), the Original NYC Bad Girls, and The Group. Because of all these associations, her circles of friends and colleagues was enormous, and so many are hurting now, and already missing her.

A natural born multi-tasker, leslie was a recipient of the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding MakeUp Design and also served the members of IATSE 798 as their Television Trustee. She designed make-up for stage, film, daytime and primetime TV, rock shows, industrials, commercials, news, sports, press junkets, archival interviews, and was the contributing author on this subject for The Handbook of Private Television (McGraw-Hill).

She also directed the Documentary Healing Ground Zero, which included a night time tour in the pit.