Jennifer Leak, Actress from Yours, Mine And Ours and The Young And The Restless, Passes Away at Age 76

Jennifer Leak, soap opera star and actress in Yours, Mine and Ours (1968), passed away on March 18 at her Jupiter, Fla. home, according to The East Hampton Star. 

The actress, aged 76, was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy seven years before passing away, according to The East Hampton Star. Leak was born on Sept. 28, 1947, in Cardiff, Wales. She lived in multiple cities during her childhood, including Hertfordshire, England, Nova Scotia, Canada, Jerusalem, and Toronto. 

At 17, she started her career in Canada with an appearance in the pilot episode of the TV series Wojeck, directed by Mike Nichols. She was cast in Nichols' The Graduate but couldn't join due to immigration issues. Leak later moved to LA and was cast as Lucille Ball's daughter in Yours, Mine and Ours. On that set, Leak met her first husband, Tim Matheson. They played step-siblings in a comedy film about a big, blended family. 

Matheson played Mike Beardsley, son of Henry Fonda's Frank. After her passing, Matheson, 76, wrote a Facebook tribute for her. "Sadly, Jennifer Leak has passed away. She was not only my on-screen sister in 'Yours, Mine and Ours,' but also my dear first wife," wrote Matheson. Jennifer was a remarkable woman, strong, lovely, and incredibly talented. My condolences to her husband, James D`Auria, and their friends. 

The couple married in 1968 and divorced in 1971. She then returned to TV, appearing in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Hawaii Five-0, and Nero Wolfe while in Los Angeles. She later joined soap operas, becoming her favorite medium and what she loved performing in most, as per her husband, James D'Auria. She starred on The Young and the Restless for three years as Gwen Sherman in Los Angeles and then joined Another World in New York for an additional three years as Olive Springer Gordon Randolph.

In New York, she met D'Auria, her husband of 47 years. They married in April 1977. D'Auria described his late wife as a private person who didn't seek attention but came alive on camera. She retired from acting in the 1980s and became a sales agent for a real estate company. They split their time between NYC and the Hamptons. In 2001, they moved to the Hamptons full-time and in 2017, they relocated to Florida. Survived by husband and brother, Kenneth Leak.