Sonya Eddy, who played the candid, no-nonsense and loving nurse of the long-running hospital drama General Hospital has died from a surgery infection, according to TMZ. She was 55.
“I am heartbroken about the loss of the incredible Sonya Eddy. I truly loved her not only as an actress, but as a friend. The lights in the hub of the nurse’s station will now be a little dimmer, but her spirit and light will live on in both the show and our set. On behalf of the entire GH cast and crew, we send our deepest sympathy to her family, friends and fans. She will be very missed.” Frank Valentini, General Hospital’s executive producer, said in a statement.
Eddy joined the soap opera in 2006 and played the role of Epiphany Johnson for 543 episodes. Her last appearance was this past October. Eddy was also a licensed vocational nurse in real life.
“She left an indelible imprint in every person that she touched, through the screen and off,” Tyler Ford, her producing partner at Eddy Ford Entertainment, said in a statement.
Eddy was born June 17, 1967 in Concord California and studied theatre and dance and the University of California, Davis. Her acting career began in 1990 when she was cast to play in Ruby Dee’s play, Zora Is My Name. She received her bachelor of arts degree two years later. She went on to play in shows including The Comedy of Errors, Into the Woods, South Pacific, Married…With Children, The Drew Carey Show, Murphy Brown, Seinfeld, Home Improvement and Joan of Arcadia.
“The world lost another creative angel,” Eddy’s friend and fellow actor Octavia Spencer wrote on Instagram. “Her legions of ‘General Hospital’ fans will miss her.”
To celebrate her life and work, mourners are asked to make donations to the Foundation of the National Student Nurses’ Association Inc.
