March 4, 2002

ACTRESS MARY STUART OF "SEARCH FOR TOMORROW" AND "GUIDING LIGHT"
DIES AT AGE 75 AFTER 50 YEARS IN DAYTIME TELEVISION

Actress Mary Stuart, who played Meta Bauer on the daytime drama GUIDING LIGHT and earlier starred for 35 years as Jo Gardner in "Search for Tomorrow," both on the CBS Television Network, passed away at her home in New York City on Feb. 28 due to complications from a stroke.

Stuart was inducted into the Soap Opera Hall of Fame in 1995, and was the first daytime performer to be nominated for an Emmy Award, in 1962, competing against primetime stars before there was a separate category for daytime. She later received four Daytime Emmy nominations and was also awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award. Last October, she celebrated 50 years daytime in television.

"We are deeply saddened by the passing of Mary Stuart," said Lucy Johnson, Senior Vice President, Daytime/Special Programs, CBS Entertainment. "She was a master of her craft and played a durable role in the success of CBS for five decades."

She was born on July 4, 1926 in Miami and raised in Tulsa, Okla. She was a contract player for MGM while still a teenager and was cast as the leading lady in "Search for Tomorrow," which ran from Sept. 3, 1951 to Dec. 26, 1986 She is credited with being the first actress to have a pregnancy written into the storyline of a live daytime drama and the first soap opera performer to sing on air. The apron she wore as Jo on "Search for Tomorrow" resides in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

Stuart joined the cast of GUIDING LIGHT as Meta Bauer on Nov. 22, 1996.

She is survived by her husband of more than 20 years, architect Wolfgang Neumann; her two children from a previous marriage, Jeffrey Krolik and Cynthia Stuart, and two grandchildren. Donations in Stuart's memory can be made to Screen Actors Guild Foundation - Mary Stuart Book Fund, 5757 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90036.

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Press Contacts: Kevin R. McDonald               323/575-2029            kevin.mcdonald@tvc.cbs.com
                        Renee Ickson-Young              212/975-3829            riyoung@cbs.com