Meg Bennett, actress who played Victor Newman's first wife on 'Young and the Restless,' dies at 75

Meg Bennett, a soap opera veteran who acted on "The Young and the Restless" and worked prolifically as a writer on "General Hospital," has died. She was 75.

The former soap opera star died on April 11 after a battle with cancer, her family announced Sunday.

"Until nearly the end she was devotedly working with children, writing, and engaging with her far-flung family and friends," her family wrote in an obituary posted in the Los Angeles Times.

USA TODAY has reached out to "General Hospital" and "The Young and the Restless" for comment.

Bennett starred as Julia Newman, Victor Newman's first wife, on "The Young and the Restless" intermittently from 1980 to 2002. In 2018, Bennett returned to the show to mark its 45th anniversary on March 26, then as Julia Martin. She again returned in 2020 to mark Eric Braeden's 40 years starring as Victor Newman on the CBS soap opera.

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The California native, born Helen Bennett, served as a writer on "General Hospital" at intervals from 1993 until 2011, and is credited for writing on 197 episodes. Her other writing gigs include "Generations," "Santa Barbara," "Sunset Beach," "The Young and the Restless" and "The Bold and the Beautiful." On the latter, she is credited as a writer on 348 episodes, from 1987 to 1989.

Bennett was nominated for several Daytime Emmy awards as part of the writing team on "The Bold and the Beautiful," "General Hospital" and "The Young and the Restless." In 1995, she won a Daytime Emmy for her work writing on "General Hospital." Her work on "Sunset Beach" and "General Hospital" also won Writers Guild of America awards.

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Bennett's stage career included the off-Broadway play "Godspell," and she starred in "Grease" as Marty, one of the Pink Ladies, in the original Broadway cast.

She is survived by her husband, fellow former "General Hospital" writer Robert Guza, Jr., two step-daughters and four grandchildren.