Leslie Marie Graves (September 29, 1959 – August 23, 1995) was an American actress.

Early years

Leslie Graves's father, Michael Graves, was a theatre actor and introduced her to the entertainment industry when she was about 10. She started her career with a small role in the Broadway play ''A Cry of Players'' (1968–1969), written by

William Gibson William Ford Gibson (born March 17, 1948) is an American-Canadian speculative fiction writer and essayist widely credited with pioneering the science fiction subgenre known as ''cyberpunk''. Beginning his writing career in the late 1970s, his ...

. She then moved to acting for TV series, including ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'' (1969, first 13 episodes), ''

The Mary Tyler Moore Show ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Moor ...

'' (1971, in the episode titled "Baby Sit-Com"), and '' Here We Go Again'' (1973). In the late 1970s, she left Hollywood, supposedly to move with a boyfriend to Texas, where she worked on a shrimp boat for three years.

Career

Graves's return to Hollywood in early 1980 was marked by some nude photoshoots. Phillip Dixon shot her for '' Oui'', a ''Playboy'' corporation affiliate and put her on the cover in November 1980 and again in May 1981 with a shoot by five photographers). At that time, rumors arose about her involvement with

Penthouse Penthouse most often refers to: *Penthouse apartment, a special apartment on the top floor of a building *Penthouse (magazine), ''Penthouse'' (magazine), a British-founded men's magazine *Mechanical penthouse, a floor, typically located directly u ...

publisher

Bob Guccione Robert Charles Joseph Edward Sabatini Guccione ( ; December 17, 1930 – October 20, 2010) was an American photographer and publisher. He founded the adult magazine ''Penthouse'' in 1965. This was aimed at competing with Hugh Hefner's ''Playboy'', ...

and an argument with

Playboy ''Playboy'' is an American men's lifestyle and entertainment magazine, formerly in print and currently online. It was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. K ...

publisher

Hugh Hefner Hugh Marston Hefner (April 9, 1926 – September 27, 2017) was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of ''Playboy'' magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obsc ...

. She had small roles in two exploitation movies: '' Piranha II: The Spawning'' (1982) and ''

Death Wish II ''Death Wish II'' is a 1982 American vigilante action film directed and co-edited by Michael Winner. It is the first of four sequels to the 1974 film ''Death Wish''. It is the second installment in the ''Death Wish'' film series. In the story, ...

'' (1982). In 1982, CBS cast her in the role of Brenda Clegg in the daytime soap '' Capitol''. In late summer 1984, Graves left the CBS show due to a serious drug problem and a heroin overdose, but her departure was reported as stress-related. Her last public appearance was a nude photo shoot by Jean Rougeron published in the October 1984 issue of ''Oui''.

Filmography

Personal life

Leslie Graves was married and had two children. On August 23, 1995, she died of an AIDS-related illness in Los Angeles.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Graves, Leslie 1959 births 1995 deaths American television actresses American soap opera actresses AIDS-related deaths in California Actresses from New Mexico 20th-century American actresses People from Silver City, New Mexico