LOS ANGELES -- Actress Brenda Benet, who played the often hysterical Lee Williams in the television soap opera 'Days of Our Lives,' committed suicide with a gunshot wound to the head, officials said today.
Miss Benet, 35, who died Wednesday, had portrayed the scheming Mrs. Williams on the long-running NBC-TV daytime series for four years. Her son Christopher, 6, died in March 1981 and she was divorced from actor Bill Bixby shortly afterward.
'It was determined that Mrs. Bixby (Miss Benet) died of a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head,' coroner's spokesman Bill Gold said. 'No autopsy was necessary and the death is listed as a suicide.'
'It was determined that Mrs. Bixby (Miss Benet) died of a self-inflicted bullet wound to the head,' coroner's spokesman Bill Gold said. 'No autopsy was necessary and the death is listed as a suicide.'
A pistol was clutched in her hand when her secretary and police officers she had called broke down the bathroom door and found the body in her Pacific Palisades, Calif., home.
A friend told officers Miss Benet had never gotten over the death of her son. The boy suddenly lapsed into a coma during a weekend ski trip to Mammoth, Calif., and died the next day of a rare throat infection called acute epiglotitis.
Not long afterwards Bixby, star of the TV series 'The Incredible Hulk,' and Miss Benet were divorced.
She was born in Hollywood, Calif., and studied with the San Francisco Ballet Company. She was also featured in several productions of the Los Angeles Civic Light Opera.
Miss Benet was a musician who played piano, flute and violin and was fluent in five languages.
She appeared in several television series, including 'The FBI,' The Courtship of Eddie's Father,' 'Mannix,' 'It Takes A Thief' and 'Fantasy Island' in addition to her role on 'Days of Our Lives.'
