Candice Earley

Candice Jean Earley (August 18, 1950 – January 31, 2019) was an American actress and singer born in Lawton, Oklahoma, to Harold and Jean (née Daily) Earley. She won the Miss Lawton title and pursued fourteen years of training as a classical singer. Earley attended Trinity University, where she studied drama, and developed her voice as a lyric soprano.

Earley's Broadway career spanned from 1968 to 1973 and included roles in Hair, Grease, and Jesus Christ Superstar. She also performed with touring companies, portraying Sheila in a touring production of Hair and singing in the chorus of a touring company of Jesus Christ, Superstar. In 1974, she was starred as Sandy Dumbrowski in Grease. In addition to her stage work, Earley performed in cabarets.

She became widely recognized for her role as Donna Beck Tyler Cortlandt Sago Tyler on the daytime drama All My Children, a part she originated on February 19, 1976, and continued to play until 1992. The character of Donna was introduced as a troubled young woman from an abusive home who had been a runaway and a prostitute; in her first appearance, Donna is discovered in a hospital bed, comatose after being kidnapped, beaten, and raped by her pimp, Tyrone. Earley was not the original actress cast in the role — producers replaced her predecessor due to dissatisfaction with that actress's performance, and the part had initially been conceived as short-term. Earley's portrayal resonated with viewers, and she won the award for Most Exciting New Actress at the first annual Soapies in 1977, a ceremony now known as the Soap Opera Digest Awards. Over the course of her tenure, the character evolved into a mature woman with a talent for singing who established and operated a successful hair salon. Earley was written out of the show in 1992 following her marriage.

Earley died on January 31, 2019, after an eight-year battle with multiple system atrophy.