Mary Pat Gleason (February 23, 1950 – June 2, 2020)
Gleason was a film and television actress and an Emmy Award winning writer. From 1983–85, she appeared on The Guiding Light as Jane Hogan. During her high school years in St. Paul, Minnesota, Mary Pat starred in a Theater St. Paul production of Once Upon a Mattress and received raving reviews. Since the early 1980's she has appeared on such television series as Full House, Dear John, Murphy Brown, Empty Nest, L.A. Law, Saved by the Bell, Murder, She Wrote, Friends, Step by Step, Suddenly Susan, Will & Grace, Sex and the City, Desperate Housewives, Family Matters, NCIS: Los Angeles, The Middleman, Up All Night, 1600 Penn, Motive, Baby Daddy, Grey's Anatomy, Partners, Mama's Family, 2 Broke Girls and Mom. She has appeared in such feature films as I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Basic Instinct, Traffic, Bruce Almighty, 13 Going on 30, The Crucible, Bottle Shock, A Cinderella Story, The Island, Killing Kennedy and Nina. In 2006, Gleason wrote and performed in a one-woman show in New York, titled Stopping Traffic, that addressed her battle with bipolar disorder through humor. Gleason died of cancer at age 70 on June 2, 2020.