Frances Reid (Alice Horton, DOOL) passed away yesterday at the age of 95. She was a wonderful woman.

Jason says the following to SOD about her passing:

“My very first day on DAYS I was exceedingly nervous,” recalls Jason Cook (Matt, GH; ex-Shawn, DAYS) to Digest. “Big studio, big cast, two shows to memorize…a lot going on. As Peter [Reckell, Bo] called it, induction by fire. He proceeded to laugh at me, pat me on the back and then left me with my script. I’m sure he thought he was being comforting (in the following weeks I would learn how cool he was, despite an odd sense of humor I would learn to love), however, at the time, it was anything but.

My first scene on the show was Shawn entering the pub with Grandpa Shawn at the ready, complete with baseball bat, to knock him out. But as we often had to do, we were shooting out of order for production, and so my ACTUAL first scene to shoot was in the hospital with the entire cast. Someone had crashed a yacht into a helicopter or something, of course was in critical condition, and everyone in Salem had converged into the ER to pray. Shawn comes in, goes straight over to Great Gran, and proceeds to talk for half a page, answering to why he’s back and wondering where Belle is. Before the scene is over, before her next line, Frances responds to me by saying,

‘You’re not going to say it like that, are you?’

Nervous, green, first day — this is not the reaction you want to get out of your co-stars. Especially the matriarch, been there since episode 1, when 20 cast members and an even bigger crew are all silent listening. I thought I was going to be fired before my first scene shot.

‘Well, I…that’s what is written I think…’

‘Well change it. It’s terrible. Especially the Great Gran part. I didn’t think it was possible to age me any more than I am, but GREAT Gran? Believe me, it’s not so great.’

Frances Reid was the most comical, spunky, full-of-life woman I ever knew. Her repertoire of incredible stories seemed endless, both from DAYS and her travels throughout the world (Frances was incredibly well traveled). I feel blessed for my seven years of working with her. But more so, I’m grateful to have known her wit and warm sense of humor first hand. I’ll miss you, Frances. You’ll always be Gran to me. Just Gran.”