Ellen Holly dead at 92: The One Life to Live star and first Black soap opera actress died 'in her sleep'

One Life to Live star Ellen Holly has passed away at 92. 

The actress, who was the first Black soap opera star, died on Wednesday at Cavalry Hospital in the Bronx, New York. 

The New York native passed away 'in her sleep' according to Deadline. 

Holly starred as Carla Gray in ABC's One Life to Live from 1968 to 1980 and 1983 to 1985, becoming the first Black star to lead a Daytime Television show. 

She was specifically chosen to play the role by television producer Agnes Nixon, after she saw a New York Times article that Holly wrote, called 'How Black Do You Have To Be?' which detailed the hardship of finding roles as a light-skinned Black woman. 

Her character's main conflict on One Life to Live was a love triangle between two doctors — one white and one black.

The complicated love story, plus her attempts to come to terms with her racial identity, helped catapult the soap opera into high ratings.

In her 1996 autobiography, One Life: The Autobiography of an African American Actress, the actress recalled how her and other Black co-stars were underpaid and mistreated by executives on One Life to Live. 

Holly was born on January 16, 1931, in Manhattan to William Garnet Holly, a chemical engineer, and Grayce Holly, a writer and housewife.

Her family was prominent force in the local Black community.

Her relatives included the first African American woman to receive an M.D. in New York City, as well as the city's first Black female principal and the first Black woman to be in the cabinet of the city’s mayor, as per Variety.

Holly graduated from Hunter College before starting her acting career in theater, on staged in New York City and Boston.

In 1956 she made her Broadway debut in Too Late the Phalarope.

She later went on to star in the Broadway productions Face of a Hero, Tiger Tiger Burning Bright and A Hand is on the Gate.

During her theater years she worked alongside stars including Roscoe Lee Browne, Jack Lemmon, Barry Sullivan, James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson.

In 1957 she landed her first television role with 'The Big Story.' 

After her run on One Life to Live, she continued to work, with roles including In the Heat of the Night, The Guiding Light, 10,000 Black Men Named George and Spike Lee's School Daze.

And in the 1990s, Holly took the civil service examination and became a librarian at White Plains Public Library.

In her autobiography, she said her years as a librarian were some of the happiest of her life. 

Holly never married or had children. She had a relationship with her One Life to Live co-star Roger Hill. She also wrote about her romance with Harry Belafonte in her autobiography. 

Holly is survived by grand-nieces, Alexa and Ashley Jones; their father, Xavier Jones and cousins, Wanda Parsons Harris, Julie Adams Strandberg, Carolyn Adams-Kahn and Clinton Arnold. 

As per Holly’s wishes, there will be no funeral. Donations may be made in her name to The Obama Presidential Center or St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.