‘Guiding Light’ Matriarch Dies

NEW YORK — Charita Bauer, who played matriarch Bert Bauer on radio and television in CBS’ “Guiding Light” for nearly 40 years, is dead at 62 after a long illness.

Bauer, a native of Newark, N.J., who died Thursday, took over the matriarch’s role on radio in the late 1940s. When “Guiding Light” premiered on television in 1952, she commuted between radio and television studios to play the role. She was the only original member of the TV cast still in the show when she quit last Dec. 10. The likeness in surnames was a coincidence, but Bauer’s real life was written into the script on two occasions: in the 1960s when she had uterine cancer and in 1984 when she suffered a leg amputation. In both instances, her character suffered similar health problems.