PASSINGS / Lee Kurty

Lee Kurty, 70, an actress who played nurse Zoe Lawton on the popular 1960s TV medical series “Dr. Kildare,” died July 23 of complications from dementia at Valley Presbyterian Hospital in Van Nuys.

Kurty joined the cast of “Dr. Kildare,” starring Richard Chamberlain, in the show’s final season, 1965-66. Described in The Times as resembling “a Swedish cover girl,” the blond Pittsburgh native was Chamberlain’s love interest.

Kurty, who also appeared on the soaps “Love of Life” and “Search for Tomorrow,” was born Oct. 17, 1938, and graduated from the drama department of what is now Carnegie Mellon University.

She made her Broadway debut in 1964 as Fred Clark’s daughter in “Absence of a Cello.”