Debralee Scott (April 2, 1953 – April 5, 2005) was an American actress best known for her roles on the sitcoms ''
Welcome Back, Kotter
''Welcome Back, Kotter'' is an American sitcom starring Gabe Kaplan as a high-school teacher in charge of a racially and ethnically diverse remedial education class nicknamed the Sweathogs. Recorded in front of a live studio audience, the ser ...
Elizabeth, New Jersey
Elizabeth is a City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Union County, New Jersey, Union County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, where she was a cheerleader. At age 22, she found fame on ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' playing Mary's sister Cathy Shumway. She appeared on the first season of the sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'' as Rosalie "Hotsy" Totsy; guest-starred in an episode of '' Gibbsville'' in 1976; and played Angie's younger sister Marie Falco in the Donna Pescow sitcom '' Angie''.
Among her feature-film credits were the 1973 feature film ''
American Graffiti
''American Graffiti'' is a 1973 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film directed by George Lucas, produced by Francis Ford Coppola, written by Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz and Lucas, and starring Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, Paul Le Mat ...
,'' the 1974 film ''
Earthquake
An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...
,'' and the 1984 film ''
Police Academy
A police academy, also known as a law enforcement training center, police college, or police university, is a training school for police cadets, designed to prepare them for the law enforcement agency they will be joining upon graduation, or to o ...
''.
Scott was a fixture on the game-show circuit in the late 1970s and early 1980s, frequently serving as a celebrity guest on shows, including ''
Match Game
''Match Game'' is an American television panel game show that premiered on NBC in 1962 and has been revived several times over the course of the last six decades. The game features contestants trying to match answers given by celebrity paneli ...
'', ''
The $20,000 Pyramid
''Pyramid'' is an American game show franchise that has aired several versions domestically and internationally. The show was developed by Bob Stewart. The original series, ''The $10,000 Pyramid'', debuted on CBS on March 26, 1973, and spawned ...
'', ''Riddlers'', and ''
Password Plus
''Password Plus'' and ''Super Password'' are American TV game shows that aired separately between 1979 and 1989. Both shows were revivals of ''Password'', which originally ran from 1961 to 1975 in various incarnations. With only subtle differen ...
''.
Scott also appeared with the cast of ''Angie'' on ''
Celebrity Family Feud
''Celebrity Family Feud'' is a broadcast network spin-off (media), spin-off of the broadcast syndication, syndicated American game show ''Family Feud''. Like the primetime ''All-Star Specials'' aired during the late 1970s and early 1980s by the s ...
'' in November 1979. After the cast of ''Angie'' defeated the cast of ''
The Ropers
''The Ropers'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from March 13, 1979, to May 15, 1980. It is a Spin-off (media), spin-off of ''Three's Company'' and loosely based on the British sitcom ''Geo ...
'' in the first match, Scott scored 176 points in the Fast Money round, leaving partner
Robert Hays
Robert Blakely Hays (born July 24, 1947) is an American actor, known for a variety of television and film roles since the 1970s. He came to prominence around 1980, co-starring in the two-season domestic sitcom ''Angie (TV series), Angie'', and ...
only needing 24 points as they successfully won a guaranteed minimum $5,000 for their charity. After defeating the cast of ''
The Dukes of Hazzard
''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy television series created by Gy Waldron that aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985, with a total of seven seasons consisting of List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes, 147 ...
'' in the Finals match, she then scored 234 points all by herself in the Fast Money round, getting 4 of the 5 most popular answers and winning before Hays ever got a chance to play, bringing their total to $15,000 for their charity. Host Richard Dawson noted that she was the first celebrity player and only the fourth player in the show's then-four-year-history to win a Fast Money round single-handedly.
For a while, Scott continued to work in front of the camera, appearing in two ''Police Academy'' movies, but she later retired and chose a career behind the camera, becoming an agent for a company in New York City called Empowered Artists.
In 2000, Scott appeared on a panel with her former ''Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'' castmates at the Museum of Television and Radio in Beverly Hills.
Personal life and death
Scott was married to actor
Jonathan Frakes
Jonathan Scott Frakes (born August 19, 1952) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his portrayal of William Riker in the television series ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and subsequent films and series. He has also hosted th ...
for a time in the 1980s. The marriage dissolved by 1986, when Frakes remarried.
Scott then became engaged to John Dennis Levi, a police officer with the
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, (PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ) is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York (state), New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate c ...
, who died in the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
.
In 2005, shortly after moving to Florida to live with her sister, Scott fell into a coma and was hospitalized. She recovered and was released from the hospital on her birthday. However, she died in her sleep three days later, on April 5, 2005. Her body was cremated.
Her fiancé's mother later stated that Scott had a drinking problem, which led to her developing
cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, chronic liver failure or chronic hepatic failure and end-stage liver disease, is a chronic condition of the liver in which the normal functioning tissue, or parenchyma, is replaced ...
, which eventually caused her death. Her sister Jerri added that "she never did get over Dennis' death".