As reported by Deadline, actress Alice Hirson (Ellen, Dallas) passed away at the age of 95 on February 14, 2025, at the Los Angeles’ Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital from natural causes. Hirson, born to May and Carl Thorsell, was born on March 10, 1929. She was raised in Long Island, Rhode Island, and had a love for theater. She made her Broadway debut in 1964 in Traveller Without Luggage and frequently came back to the stage from time to time.
Her TV works include One Life to Live, which aired in the 1970s, Dallas, Full House, and 7th Heaven. According to Deadline, a dear friend of hers Chris McKenna (General Hospital, NCIS) took to Instagram to share his grievances, saying how she “shone her light for 95 years”. He ended by saying that her last words were, “It’s nice to have an audience.
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Hirson is most known for playing Lois Morgan, the mother of Ellen Degeneres in the 1990s TV series, Ellen. According to Deadline, Ellen was one of the most controversial shows for that time because it surrounded the life of a gay woman. Ellen came out as gay on the show in the 1997 episode titled “The Puppy Episode” where Hirson plays a disapproving mother. Many people also know her for her role as Mavis Anderson in the show Dallas where she played the best friend of Miss Ellie, played by Barbara Bel Geddes (Fourteen Hours, Five Branded Women) from 1982 to 1988.
Some of her guest appearances included Maude, the TV movie Alexander: The Other Side Of Dawn, The Waltons, Family, Barnaby Jones, The Ropers, Barney Miller, Taxi, and Quincy: M.E., via Deadline. She also appeared in the beginning episodes of Full House playing the mother of the main character Danny Tanner portrayed by Bob Saget (Madagascar, How I Met Your Mother).
According to Deadline, she leaves her two sons, playwright David Hirson (Buzz-Killer The Laurence Olivier Awards) and composer Christopher Hirson (Just a Cute Girl, A Talented Handsome Boy), and a grandson behind.
