The long running hospital drama that premiered during my first semester as a college freshman is coming to an end tonight. I was a devoted follower up until the character Mark Greene’s death in the 9th season. In my opinion the show should have ended right there, but it survived for another 6 years. And in all that time, I never knew that a Wilmington native starred in each and every episode during the show’s 15 year run.
Yvette Freeman played Nurse Haleh Adams.
One of seven children, Freeman is the daughter of Wilmington jazz pianist Charles Freeman. And she is grateful to Bruce Laird, a theater teacher at P.S. du Pont High School, for encouraging her to pursue acting and singing.
“I have warm feelings for Wilmington and attended a great high school.”
She went on to the University of Delaware, majoring in art and minoring in theater. After graduation, she moved to New York.
There she landed a role in the Broadway musical “Ain’t Misbehavin’ ” and later toured in productions of “The Wiz,” “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” and “Voices, Inc.”
With her husband, Freeman created a one-woman show on the life of legendary jazz singer Dinah Washington. “Dinah Was” earned her an Obie, an off-Broadway theater award, in 1998. She has periodically reprised the musical.