Dynasty’s Betty Harford dead at 98

Betty Harford has died at the age of 98.

The actor passed away on Sunday in Santa Barbara, California, according to her friend Wendy Mitchell, who spoke to The Hollywood Reporter.

Harford’s film and television career spanned decades and included notable roles such as Mrs Nottingham, the “ever-efficient secretary” of Professor Charles Kingsfield, in The Paper Chase; and Gloria, the sister of Natalie Wood’s character, in Inside Daisy Clover.

She was perhaps best known for her role as Hilda Gummerson on the soap opera Dynasty, which ran from 1981-1989. There, she played a family cook working for Blake Carrington (John Forsythe) for 34 episodes of the series during its first eight seasons, before coming back for the 1991 reunion miniseries.

Some of her other notable credits include classic television shows such as Gunsmoke, The Twilight Zone, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, as well as small parts in films like Spartacus, Signpost to Murder, and Win, Place or Steal.

Harford was married to sculptor Oliver Andrews, who died at age 53 in 1978 in a scuba diving accident. She lived with Hungarian actor Sándor Naszódy until his death in 1996 at the age of 81.

She is survived by her son, Chris, and her grandsons.