Actress Arleen Sorkin of daytime TV fame dies at 67

While initially making a mark on the soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” the performer would help create a now iconic comic-book villainess.

Published August 29, 2023

Credit: Kathy Hutchins via Wikimedia Commons.

Actress Arleen Sorkin at an event sponsored by the National Breast Cancer Coalition in 2011.

After fighting multiple sclerosis for a decade, the disease took the life of 67-year-old Jewish film and television actress Arleen Sorkin on Aug. 24.

Playing Calliope Jones Bradford in the daytime soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” Sorkin served as a series regular from 1984 through 1990, making guest appearances on the show in the years afterwards through 2010.

Then there was “Batman: The Animated Series,” and the introduction of Harley Quinn, both sidekick and love interest to the Joker. Sorkin both voiced and reportedly provided inspiration for the character’s personality.

In 1992, in what writers initially intended as a one-off appearance, Sorkin performed the character so memorably that Harley Quinn became a fan favorite, appearing across TV shows, comic books, video games and animated films in the following decades. The latest iteration of the villainess was portrayed in the live-action films “Suicide Squad” (2016) and (2021) by actress Margot Robbie.

Sorkin is survived by her husband, television writer and producer Christopher Lloyd; and their two sons, Eli and Owen.