Monterey Herald
Actress Debralee Scott, appeared in “Mary Hartman” and on game shows, dead at 52
AMELIA ISLAND, Fla. - Actress Debralee Scott, a regular on the TV sitcom “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” and frequent face on the 1970’s game show circuit, has died. She was 52.
Scott died of natural causes April 5, three days after her birthday, at her home in Amelia Island, said her sister Jeri Scott, a talent manager in Beverly Hills. The exact cause was not released.
Scott came from a family of show business insiders. Her eldest sister, Scott Bushnell, produced many of director Robert Altman's films. Middle sister Jeri Scott is an agent turned manager.
The two older Scotts moved to San Francisco from their hometown of Elizabeth, N.J., as young adults. A few years later, their father said their younger sister Debralee was “getting restless” and he asked if she could join them, Jeri Scott recalled Friday.
“She was 16. She was supposed to finish high school, but I doubt she showed up,” Scott said. “It was the ‘70’s in San Francisco. It was wear a flower in your hair.”
Scott eventually met an agent in Los Angeles, and got her first major role on “Mary Hartman” at age 22. She later played the role of Hotsy Totsy on the show “Welcome Back Kotter” and appeared in two of the Police Academy movies.
She had been engaged to John Dennis Levi, a police officer with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who was killed in the Sept. 11 attacks.
Scott had just moved to north Florida to be with her older sister.
Funeral plans were pending.
