Terry Lester

Who was Terry Lester?

Terry Lester was an American actor.

Lester was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, graduating from high school at Southport High School, and began an acting career while at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana in musical theater, concert performances, along with numerous primetime TV guest roles. He starred for the one season of the 1976 children's series Ark II, followed with roles in Airport 1975 and the 1978 Kiss movie Kiss Meets the Phantom of the Park.

Lester's big break came when he joined CBS daytime soap The Young and the Restless in 1980. He originated the role of Jack Abbott, a scoundrel who never met a woman he didn't want to take to bed. Lester was so popular that The Young and the Restless creator William J. Bell wrote an entire family for him. The series was going through a transition period which many fans believed his star quality helped the show build more viewership rising to #1 in daytime soap ratings.

In spite of his massive popularity, by the end of the decade Lester felt his role on the show was steadily declining. In 1989 he not only quit but took the rare step of going to the daytime press and singling out Bill Bell's young daughter, Lauralee Bell, for his dwindling role. He felt the excess airtime given to her came at the expense of both himself and other actors. Lester was finally replaced by one-time All My Children star Peter Bergman, who has played the part of Jack ever since. Lester switched to NBC to take over the role of Mason Capwell on Santa Barbara for a year. In 1992, he joined As the World Turns to play the charming Royce Keller, who was soon revealed to be suffering from multiple personalities which caused him to kill his own sister in the series. The role was very complex, causing raves for Lester, but the headwriter behind the story, Douglas Marland, died suddenly in 1993, and Lester once again found his screentime diminishing. He left the series in 1994.