"I love the soaps," said daytime television actress Shell Kepler. "I've been watching General Hospital since I was three years old and I really care about the characters. I've grown up with them."

Shell decided to become an actress after seeing The Wizard of Oz at age two. Her first appearance came at age nine when she appeared in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, at the Chattanooga, Tennessee, Little Theater. She later appeared in the same theater in The Sound of Music.

Shell moved to Los Angeles with her family just before entering junior high school. "At that time," she explained, "I was the world's most outstanding reject, all gangling and quiet," hardly a fitting description for the vivacious, petite actress now. Shell recalled how uncoordinated she felt in gym classes in those days. However, to her amazement, she bettered three California state track records when her class was given a physical fitness test.

When Shell was 14 her mother died. Two years later her father moved back east to accept a position as vice president with a large corporation. Shell and her brother decided to stay in Los Angeles.

Shell's eyes would light up as she speaks of her brother. "Fred was a prodigy in classical guitar but now he's the lead singer of a rock group. Since I'm a frustrated singer, I live vicariously through him."

Shell was not unfamiliar with the rock scene. At the tender age of 15 she left school and went to work as a reporter for a magazine specializing in rock 'n' roll. In all her exuberance, Shell was surprisingly business-minded, investing in real estate and the stock market. Additionally, Shell wrote a screenplay and a television pilot.

Shell Kepler passed away suddenly in 2008e from renal failure.

PLACE OF BIRTH: Painesville, Ohio

DATE OF BIRTH: October 5

HEIGHT: 5'4"

HAIR: Dark Blonde

EYES: Blue

News Archive: Shell Kepler dies suddenly from renal failure. [Feb 1, 2008]