Canadian actress and former 24 star Alberta Watson has passed away at the age of 60. As 24 fans may know, Alberta Watson portrayed the strict CTU director Erin Driscoll in the fourth season of 24 (and the memorable DVD prequel in which her character fires Jack Bauer from CTU).
24 director Jon Cassar broke the unfortunate news of her passing on his Twitter account late Sunday night.
Alberta Watson’s agent Pam Winter has since confirmed the news in a statement issued to ET Canada: “It is the case, sadly. Alberta passed away on Saturday evening at Kensington Hospice in Toronto. Her husband Ken was by her side. We await details of a memorial service for her.”
Alberta previously worked with 24 co-creator Joel Surnow and director Jon Cassar on the hit cable series La Femme Nikita from 1997 to 2001. They had hoped to cast her in the first season of 24 and wrote the part of “Alberta Green” for her, but that role ultimately went to actress Tamara Tunie.
Watson was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1998 and underwent extensive chemotherapy. In a 1999 interview she said “I don’t want to take my life for granted. So I’ve tried to slow down and really try and smell the roses. Some people don’t get well and we’re all going to die sometime. So I guess just having it in my face made me realize that I want to try and be fulfilled every day as much as possible.”
Our thoughts and prayers go out to Alberta’s friends and family.