Patricia Modell, TV actress, dies at 80

Patricia Modell, the wife of former NFL team owner Art Modell and a longtime television actress, has died. She was 80.

Modell died Tuesday, the Baltimore Ravens announced after being contacted by Modell's son. She had been hospitalized for around five months.

During a 22-year acting career, Patricia Breslin Modell performed on the New York stage, in motion pictures and on television. She starred in the "People's Choice" television series with actor Jackie Cooper and played the role of Meg Baldwin in the soap opera "General Hospital." She also played Laura Brooks on the prime time soap opera "Peyton Place."

Among her many television other roles, she was a regular on "Twilight Zone," "Alfred Hitchcock Presents," and "Perry Mason."

At one point in her career, Modell had appeared on more television shows than any other woman in U.S. history. Her record was eventually broken by one of her best friends, Lucille Ball.

She married Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, in 1969. She retired from acting at that time and immersed herself in her family and community improvement. She actively supported the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and she started and funded, along with her husband, the Hospice of the Western Reserve in Cleveland.

After Art Modell moved his football team to Baltimore in 1996, his wife served on several boards.

The Modells pledged $5 million to help start a public boarding school for disadvantaged students. The SEED School, which opened in the fall of 2008, recruits middle and high school students from around Maryland. The gift is believed to have been one of the largest private contributions to a single public school in the state.

Born in New York, Patricia Modell was the daughter of Edward and Marjorie Breslin. Her father was a Special Sessions judge in New York City. Msgr. Patrick Breslin, for whom she was named, was Judge Breslin's eldest brother.

Modell graduated from the Academy of  Mount St. Ursuline and the College of New Rochelle.