Before getting into the details surrounding the death of this extraordinary actress, it is important to highlight the things that she has achieved throughout her life and career.
Her story is typical in the sense that she was born in a place with few opportunities for the live stage, film and television. It was her dream to perform on the grandest stages of them all. While she was born and raised in Chagrin Falls, Ohio she ultimately attended the Juilliard School in New York in order to sharpen her craft and prepare for the auditions she hoped to land starring roles.
Many graduates from Juilliard become well versed in a variety of performing arts disciplines. After graduation, some of them find their niche by auditing and performing for shows on Broadway. Others develop the acting methods for displaying emotion on film and television, deciding to primarily focus on landing roles on those productions. Actress Lisa Banes existed in all of these worlds because she was a triple-threat, her acting skills were phenomenal in all of the performing arts mediums.
When loosing such an accomplished performer, it is devastating for the performing arts community. Even though she will be missed, her imprint on the arts will not be forgotten and will continue to be celebrated through the stories told by her former collaborators and the ideas and productions she created that are still having an impact on the community.
Banes achieved her goal of performing on Broadway. She played Cassie in the stage comedy Rumors in 1988, Margaret Lord in the stage musical High Society in 1998, Accent on Youth in 2009 and Present Laughter in 2010.
Millennials and Generation Z may know Banes from her extensive work in television. She made regular appearances on The Trials of Rosie O’Neill, Son of the Beach, The King of Queens, Six Feet Under, One Life to Live, Nashville, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the mini-series Kane & Abel, China Beach, Murder, She Wrote, The Practice, NYPD Blue, Desperate Housewives, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Wife, NCIS, Once Upon a Time and Royal Pains.
Reading the list of her television credits shows that she has been successful in TV for many years.
Her film credits include The Hotel New Hampshire, Bonnie in Cocktail, Dragonfly, Pumpkin, and Gone Girl.
Banes has a tremendous legacy. She will be known for her versatility as an actress who played a variety of roles, from leading woman to comedic and dramatic characters. She is definitely an artist whose career should be studied and appreciated now and into the future.
On June 4, 2021, Banes collided with a motorized scooter in a hit and run collision in New York City. The same place where she spent many of her years sharing her talents. She died from traumatic brain injury at the age of 65.