Alice Hirson, the actress known for her work on Dallas and on Ellen DeGeneres‘ groundbreaking ’90s sitcom Ellen, as well as soap operas, died of natural causes on Feb. 14 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, her son, David Hirson, told the Hollywood Reporter. She was 95.

Hirson began racking up her extensive list of credits in the ’50s, on The Edge of Night, and, by the 1970s, she had starred on dozens of episodes of Another World and One Life to Live. She later costarred on a handful of episodes of Loving and played Mrs. Van Gelder on several episodes of General Hospital.

Though she spent much of her time on daytime television, Hirson also popped up regularly on primetime, making appearances on Maude, The Waltons, and Three’s Company spinoff The Ropers. From 1982 to 1988, she portrayed Mavis Anderson, a friend of “Miss Ellie” Ewing (Barbara Bel Geddes) on Dallas. She later went on to turn up in guest roles on series including Full House, Murphy Brown, Law & Order, and 7th Heaven.

On Ellen, from 1992 to 1998, Hirson portrayed the mother of DeGeneres’ character, Ellen Morgan, on more than two dozen episodes, including one in which she revealed her sexuality to her parents, Hirson’s Lois and Harold (Steven Gilborn) Morgan. When her daughter shared her news while the three dined at a restaurant, Lois suggested that her daughter wasn’t gay but just “choosy” and hadn’t found the right man yet.

While making her mark on TV, Hirson was on the silver screen, too, with parts in movies such as Private Benjamin, alongside Goldie Hawn; Peter Sellers and Shirley MacLaine‘s acclaimed satire Being There; gross-out comedy Revenge of the Nerds; Bruce Willis and Kim Basinger‘s 1987 romp Blind Date; and, in 2001, thriller The Glass House.

Sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free daily newsletter to get breaking TV news, exclusive first looks, recaps, reviews, interviews with your favorite stars, and more.

THR reported that Hirson was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on March 10, 1929, and her work in TV and movies began after she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1948. The actress first gained attention while working in summer stock and was cast in a touring production of On the Town. She later worked on Broadway, and her son, who is himself a Broadway playwright, told the outlet that she always considered herself chiefly a stage actress.

In her personal life, she married actor Stephen Elliott in 1980, after having him met on the stage. They were together until his death in 2005.

Hirson is survived by sons David and Christopher and a grandson, Daniel.