Two 'Lives' to Live

Reports of her death, to borrow the cliche, are greatly exaggerated. Former soap star Margaret Klenck, 40, who appeared as intrepid reporter Edwina Lewis on ABC's One Life to Live from 1977 to '84, found herself on the obit pages of both The New York Times and Variety recently after editors confused her with a regional stage actress and director named Edwina Lewis, 42, who died on Aug. 23. Klenck, who costarred in the 1986 movie Hard Choices, has been fielding calls from grieving friends. ''It was real spooky,'' she says. ''I was out of town when the obits ran, but I came home and had all these messages from people saying, 'Uh, Margaret, give me, uh, a call, okay?' No one said, 'Are you dead?' I guess that would have been too silly.'' Many friends called Klenck's agent at Ambrosio/Mortimer. ''I'm told they started answering the phone 'Ambrosio/Mortimer-She's-Not-Dead,''' she says. ''The Times and Variety—just great. It means I'm dead on both coasts,'' Klenck says. ''If there was an up side,'' she says, ''I got to attend my own funeral in a way. There were memorials being planned. I saw many people out there loved and respected me.''