Jayne Bentzen (born August 15, 1951, in Evansville, Indiana) is an American actress, model, and philanthropist. As an actress, she is best known for her portrayal of Nicole Drake Cavanaugh on the CBS/ABC daytime show The Edge of Night (1978–1981). Bentzen is also the founder and head of the Benedict Silverman Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to implementing science-based reading instruction in public schools^[1].

Bentzen was born in Evansville, Indiana, as the youngest child of Irvin and Marigail Bentzen.Her father was a lieutenant colonel in the Indiana National Guard and a personnel manager with the Chrysler corporation.^[2] Her mother was a schoolteacher.^[3] During Bentzen's childhood, her family relocated to Ohio and later to Michigan.^[4]

From an early age, Bentzen performed in local theater productions such as Anne Frank, The Glass Menagerie, and A School for Scandal.^[5] She attended the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan.^[5] Upon graduating high school, Bentzen moved to Los Angeles, where she studied acting with Lee Strasberg.^[6] She also worked as a model and was featured in advertising campaigns, magazine spreads, and television commercials.

In 1974, Bentzen moved to New York City, where she performed in numerous theater productions, including Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, School for Scandal, and A Hatful of Rain.^[6] In 1978 Bentzen was cast as Nicole Travis Drake Cavanaugh in the crime-mystery melodrama The Edge of Night. Her portrayal of Nicole, a character coming to terms with the death of her husband, attorney Adam Drake (played by Donald May), who later married Miles Cavanaugh (Joel Crothers), was praised by critics, with one newspaper noting that she “provided viewers with a refreshing interpretation of the role.”^[5] Bentzen remained in the role until 1981.^[7] Bentzen's other notable roles include Amy Rollings in A Breed Apart (1984), and Julie in Blood Rage (1987).

In 1989, Bentzen married Benedict Silverman, a real estate investor and collector of German expressionist art, Art Nouveau furniture, as well as Tiffany lamps and glass.^[8] On a visit to his alma mater, the University of Florida, Silverman was introduced to Dr. Nora Hoover, Professor of Language and Literacy at the University of Florida’s College of Education.^[9] Hoover was the founder of Reading Rescue (later renamed Reading Go!), a reading instruction program based on the five essential components of literacy: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary and comprehension.^[10] The program uses a multi-sensory and multimodal approach in one-on-one and small group lessons to help struggling readers in first through third grade. In developing the program, Hoover also designed a training sequence for existing school staff, which kept costs to schools relatively modest.^[11] Several studies and field evaluations have shown the intervention model to be effective, increasing students’ reading between pre-test and post-test and raising scores from below-level to grade-level performance.^[12] In 2012, Silverman and Bentzen formed the Benedict Silverman Foundation to support the expansion of Reading Go!.^[10] Bentzen is the foundation’s president and board chair.^[1]

In the early 2000s, the program concentrated its services on New York City public schools, allowing for a centralized effort within the nation's largest school district.^[9] Dr. Hoover continued to lead research and guide the program's expansion until her retirement in 2018.^[9] Following her retirement, Dr. Katie Pace Miles was appointed as the Academic Advisor for Reading Go!. With the support of the Benedict Silverman Foundation, Miles’s non-profit, the Reading Institute, continues to bring science-based reading instruction to New York City schools.^[13]

• Jayne Bentzen at IMDb
• Benedict Silverman Foundation