Biography

Considered Bob Newhart a mentor.

Coming into the show in its second season, she was nominated seven times in the Emmy "supporting actress" category for her work on Newhart (1982), but never won.

Credits Bob Newhart as her favorite comic inspiration.

She missed 3 episodes of Newhart (1982), because she was pregnant.

Married her Love of Life (1951) co-star Jerry Lacy in 1984. The matchmaker who brought them together was Laurette Spang.

One of the main pleasures of doing stage is when you can work on material such as this ["The Little Foxes"], which has stood the test of time. It already works in front of an audience, that's a given-if done well-and that's something you don't know when working on a film or television script. And the collaboration that happens during the rehearsal period and then a long run is just priceless.

[about "The Little Foxes"] I am finding there are more, better roles in theater for a woman my age than there are on TV and in movies, and this is one of them. I had been a fan from reading the play and seeing the movie. When I heard a couple of months ago they were doing it here, I reread the script and was even more impressed than before with the brilliance of the writing. I could see myself in the part, which doesn't always happen. But I knew it would take some effort to prove I was right for it, because I don't look like other wonderful women who have played her.

[About her character in "The Little Foxes"] Playing a victim doesn't interest me, so I can't think of Birdie like that, even though it would be an easy way to gain sympathy from the audience. Instead, I think of her as a woman who keeps hoping people will behave in a more gracious manner. She brings up the spirit of the way life was before she married into this family.

Again because I'm kind of a history nut I find myself fascinated by women like Abigail Adamsm who made their lives mean something to the larger world despite having no path to any way of being heard as a separate person. And I think of Katharine Hepburn, and well, Lillian Hellman, who simply did what they felt was their destiny, with a clear idea of what their worth was, and made it possible for millions who came after to follow their destinies.

[on getting the role of Birdie in "The Little Foxes" by the time she was old enough] I lobbied hard to be seen for the role, and eventually they let me.