Thursday, October 17, 2024
Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Tuesday, October 15, 2024
Monday, October 14, 2024
Sunday, October 13, 2024
Friday, October 11, 2024
Yom Kippur
Yom Kippur In Brief
What: Yom Kippur fast day is the holiest day of the year, when we are closest to G‑d and to the essence of our souls. Yom Kippur means “Day of Atonement,” as the verse states, “For on this day He will forgive you, to purify you, that you be cleansed from all your sins before G‑d.”1
When: The 10th day of Tishrei (in 2024, from several minutes before sunset on Friday, October 11, until after nightfall on Shabbat, October 12), coming on the heels of Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year, which is on the first and second days of Tishrei).
How: For nearly 26 hours we “afflict our souls”: we abstain from food and drink, do not wash or apply lotions or creams, do not wear leather footwear, and abstain from marital relations. Instead, we spend the day in synagogue, praying for forgiveness.Tuesday, October 8, 2024
Monday, October 7, 2024
DESI ARNAZ, JR. (1953-)
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Desiderio Alberto Arnaz IV (born January 19, 1953), better known as Desi Arnaz Jr., is an American retired actor and musician. He is the son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Early life
Arnaz was born on January 19, 1953, at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles.[1] His older sister is actress Lucie Arnaz, who was born in 1951.
His birth was one of the most publicized in television history. His parents were the stars of the television sitcom I Love Lucy, and Ball's pregnancy was part of the story line, which was considered daring in 1952. The same day Ball gave birth to Desi Jr., the fictional Lucy Ricardo gave birth to "Little Ricky". As a testament to how interested the American public was in Lucy's TV baby, Arnaz appeared on the cover of the first issue of TV Guide with the headline "Lucy's $50,000,000 baby", ($570,000,000 in 2023 dollars)[2] because revenue from advertising tie-ins was expected to top that amount.[3] Actor Richard Keith (a.k.a. Keith Thibodeaux) later portrayed "Little Ricky" in the TV series; Keith spent much time with Lucie and Desi Jr. in childhood and became close friends with the family, teaching Desi Jr. how to play drums.[4]
Arnaz attended University High School in West Los Angeles.
Career
At age 12, Arnaz was a drummer with Dino, Desi & Billy. The others were Dean Paul Martin (son of Dean Martin) and Billy Hinsche. The band scored two hit singles with "I'm a Fool" and "Not the Lovin' Kind" in 1965.[5]
Acting
From 1968 to 1974, Desi Arnaz and his sister Lucie co-starred opposite their mother in Here's Lucy as her children. In 1968, he had a guest-starring role as Jerry and Suzie's drum-playing friend Tommy in the episode, "The Hombre Who Came to Dinner: Part 2", from the show The Mothers-in-Law, executive-produced and directed by his father. In 1970, he appeared on The Brady Bunch episode "The Possible Dream". He starred in the tearjerker movie Red Sky at Morning in 1971 with Richard Thomas, Richard Crenna and Claire Bloom. His best chance at enduring Hollywood fame came in 1973, when he played the title role in the film Marco, a musical about the life of adventurer Marco Polo. However, like most Hollywood musicals of that period, it failed to register at the box office.
In 1974, Arnaz played the title role in the Western movie Billy Two Hats with Gregory Peck. In 1976, he appeared on two episodes of the television series, The Streets of San Francisco. Arnaz also appeared in a 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live (SNL) hosted by both Desi Arnaz and Desi Arnaz Jr.. The younger Arnaz played Ricky Ricardo while Gilda Radner played Lucy in spoofs of supposed ill-fated pilots for I Love Lucy.
In 1977, he was the lead in the film Joyride opposite fellow children of famous actors Melanie Griffith, Robert Carradine, and Anne Lockhart.
Arnaz's acting extended into the late 1980s with various appearances on television, and a leading role in the short-lived TV series Automan, which ran from 1983 to 1984 in only 12 episodes.
In 1992, he played his father in the movie The Mambo Kings, based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that he felt treated his father with respect. The film includes a scene in which Desi Jr., playing his father's character Ricky Ricardo, acts opposite his mother as Lucy Ricardo with film from the TV series intercut with the cast.[6]
Later
Between 1998 and 2010, he was touring with a new configuration of Dino, Desi & Billy called Ricci, Desi & Billy, featuring Arnaz reunited with Billy Hinsche, and joined by Ricci Martin (youngest son of Dean Martin). The group performed original material as well as the songs the original band performed.[7]
From about 2002 to 2007, he was vice-president of the board of Directors of the Lucille Ball–Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York. He resigned over a dispute with the executive director over the center.[8][9]
In 2007, Arnaz appeared at the 5th Annual TV Land Awards with his sister Lucie to accept the Legacy of Laughter award posthumously given to their mother.
Arnaz has also headlined Babalu: A Celebration of the Music of Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra with Lucie Arnaz, Raul Esparza, and Valarie Pettiford.[10]
On October 15, 2011, Arnaz performed in Babalu at the Coolidge Auditorium of the Library of Congress. The performance was in conjunction with the Library's Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz Collection.[11] In 2021, Arnaz and his sister Lucie served as executive producers for the film, Being the Ricardos.[12]
Personal life
Arnaz has a daughter, Julia Arnaz, from a relationship with model Susan Callahan-Howe in 1968 when they were both 15 years old; Julia's relationship to Desi Jr. was proven by a paternity test in 1991.[13]
Arnaz dated actress Patty Duke when he was 17 and she was 23. He accompanied Duke to the 1970 Emmy Awards ceremony where she won the Emmy for Outstanding Single Performance. The relationship became tabloid news and his mother did not approve of them together, and Duke became pregnant. After they broke up, writer and music producer Michael Tell offered to marry Duke as a way out of the scandal. Their marriage lasted 13 days, and Duke later told her son, Sean Astin, that Arnaz was his biological father. Arnaz and Astin developed a close relationship, although genetic tests later revealed that Tell was his biological father. Astin responded to press inquires
- "I can call any of them on the phone any time I want to ... John, Desi, Mike, or Papa Mike ... my four dads."[14]
(Sean Astin's stepfather was Michael Pearce, Patty Duke's husband after John Astin.)
Arnaz was subsequently involved with entertainer Liza Minnelli, another relationship of which his mother disapproved; Ball thought that the singer-actress was too old for her son and, because of Minnelli's perceived reckless lifestyle, not a good influence upon him. In May 1972, Arnaz announced his engagement to Minnelli.[15] He accompanied her to the Academy Awards ceremony in March 1973 when she won the Academy Award for Best Actress.[5] While in London, Minnelli ended their engagement, to be with comedian Peter Sellers in May 1973.[16]
Arnaz married actress Linda Purl in 1979.[17] On January 3, 1980, Purl filed for divorce, which was finalized later that year.[18] On October 8, 1987, Arnaz married Amy Laura Bargiel.[19] The couple lived in Boulder City, Nevada, with their daughter, Haley.[20] In 1997, Arnaz purchased the Boulder Theatre in town and restored it, when it had been on the brink of ruin. After its conversion to a theatre, the cinema became the home of the Boulder City Ballet Company.
Desi's wife Amy died of cancer in 2015, at age 63.[21] Both Desi and Amy were followers of Vernon Howard and attended meetings of Howard's 'New Life Foundation' in Boulder City.[22] They also followed and have supported the spiritual writer Guy Finley (also one of Vernon Howard's students) and his Life of Learning Center for Spiritual Discovery.
Arnaz's granddaughter Desiree S. Anzalone (daughter of Julia), a photographer, died from breast cancer on September 27, 2020, at age 31, six years after it was first diagnosed.[23][24]
Filmography
- 1957: I Love Lucy – Spectator at Unveiling (1 episode, 1957)
- 1962: The Lucy Show – Spectator (5 episodes, 1962–1965)
- 1968: Here's Lucy – Craig Carter (1968–1972)
- 1968: The Mothers-in-Law – Tommy (2 episodes, 1968)
- 1970: The Brady Bunch (as himself) ("The Possible Dream" episode)
- 1971: Love, American Style – Alan (segment "Love and the Motel Mixup") (1 episode, 1971)
- 1971: The Mod Squad – Victor Emory (1 episode, 1971)
- 1971: Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones (Made for TV movie) – Bo Jo Jones
- 1971: Night Gallery – Doran (1 episode, 1971)
- 1971: Red Sky at Morning – William 'Steenie' Stenopolous
- 1973: Marco – Marco Polo
- 1973: She Lives! (TV) – Andy Reed
- 1973: Voyage of the Yes (TV) – Cal Markwell
- 1974: Billy Two Hats – Billy Two Hats
- 1975: Medical Story – Jerry Mitchell (1 episode, 1975)
- 1975: Medical Center (1 episode, 1975)
- 1976: The Streets of San Francisco – B. J. Palmer (1 episode, 1976)
- 1976: Police Story – Jay Vernon (2 episodes, 1976)
- 1976: Having Babies (TV) – Frank Gorman
- 1977: Black Market Baby (TV) – Steve Aletti
- 1977: Joyride – Scott
- 1977: Flight to Holocaust (TV) – Rick Bender
- 1978: How to Pick Up Girls! (TV) – Robby Harrington
- 1978: Fantasy Island – Barney Hunter (1 episode, 1978)
- 1978: A Wedding – Dino Sloan Corelli
- 1978: The Courage and the Passion (TV) – Sgt. Tom Wade
- 1978: To Kill a Cop (TV) – Martin Delahanty
- 1978: The Love Boat – Steve Hollis (2 episodes, 1978)
- 1979: Crisis in Mid-Air (TV) – Tim Donovan
- 1980: The Great American Traffic Jam (TV) – Robbie Reinhardt
- 1981: Advice to the Lovelorn (TV) – Steve Vernon
- 1982: Fake-Out – Detective Clint Morgan
- 1983: Automan – Walter Nebicher (13 episodes, 1983–1984)
- 1983: The Night the Bridge Fell Down (TV) – Johnny Pyle
- 1983: House of the Long Shadows – Kenneth Magee
- 1987: Paul Reiser Out on a Whim (TV)
- 1987: Matlock – Michael Porter (1 episode, 1987)
- 1992: The Mambo Kings – Desi Arnaz Sr.
Sunday, October 6, 2024
LUCIE ARNAZ (1951-)
Lucie Désirée Arnaz (born July 17, 1951) is an American actress and singer.[1] She is the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.
Early life
Arnaz was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California,[2] the daughter of actors Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, and is the sister of actor Desi Arnaz Jr.[3][4][5][6] She lived for a few years in New York City from the age of 10, and attended St. Vincent Ferrer School, along with her brother, and later attended the Roman Catholic Immaculate Heart High School in Los Angeles.[7]
Career
Television
Having had walk-on roles on her mother's previous television series The Lucy Show, Arnaz made her acting debut in a major role in the series Here's Lucy from 1968 to 1974. She played Kim Carter, the daughter of the eponymous Lucy, her mother.[8]
Arnaz branched out into television roles independent of her family from the mid-1970s. In 1975, she played murder victim Elizabeth Short in an NBC telefilm of Who Is the Black Dahlia?,[9][10] and she starred with Lyle Waggoner and Tommy Tune in Welcome to the "World", The Wonderful World of Disney special commemorating the grand opening of Space Mountain at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.[11] In 1978, she appeared in an episode of Fantasy Island[12] as a woman desperately trying to save her marriage. She has continued to make appearances in a number of popular television series over the years, including Murder, She Wrote, Marcus Welby, M.D., Sons and Daughters (CBS, 1991),[13] and Law & Order.
Arnaz also had a short-lived series of her own, The Lucie Arnaz Show, on CBS in 1985. The reviewer for The New York Times described the show as "the always ingratiating Miss Arnaz as a psychologist who not only writes an advice column, but also takes calls from listeners on her own radio program."[14][15][16]
Another eponymous series, this one a late-night-style talk show, aired for one season from 1995 to 1996. It was unsuccessful, but The Rosie O'Donnell Show would use the same format a year later to much greater success, prompting Arnaz's agent to pitch a revival that would not be picked up.[17]
Arnaz won an Emmy Award in 1993 for Outstanding Informational Special for her documentary about her parents, Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie.[18][19][20][21]
Theatre
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Arnaz has had a lengthy career in musical theatre. In June 1978 she played the title role in Annie Get Your Gun at the Jones Beach Theatre on Long Island, New York.[22] This was the first production at Jones Beach Theatre after the death of longtime producer Guy Lombardo.[23] In 1981, she played the lead female role in Educating Rita at The Cape Playhouse in Dennis, Massachusetts.[24][25]
She made her Broadway debut in February 1979 in the musical They're Playing Our Song.[26] Arnaz won the Theatre World Award[27] [28] and the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her portrayal of Sonia Walsk. In 1986, she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her tour with Tommy Tune in the international company of the musical My One and Only.[29][30]
She has numerous other theater credits, both in the United States and abroad: Seesaw (first national company, 1974[31]), Whose Life Is It Anyway?, The Guardsman (Paper Mill Playhouse, Millburn, New Jersey, January 1984[32]), The Wizard of Oz in Concert: Dreams Come True (Concert at Lincoln Center, 1995, televised[33][34]), Sonia Flew (Coconut Grove Playhouse, Florida, April 2006[35]), The Witches of Eastwick (London, Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, June 2000[36][37]), Vanities (Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, 1976 as "Kathy"[38]), Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers (Broadway[39]), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Broadway, May 23, 2006, to September 3, 2006[39]), and Terence McNally's Master Class (Seacoast Repertory Theatre, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, April to May 1999[40]).
In 2010, Arnaz performed (along with Raúl Esparza and Valarie Pettiford) in and directed Babalu: A Celebration of the Music of Desi Arnaz and his Orchestra. A Miami, Florida performance was given in July 2010.[41]
She toured in Pippin in 2014, playing the role of Berthe, the title character's grandmother.[42] She appeared on Broadway in Pippin, from October 9, 2014, to November 9, 2014.[43][44]
Film
Arnaz made feature-film appearances, including The Jazz Singer (1980) in which she co-starred with Neil Diamond and Laurence Olivier.[45] She earned a nomination for the 1981 Golden Globe Award, Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture.[46] She also appeared in the 1982 comedy drama One More Try opposite her future husband, Lawrence Luckinbill.
Other works
- Arnaz was a Trustee on the Board of The American Theatre Wing for 15 years (1999–2014).
- In October 2008, Arnaz and longtime family friend, Hollywood columnist and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne participated in a tribute to Arnaz's mother, Lucille Ball, at the Paley Center For Media in New York City.[47] The program, "Lucie and Lucy: Lucie Arnaz Shares Treasures From The Family Video Collection", included a discussion between Osborne and Arnaz about Ball, and also focused on Ball's last long-running series, Here's Lucy (which was celebrating its 40th anniversary), as well as several of Ball's television specials and guest appearances during the 1970s, which Arnaz had recently donated to the Paley Center for Media.
Preserving Lucille Ball's legacy
- From about 2002 to 2007, Arnaz was the president of the board of directors of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown, New York. She resigned over a dispute with the executive director over the future direction of the Center.[48][49]
- Arnaz appeared live on stage in Jamestown at the Reg Lenna Center for the Arts on August 3, 2012, to promote the Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy in which new comedians are invited to perform. She gave tribute to both her parents and expressed a desire to further expand the Festival of New Comedy and expand the Jamestown, New York, Lucy Fest. Comedians who performed at the 2012 Festival of New Comedy included Billy Gardell, Paula Poundstone and Tammy Pescatelli.[50][51][52] She gave the history behind the Lucy-Desi Museum and Lucy-Desi Playhouse, and the 2011 birthday centenary for Lucille Ball (which was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records for the highest number of people dressed like Lucille Ball in one place at one time).
- At that time, Arnaz announced intent to start using the recently renovated Jamestown Train Station to further the mission and vision of the Lucille Ball Festival of New Comedy. Lucie Arnaz praised and appeared on stage with the new executive director of the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center and applauded her work and dedication to the festival. This work culminated in the opening of the National Comedy Center in Jamestown on August 1, 2018.[53]
- In 2021, Arnaz, along with her brother, served as an executive producer of the biopic Being the Ricardos, a film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin focusing on her parents' professional and personal relationship during the time of I Love Lucy.[54]
Personal life
Arnaz was married to Philip Vandervort Menegaux from July 17, 1971, to April 1976. On June 22, 1980, she married actor-writer Laurence Luckinbill.[3][55][56] Luckinbill and Arnaz live in Palm Springs, California.[57]
Arnaz and Luckinbill have three children: Simon, Joseph and Katharine Luckinbill.[58] Luckinbill also has two sons from his previous marriage: Nicholas and Benjamin Luckinbill.
Arnaz attended an all-girls Catholic high school, mainly because of its drama program.[58] She is a member of Unity.[59]
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Billy Jack Goes to Washington | Saunders | [60] |
| 1980 | The Jazz Singer | Molly Bell | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
| 1983 | Second Thoughts | Amy | [61] |
| 2000 | Down to You | Judy Connelly | [62] |
| 2006 | Wild Seven | Sylvia |
|
| 2009 | The Pack | Eleanor Jordan | Also titled Smoking/Non-Smoking |
| 2012 | The Thought Exchange | Herself |
|
| 2014 | Henry & Me | Jack's Mom | Voice role |
| 2021 | Being the Ricardos |
|
Executive producer |
Television
Source: Archive of American Television:[63]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1962–63 | The Lucy Show | Cynthia | 3 episodes |
| 1964 | Password | Herself | Appeared alongside mother, brother, and stepfather |
| 1965–68 | The Lucy Show | Various roles | 5 episodes |
| 1967 | The Mothers-In-Law | Girl in golf cart | Episode: "Everybody Goes on a Honeymoon"; uncredited |
| 1968–74 | Here's Lucy | Kim Carter | Main cast |
| 1972 | The Sixth Sense | Marguerite Webster | Episode: "With This Ring, I Thee Kill!" |
| Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In | Herself | Episode #6.04 | |
| 1975 | Marcus Welby, M.D. | Jo Anne Bosley | Episode: "The Time Bomb" |
| The Wonderful World of Disney | Herself | Episode: "Welcome to the "World" | |
| Who Is the Black Dahlia? | Elizabeth Short | Television film | |
| Death Scream | Judy | Television film[64][65] | |
| 1978 | Fantasy Island | Toni Elgin | Episode: "Reunion/Anniversary" |
| 1980 | The Mating Season | Sydney Wyatt | Television film[66][67] |
| 1982 | Washington Mistress | Maggie Parker | Television film[68] |
| One More Try | Dede March | Unsold pilot for CBS[69] | |
| 1985 | The Lucie Arnaz Show | Dr. Jane Lucas | Lead role |
| 1988 | Who Gets the Friends? | Gloria McClinton | Television film[70] |
| Murder, She Wrote | Det. Bess Stacey | Episode: "Wearing of the Green"[71] | |
| 1991 | Sons and Daughters | Tess Hammersmith | Lead role[13] |
| 1993 | Lucy and Desi: A Home Movie | Herself | Television special; also executive producer |
| 1996 | Abduction of Innocence: A Moment of Truth Movie | Helen Steves | Television film[72] |
| 1999 | Bonne Nuit | Nina | Television film |
| 2003 | Law & Order | Jackie Scott | Episode: "Bitch"[66] |
| 2020 | Will & Grace | Factory Boss | Episode: "We Love Lucy" |
Stage
- Once Upon a Mattress (Kenley Players, 1973)
- Seesaw (tour, 1974)
- Vanities (Los Angeles, 1976)
- Bye Bye Birdie (The Melody Top, 1977)
- Annie Get Your Gun (Jones Beach Theater, NY, 1979)
- They're Playing Our Song (Broadway, 1979)
- My One and Only (tour, 1986)
- Lost in Yonkers (Broadway, 1992)
- Wonderful Town (California, 1997 and 1999)
- Master Class (New Hampshire, 1999)
- The Witches of Eastwick (London, 2000)
- Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Broadway, 2006)
- Pippin (Broadway and tour, 2014)
Friday, October 4, 2024
GRETCHEN CORBETT (1945-)
Gretchen Hoyt Corbett (born August 13, 1945[a][4]) is an American actress and theater director. She is primarily known for her roles in television, particularly as attorney Beth Davenport on the NBC series The Rockford Files, but has also had a prolific career as a stage actress on Broadway as well as in regional theater.
A native of Oregon and the great-great-granddaughter of Oregon U.S. Senator Henry W. Corbett, she spent her early life in Camp Sherman and Portland, where she graduated from the Catlin Gabel School. Corbett studied drama at Carnegie Mellon University before making her stage debut in a production of Othello at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She subsequently appeared in lead roles on Broadway in After the Rain (1967) and Forty Carats (1968), opposite Julie Harris. She also starred off-Broadway in the title role of Iphigenia in Aulis (1968), and as Joan la Pucelle in Shakespeare's Henry VI, staged at Central Park's Delacorte Theater in 1970. She starred as Jeanne d'Arc in The Survival of St. Joan between 1970 and 1971.
She made her feature film debut in the comedy Out of It (1969), followed by a supporting role in the cult horror film Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971). In 1972, Corbett signed a contract with Universal Studios, and appeared in numerous television films and series for the studio, while simultaneously working in summer stock theater on the East Coast. Between 1974 and 1978, she starred as the idealistic attorney Beth Davenport on the NBC series The Rockford Files, opposite James Garner. Corbett subsequently starred in the horror film Jaws of Satan (1981), and the drama Million Dollar Infield (1982), directed by Hal Cooper.
For the majority of the 1980s, Corbett appeared in guest-starring roles on numerous television series, including Cheers (1983) and Magnum, P.I. (1981–1983), and starred in the short-lived Otherworld (1985). In 1988, she starred in the original workshop stage production of The Heidi Chronicles for the Seattle Repertory Theatre. She later had minor parts in the films Without Evidence (1995) and A Change of Heart (1998). Since the 2000s, Corbett has served as the artistic director of the Portland-based Haven Project, a theater project serving underprivileged children, and appeared in numerous stage productions at the Portland Center Stage as well as the city's Third Rail Repertory. She returned to television with a recurring character on the IFC series Portlandia in 2013, and had a guest-starring role on the Hulu series Shrill in 2019.
1945–1965: Early life
Gretchen Hoyt Corbett was born August 13, 1945. Corbett's year of birth is variously given as 1947[1][2][3] and 1945.[4] in Portland, Oregon[b] to Henry Ladd Corbett, Jr. and Katherine Minahen (née Coney) "Kay" Corbett. She is a great-great-granddaughter of Oregon pioneer, businessman, and Senator Henry Winslow Corbett,[8] and granddaughter of Henry Ladd Corbett, a Portland civic leader, businessman, and politician. The community of Corbett, Oregon is named for her great-great-grandfather.[9] Through her paternal ancestry, she is of English descent, with ancestors originating from Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk.[10] Corbett has two brothers and one sister.[6]
Corbett's father, tired of the city, relocated the family to rural Camp Sherman, Oregon,[11] where she spent her early life.[7] "I rode my horse to school every day, four miles each way," she recalled in a 1985 interview. "I hated it then, but, in retrospect, it was a marvelous life and a great way to grow up."[7] The family eventually returned to Portland in her later childhood, where her mother worked as an administrator at the University of Portland.[6] At age seven, Corbett was inspired to become an actress after attending the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.[5]
Corbett attended the Catlin Gabel School in Portland, and as a teenager apprenticed with the Carnival Theatre camp at the University of Oregon.[12] She studied drama at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech (before its merger with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to form Carnegie Mellon University in 1967), but dropped out after her first year of studies to begin working as a full-time actress.[5]
Career
1966–1972: Stage and early films
Corbett made her stage debut as Desdemona in a production of Othello at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 1966.[13] She subsequently appeared in productions with the New Orleans Repertory Theater in 1967.[14] This same year, she was cast as Sonya Banks in the Broadway production of After the Rain with Alec McCowen.[15] In 1968, she appeared in The Bench at the Gramercy Arts Theatre, and in the title role in Iphigenia in Aulis at the Circle in the Square Theatre, opposite Irene Papas.[16] She subsequently co-starred with Julie Harris in the Broadway production of Forty Carats, staged at the Morosco Theatre.[17]
One of Corbett's first television roles was on ABC's short-lived police detective show, N.Y.P.D., in 1968; in the episode, "The Case of the Shady Lady", Corbett played a dancer who tries to make her husband's suicide into a murder for the insurance money.[18] Corbett made her feature film debut in the comedy Out of It (1969), co-starring with Jon Voight.[19] She then appeared in the cult horror film Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971).[20] Meanwhile, between 1970 and 1971, Corbett starred as Jeanne d'Arc in a New York production of The Survival of St. Joan.[15] She also appeared in The Government Inspector with David Dukes and John Glover at The Phoenix Theatre.
1973–1980: The Rockford Files; television
Corbett moved to Los Angeles under contract to Universal Studios, as one of the last contract players. Her first role under contract was in (Conspiracy of Fear) the ninth episode of Kojak (1973).[2] The same year, she appeared in stage productions of Tennessee Williams's Summer and Smoke, and Shakespeare's As You Like It (portraying Rosalind), held at Drew University in New Jersey.[21][22] Under her Universal contract, Corbett guest-starred in numerous network series in 1974, including Columbo, Gunsmoke, and Banacek.[23]
In 1974, Corbett joined the cast of NBC's The Rockford Files where she played Beth Davenport,[24] the beleaguered lawyer and sometimes lover of series lead Jim Rockford, a private investigator portrayed by James Garner. She appears in 33 episodes (including one uncredited voice-over).[citation needed] During Christmas 1974, Corbett survived a house fire at her residence in Hollywood, California, which destroyed nearly all of her belongings and left her with minor injuries.[25][26][27] After completing the first season of The Rockford Files, Corbett starred in a televised production of the play Knuckle (1975), part of PBS's Hollywood Television Theater, as well as guest-starring on the series Hawaii Five-O and McMillan & Wife.[23] On September 13, 1975 she appeared in the television series Emergency! as flight stewardess Sue Hickman who started a relationship with Gage after an in flight emergency brought the two together. She also appeared in Marcus Welby, M.D., playing the stepmother of a young boy molested by his teacher.[28]
Corbett appeared as Penny in another PBS televised play, George Kelly's The Fatal Weakness, opposite Eva Marie Saint and Dennis Dugan.[29]
Corbett left The Rockford Files at the end of the fourth season over a dispute between the show's producers and Universal, who owned Corbett's contract as a contract player.
1981–present: Film, television and theater
Corbett starred in the horror film Jaws of Satan (1981), playing a doctor implicated in a preacher's battle with a snake which is Satan incarnate.[2] In 1982, she starred as Roxane in a production of The Carome Brothers' Italian Food Products Corp.'s Annual Pasta Pageant at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut.[30] In 1985, she starred in the science fiction series Otherworld.[31] In 1988, Corbett starred in the original workshop production of Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.[32]
Corbett reprised her role of Beth Davenport in the Rockford Files television films of the 1990s, including Friends and Foul Play, If the Frame Fits... (both 1996) and If It Bleeds... It Leads (1999).[2]
Between 2013 and 2014, Corbett appeared in a recurring guest role on the IFC series Portlandia. In 2014, she directed a production of the play Bo-Nita at Portland Center Stage.[33] In 2019, she appeared in the Hulu series Shrill, opposite Luka Jones and Aidy Bryant.[34] In late 2019, Corbett began filming the independent drama Pig, starring Nicolas Cage, Adam Arkin, and Alex Wolff. She also appeared in Lorelei, starring Pablo Schreiber and Jena Malone, which was released in 2021.
The Haven Project
In the 2000s, Corbett served as Artistic Director of the Haven Project, a theatre project for underprivileged children in Portland, Oregon, a replication of New York's 52nd St. Project.
Personal life
Corbett had a relationship with Robin Gammell. They had one child, Winslow Corbett.[citation needed]