Kristy McNichol

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Kristy McNichol
Born	Christina Ann McNichol September 11, 1962 (1962-09-11) (age 47) Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Christina Ann "Kristy" McNichol (born September 11, 1962) is a former American actress. She is best known for her roles as Leticia 'Buddy' Lawrence on the television drama series Family and as Barbara Weston on the sitcom Empty Nest.^[1] She is also the sister of former child actor Jimmy McNichol. McNichol retired from acting when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1992.^[2]

Contents 1 Life and career 1.1 Personal life 2 Filmography 2.1 Films 2.2 TV series 2.3 TV appearances 3 Awards 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Life and career

McNichol was born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of Carollyne, a business manager and actress, and Jim McNichol, a carpenter.^[3] Her father was Scottish and her mother of Palestinian background.^{[citation needed]} McNichol appeared with her brother Jimmy in commercials and later, on her own, in guest appearances on such series as Starsky and Hutch, The Bionic Woman, Love American Style and The Love Boat thanks to family friend Desi Arnaz. Her first stint as a series regular came with the role of Patricia Apple in the short-lived CBS television series Apple's Way (1974).

In 1976, McNichol was cast as Buddy in the television drama series Family (1976–80), for which she earned two Emmy Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Dramatic Series (1977 and 1979). Many actors and actresses also guest-starred on the show, including Helen Hunt, Michael J. Fox and Leif Garrett. The show, produced by Aaron Spelling, was considered a breakthrough for television drama that dealt with "real life" issues.^{[citation needed]}

In December 1977, McNichol appeared on The Carpenters at Christmas TV special, performing several musical numbers with the duo. Following this in 1978, McNichol and her brother Jimmy made their own foray into music and recorded an album, Kristy & Jimmy McNichol, for RCA Records. The album included the single "He's So Fine" (a cover of The Chiffons 1963 hit) which peaked at #70 on the Billboard chart. The McNichols promoted the album at New York's Studio 54 discotheque, with other big-name celebrities in attendance such as Brooke Shields. In December 1978, McNichol would appear in another Carpenters holiday special, The Carpenters: A Christmas Portrait, this time with her brother Jimmy.

By this time, McNichol was one of the biggest teen stars of the era and appeared on various chat shows, including The Mike Douglas Show and Dinah!, as well as several appearances on Battle of the Network Stars and other celebrity-based shows. Also in 1978, she starred in the acclaimed made-for-television film adaptation of Bette Greene's Summer Of My German Soldier.

McNichol began her feature film career in the Burt Reynolds comedy The End in 1978. She later co-starred with Tatum O'Neal in the hit teen coming of age movie, Little Darlings, in 1980. She appeared with Dennis Quaid and Mark Hamill in The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia (1981), for which, at age 19, she received an unprecedented six-figure salary. The same year, she co-starred in Neil Simon's Only When I Laugh for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress.

However, by 1982, McNichol's fortunes began to decline. She starred in the musical film, The Pirate Movie, alongside Christopher Atkins, but the film was a huge box office flop despite its multi-million-dollar budget. Later that year, McNichol stormed off the set of the film Just The Way You Are. By this time, rumors of McNichol's alleged drug use were rife and it was often attributed as the cause of her increasingly problematic on-set behaviour. She was later diagnosed with clinical depression, and although she eventually completed the film, her reputation was severely damaged by the incident and she was subsequently offered only B-film titles and TV movies. In 1986, McNichol supported lead actress Susan Sarandon in the TV movie, Women of Valor, about American nurses being incarcerated in a Japanese concentration camp during World War II.

In 1988, McNichol played Barbara Weston on the NBC sitcom Empty Nest, a spin-off from The Golden Girls. However, McNichol's problematic on-set behaviour once again became a concern, and she left the series in 1992 when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.^[4] She returned to the series for its final episode in 1995, which was effectively her last ever screen appearance as an actress, though she went on to voice characters in the animated TV series Extreme Ghostbusters (1997) and Invasion America (1998).

In March 1999, McNichol was the subject of an edition of E! True Hollywood Story, in which she spoke candidly about her career, alleged drug problems, and her mental health problems. McNichol's last public statement was in June 2001, when she said:

"A lot of people have wondered what I've been up to. I retired from my career after 24 years. My feeling was that it was time to play my biggest part — MYSELF! I must say that it has been the best thing that ever happened to me. So many fans are disappointed that I'm not currently acting, however some may not realize that the process I'm in at this time is necessary and vital for my personal happiness and well-being."

[edit] Personal life

McNichol has never married and resides in Los Angeles, California. Since retiring from the screen, she has taught acting at a private school in Los Angeles and devoted much of her time to charity work.^[5]

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1977	The Love Boat II	Linda Morley	TV movie
	The Pinballs	Carlie	TV movie
1978	The End	Julie Lawson
	Like Mom, Like Me	Jennifer Gruen	TV movie
	Summer of My German Soldier	Patty Bergen	TV movie
1979	My Old Man	Jo Butler	TV movie / Nominated for a Young Artist Award
1980	Little Darlings	Angel	Nominated for a Young Artist Award
	Blinded by the Light	Janet Bowers	TV movie
1981	The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia	Amanda Child
	Only When I Laugh	Polly	Won a Young Artist Award Nominated for a Golden Globe Award
1982	White Dog	Julie Sawyer
	The Pirate Movie	Mabel	Nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award
1984	Just the Way You Are	Susan Berlanger
1985	Love, Mary	Mary Groda-Lewis	TV movie
1986	Dream Lover	Kathy Gardner
	Women of Valor	T.J. Nolan	TV movie
1988	You Can't Hurry Love	Rhonda
	Two Moon Junction	Patti Jean	Won a Golden Raspberry Award
1990	The Forgotten One	Barbara Stupple
	Children of the Bride	Mary Becker	TV movie
1991	Baby of the Bride	Mary Becker	TV movie
1993	Mother of the Bride	Mary Becker	TV movie

[edit] TV series

Year(s)	Title	Role	Seasons	Notes
1974-75	Apple's Way	Patricia Apple	1	Replacement for Frannie Michel.
1976-80	Family	Letitia 'Buddy' Lawrence	1-5	Won two Emmy Awards. Also nominated for another two Emmy Awards, a Golden Globe Award and a Young Artist Award.
1988-92	Empty Nest	Officer Barbara Weston	1–4	Left series after the 4th season but returned for the series final episode in 1995.
1998	Invasion America	Sergeant Angela "Angie" Romar	1	Voice role

[edit] TV appearances

Title	Season	Year	Role	Episode titles	Notes
Love, American Style	5	1973	Steffi	Love and the Unsteady Steady	Episode 18
ABC Afterschool Special	4	1975	Jenna McPhail	Fawn Story	Episode 4 / TV special
Starsky and Hutch	1	1976	Meg	The Hostages	Episode 15
ABC Afterschool Special	4	1976	Nina Beckwith	Me and Dad's New Wife	Episode 5 / TV special
The Bionic Woman	1	1976	Amanda Cory	The Ghost Hunter	Episode 14
Starsky and Hutch	2	1976	Molly Edwards	Little Girl Lost	Episode 11
The Love Boat	1	1977	Kelly	Ex Plus Y/Golden Agers/Graham and Kelly	Episode 3
ABC Afterschool Special	6	1977	Carlie Higgins	The Pinballs	Episode 2 / TV special
Starsky and Hutch	3	1978	Joey Carston	The Trap	Episode 16
Murder, She Wrote	4	1988	Jill Morton	Showdown in Saskatchewan	Episode 20
The Golden Girls	6	1991	Barbara Weston	Witness	Episode 21
The Golden Girls	7	1992	Barbara Weston	A Midwinter Night's Dream Continues	Episode 21
Extreme Ghostbusters	1	1997	Girl in Sub	Dry Spell	Episode 16 / Voice role

[edit] Awards

• Emmy(s) Best Supporting Actress, Drama Series - Family (1977),(1979) ^[1]
• Favorite Young Performer - People's Choice Award (1980) ^[1]
• Young Artist Award - Only When I Laugh (1982)
• Razzie Award - Two Moon Junction (1989)
• Nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for Best Supporting Actress (Family - 1979), (Only When I Laugh - 1982) ^[6]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Kristy McNichol at the Internet Movie Database
• Kristy McNichol at TV.com

v • d • e Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress - Drama Series Ellen Corby (1976) · Kristy McNichol (1977) · Nancy Marchand (1978) · Kristy McNichol (1979) · Nancy Marchand (1980) · Nancy Marchand (1981) · Nancy Marchand (1982) · Doris Roberts (1983) · Alfre Woodard (1984) · Betty Thomas (1985) · Bonnie Bartlett (1986) · Bonnie Bartlett (1987) · Patricia Wettig (1988) · Melanie Mayron (1989) · Marg Helgenberger (1990) · Madge Sinclair (1991) · Valerie Mahaffey (1992) · Mary Alice (1993) · Leigh Taylor-Young (1994) · Julianna Margulies (1995) · Tyne Daly (1996) · Kim Delaney (1997) · Camryn Manheim (1998) · Holland Taylor (1999) · Allison Janney (2000) Complete list: (1962–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–present)

Persondata
NAME	McNichol, Kristy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	McNichol, Christina Ann
SHORT DESCRIPTION	American actress
DATE OF BIRTH	September 11, 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH