Meredith Baxter

Meredith Baxter
Baxter at an AIDS Project Los Angeles benefit, 1990
Born	Meredith Ann Baxter (1947-06-21) June 21, 1947 South Pasadena, California
Nationality	American
Other names	Meredith Baxter-Birney
Occupation(s)	Actress and producer
Years active	1971–present
Television	Bridget Loves Bernie Family Family Ties Dan Vs.
Spouse(s)	Robert Lewis Bush (1966–1969, divorced) David Birney (1974–1989, divorced) Michael Blodgett (1995–2000, divorced)
Partner(s)	Nancy Locke (2005–present)
Children	2 sons, 3 daughters
Parent(s)	Tom Baxter Whitney Blake (deceased)
Relatives	Allan Manings (mother's widower, deceased)

Meredith Baxter (born June 21, 1947), also known for some years as Meredith Baxter-Birney, is an American actress and producer. She is known for her acting roles including three television series: Family (1976–1980), an ABC television-network drama, Family Ties (1982–1989), an NBC television-network situation comedy, and Dan Vs. (2011–present), a situation comedy on The Hub television-network.

Early life

She was born Meredith Ann Baxter in South Pasadena, California, the daughter of actress and situation-comedy creator Whitney Blake and Tom Baxter, a radio announcer. She was raised in Southern California and has two brothers: Richard (born 1944) and Brian (born 1946). Her mother's widower was situation-comedy writer Allan Manings.

Career

Baxter got her first big break on television in 1972 as one of the stars of Bridget Loves Bernie, a CBS television-network situation comedy. The series was canceled after one season, but her co-star, David Birney became her second husband in 1974. Following their marriage and until their divorce in 1989, she was credited as Meredith Baxter-Birney.

As Baxter-Birney, she became widely known several years later on Family. She played the role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland and received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1977 and 1978).

After Family ended, she starred with Annette O'Toole and Shelley Hack in Vanities (1981), a television production of the comedy-drama stage play about the lives, loves and friendship of three Texas cheerleaders starting from high school to post-college graduation; it aired as a part of Standing Room Only, a series on the premium-television channel HBO.

Baxter-Birney's next series was Family Ties, on which she played an ex-flower child mother, Elyse Keaton. In reality, she is only fourteen years older than Michael J. Fox, who played her son Alex Keaton. She and co-star Michael Gross (who played her husband Steven) share the exact same birthdate.

In 1986, during her time on Family Ties, Baxter garnered critical acclaim for her dramatic performance as Kate Stark in the well-known NBC television movie Kate's Secret, about a seemingly "perfect" suburban housewife and mother who is secretly suffering from bulimia nervosa.

Following Family Ties, Baxter (whose marriage to Birney ended in 1989) produced and starred in telefilms. She portrayed a psychopathic kidnapper in The Kissing Place (1990) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for her work in A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (1992), based on the true story of a divorcée who was convicted of murder in the shooting of her ex-husband and his young wife.

In 1994, she won a Daytime Emmy Award for her role as a lesbian mother raising a young son, in Other Mothers (1993), a CBS Schoolbreak Special. For her work on the television film My Breast (1994), she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition.

In 1997, Baxter once again played the mother of a character played by Michael J. Fox, this time on Spin City, an ABC situation comedy.

In 2005, she began appearing in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company. In 2006, she temporarily co-hosted — with Matt Lauer — Today, the NBC morning news and talk show. In 2007, she made a guest appearance on What About Brian, an ABC drama series. That same year, she also made several appearances as the dying mother of Detective Lilly Rush on Cold Case, a CBS police-procedural series. In 2009, she is guest starring in season two of the web series We Have to Stop Now.

In recent years, Baxter has also created a skin-care line, Meredith Baxter Simple Works, which helps raise funds for her breast cancer research foundation. She is also a spokesperson for Consumer Cellular, a cell phone company advertised as providing a cheaper cell phone alternative for senior citizens.

She currently costars in the cable television sitcom Dan Vs. which airs on The Hub.

Personal life

Baxter has been married three times and has five children. In 1966, she married Robert Lewis Bush and they had two children — Ted (born 1967) and Eva (born 1969); the couple was divorced in 1971. In 1974, she married David Birney and had three children — Kate (born 1974) and twins, Mollie and Peter (born 1984). Following their divorce in 1989, she reverted to using Meredith Baxter. In 1995, she married actor and screenwriter Michael Blodgett; they were divorced in 2000. Baxter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. Baxter was the guest speaker at the 2008 Southern Commencement for National University in La Jolla, California, and was awarded an honorary doctorate degree from the university.

In 2009, The National Enquirer reported that Baxter was seen on a lesbian cruise with a female friend. This led to speculation as to whether Baxter was a lesbian or simply enjoying the cruise as a platonic straight friend. On December 2, 2009, she came out as a lesbian during an interview with Matt Lauer on Today, and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102. She lives with her partner, Nancy Locke, a general contractor, with whom she has been since 2005. Baxter said she first realized she was a lesbian when she began her first same-sex relationship in 2002.

On December 17, 2009, TV Guide reported that Baxter would write a memoir. Broadway Books, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, had purchased the rights to Baxter's as-yet-untitled and as-yet-unwritten life story. In the book, Baxter "will present a fully realized portrait of her life as an actress, mother of five children, and grandmother, and will candidly discuss her fight with breast cancer, her 19 years of sobriety, entrepreneurship, and her decision to come out," a press release said. Her memoir, titled Untied, was published in 2011.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1972	Stand Up and Be Counted	Tracy
1972	Ben	Eve Garrison
1976	All the President's Men	Debbie Sloan
1976	Bittersweet Love	Patricia
1990	Jezebel's Kiss	Virginia De Leo
1999	Elevator Seeking	Ann
2003	Devil's Pond	Kate
2005	Paradise Texas	Liz Cameron
2005	The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green	Harper Green
2008	The Onion Movie	Cooking Show Chef	direct-to-video release
2010	Airline Disaster	President Harriet Franklin	post-production

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	The Young Lawyers	Gloria	1 episode
1971	The Doris Day Show	April	1 episode
1971	The Partridge Family	Jenny	1 episode
1972	Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law	Ann Glover	1 episode
1972–1973	Bridget Loves Bernie	Bridget Fitzgerald Steinberg	24 episodes
1973	The Invasion of Carol Enders	Carol Enders	television film
1973	Doc Elliot	Jenny	1 episode
1973	The Cat Creature	Rena Carter	ABC television film
1974	Barnaby Jones	Jenny Sutherland	1 episode
1974	The Stranger Who Looks Like Me	Joanne Denver	ABC television film
1974	Young Love	April	CBS television film
1974–1975	Medical Center	Paula Priscilla	2 episodes
1975	Target Risk	Linda Flayly	NBC television film
1975	The Imposter	Julie Watson	NBC television film
1975	The Streets of San Francisco	Jodi Dixon	1 episode
1975	The Night That Panicked America	Linda Davis	ABC television film
1975	Medical Story	Erica Schiff Sunny	2 episodes
1975	McMillan & Wife	Faye Leonard	1 episode
1976	City of Angels	Mary Kingston	3 episodes
1976	Wide World Mystery		1 episode
1976	Police Woman	Liz Robson	1 episode
1976–1980	Family	Nancy Lawrence Maitland	45 episodes
1977–1982	The Love Boat	Sandy Rytell	3 episodes
1978	Little Women	Meg March	NBC television film
1979	The Family Man	Mercedes Cole	CBS television film
1980	Beulah Land	Lauretta Pennington	NBC miniseries
1981	Vanities	Joanne	HBO televised presentation of stage production
1981	The Two Lives of Carol Letner	Carol Letner	CBS television film
1982	Take Your Best Shot	Carol Marriner	CBS television film
1982–1989	Family Ties	Elyse Keaton	171 episodes
1985	The Rape of Richard Beck	Barbara McKee	ABC television film
1985	Family Ties Vacation	Elyse Keaton	NBC television film
1986	Kate's Secret	Kate Stark	NBC television film
1987	The Long Journey Home	Maura Wells	CBS television film
1988	The Diaries of Adam and Eve	Eve	television film
1988	Mickey's 60th Birthday	Elyse Keaton	television special
1988	Winnie	Winnie	NBC television film
1989	She Knows Too Much	Samantha White	NBC television film
1990	The Kissing Place	Florence Tulane	USA Network television film
1990	Burning Bridges	Lynn Hollinger	ABC television film
1992	A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story	Betty Broderick	CBS television film
1992	Stolen Love	DeeDee	ABC Television film
1993	Darkness Before Dawn	Mary Ann Guard	NBC television film also co-executive producer
1993	CBS Schoolbreak Special - Other Mothers	Paula Hensen	1 episode; won a Daytime Emmy Award for her role
1994	For the Love of Aaron	Margaret Gibson	television film
1994	One More Mountain	Margaret Reed	ABC television film
1994	My Breast	Joyce Wadler	CBS television film also co-executive producer
1995	Betrayed: A Story of Three Women	Amanda Nelson	ABC television film also co-executive producer
1996	The Faculty	Flynn Sullivan	1 episode also executive producer
1996	After Jimmy	Maggie Stapp	television film
1997	Dog's Best Friend	Cow (Voice)	television film
1997	The Inheritance	Beatrice Hamilton	television film
1997	Let Me Call You Sweetheart	D.A. Kerry McGrath	The Family Channel television film
1997	Miracle in the Woods	Sarah Weatherby	television film
1997	Spin City	Macy Flaherty	2 episodes: "Family Affair" (Part 1) and "Family Affair" (Part 2)
1999	Holy Joe	Annie Cass	CBS television film
1999	Down Will Come Baby	Leah Garr	CBS television film
1999	Miracle on the 17th Green	Susan McKinley	CBS television film
2000	The Wednesday Woman	Muriel Davidson	CBS television film
2001	A Mother's Fight for Justice	Terry Stone	Lifetime Television film
2001	Aftermath	Carol	television film
2001	Murder on the Orient Express	Mrs. Caroline Hubbard	television film
2002	A Christmas Visitor	Carol Boyajian	Hallmark Channel television film
2003	7th Heaven	Mrs. Jones	1 episode: "Go Ask Alice"
2004	Half & Half	Joan Tyrell	1 episode
2004	Angel in the Family	Lorraine	Hallmark Channel television film
2005	The Closer	Congresswoman Simmons	1 episode: "Fantasy Date"
2006	Brothers & Sisters	Margaret Packard	1 episode: "For the Children"
2006–2007	Cold Case	Ellen Rush	5 episodes
2007	What About Brian	Frankie	1 episode: "What About All That Glitters..."
2009	Bound by a Secret	Ida Mae	Hallmark Channel television film
2009	Family Guy	Elyse Keaton and herself	2 episodes: "Stew-Roids" and "Family Gay"
2009	Brothers	TV Mom	1 episode: "Episode: Commercial – Coach DMV"
2010	We Have to Stop Now	Judy	Web series Episode: "The Grass Is Always Greener"
2010	RuPaul's Drag U	Herself	1 episode: Appeared as a guest judge
2011	The Oprah Winfrey Show	Herself	1 episode
2011	Dan Vs.	Elise Sr.	4 episodes
2011	Family Guy	Carol	1 episode
2012	Switched at Birth	Bonnie Tamblyn Dixon	1 episode

Award nominations

Year	Award	Result	Category	Series or Film
1977	Emmy Award	Nominated	Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Family
1978			Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series	Family
1992			Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special	A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story
1994	21st Daytime Emmy Awards	Won	Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special	CBS Schoolbreak Special - Other Mothers
2007	TV Land Award	Nominated	Lady You Love to Watch Fight for Her Life in a Movie of the Week	-

External links

• Meredith Baxter at IMDb
• Meredith Baxter at AllMovie
• Meredith Baxter at the TCM Movie Database