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Heather Locklear

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Heather Locklear
Heather Locklear at the 45th Emmy Awards, 1993
Born
Heather Deen Locklear
Spouse(s)Richie Sambora (1994-2007) (divorced) 1 child
Tommy Lee (1986-1993)

Heather Deen Locklear (born September 25, 1961) is a six time-Golden Globe-nominated American actress, primarily on soap operas, movies and television. A bleached blonde, she is probably best known for her roles as William Shatner's sexy young partner and Richard Herd's daughter, Officer Stacy Sheridan, in the successful 1980s crime drama T.J. Hooker, as John Forsythe's and Linda Evans's wicked, selfish niece, Sammy Jo Carrington, on the popular 1980s soap, Dynasty (a role she played from 1981 to its ending in 1989), as another bad girl, Amanda Woodward, on the popular 1990s soap opera Melrose Place (a role she played from 1993 until the show ended in 1999), and as Caitlin Moore on Spin City (a role she played from 1999 until the show ended in 2002).

Biography

Early life

Locklear was born in Westwood, California, the daughter of Diane (née Tinsley), a production executive for Disney, and William Robert Locklear, an administrator at UCLA.[1][2] She is the youngest of four children and a cousin of Donald Trump's second wife, Marla Maples. She is of Scottish and distant paternal Lumbee ancestry.[3][4]

Career

While attending the University of California, Los Angeles, Locklear began modeling and working in commercials for the school store. In 1979, Locklear landed her first TV role in a TV movie and then on an episode of CHiPs a year later. She landed a few more bit parts in shows, including Eight Is Enough, before Aaron Spelling cast her in the role of Sammy Jo Dean in his new TV series Dynasty. Locklear proved a popular addition to the cast in the show's second season, in the fall of 1981. Spelling immediately cast her opposite William Shatner in the cop show T.J. Hooker. The show's 1982 premiere significantly enhanced Locklear's Hollywood career. It was for most of this time that she enjoyed having an on- and off-camera resemblance with both longtime actors, William Shatner and Linda Evans, as Locklear would do many crime fighting scenes on T.J. Hooker, while she played an evil relative with Evans, throughout the remainder of her eight seasons on Dynasty. Throughout the 1980s, she continued to work on these two shows, plus numerous television specials and films.

In the 1990s (after a failed sitcom Going Places), Locklear played perhaps her best known part, the vixen Amanda Woodward on the series Melrose Place from 1993 to 1999. She was originally brought on as a guest star in an attempt to boost the ratings, and her billing in the credits reflected this. Despite eventually becoming a regular cast member, she continued to be listed as a "Special Guest Star" through the entire series. Locklear also won First Americans in the Arts: Best Actress in a TV series for her role on Melrose Place. After her run on the show, she was immediately on another TV sitcom, Spin City, opposite Michael J. Fox. She was similarly brought in as a successful ratings boost for this show.[citation needed] She was also one of the candidates for the lead role as single mother Susan Mayer on the popular dramedy series, Desperate Housewives, but had lost the role to Teri Hatcher, hence, Locklear starred in the airport drama LAX, which ran from 2004 to 2005.

Personal life

Locklear has dated Tom Cruise and Scott Baio (the latter claiming on the July 24th 2007 edition of The Howard Stern Show that she "was hands down the greatest lover I ever had"). Heather was married to Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee from May 1986 to August 1993. During her marriage to Tommy Lee, she had hinted that he had abused her with excessive intercourse with his large penis. Howard Stern tried to get Locklear to give specific details and she referred to Lee being tiring, as "going at 11" all the time. Many listeners interpreted the quote as inferring that Lee was 11 inches long. Locklear is often mentioned in blogs as being a size queen; having had well endowed lovers. She told Stern upon his asking to compare Lee and later lover Richie Sambora, that Sambora "had girth." Tongues were wagging at the thought of the slender Locklear riding the "big ones." Perhaps an urban legend, but insiders seem to agree that Heather likes sex and size is a big asset to her. After the divorce from Lee, she married Richie Sambora on December 17, 1994 in Paris. On October 4, 1997 she gave birth to their daughter, Ava Elizabeth. Locklear's representative announced on February 2, 2006 that divorce papers had been filed to dissolve the couple's marriage. In further papers filed by Sambora, it has been revealed that the couple has been separated since December 26, 2005, and that Sambora will be seeking joint custody of Ava. After filing for divorce, Sambora became romantically involved with Denise Richards, ending what Locklear had considered a close friendship. In May 2007, Heather and fellow Melrose Place alum Jack Wagner confirmed their new romance at a charity golf event.

Filmography

Television work

Producer

References