Meredith Baxter
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Meredith Baxter | |
|---|---|
_benefit_cropped_and_altered.jpg) Baxter at an AIDS Project Los Angeles benefit, 1990. | |
| Born | Meredith Ann Baxter |
| Other names | Meredith Baxter-Birney |
| Occupation | Actress/Producer |
| Years active | 1971–present |
| Spouse(s) | Robert Lewis Bush (1966–1969, divorced) David Birney (1974–1989, divorced) Michael Blodgett (1995–2000, divorced) |
| Partner(s) | Nancy Locke (2005–present)[1] |
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 two television series: Family (1976-1980), an ABC television-network drama, and Family Ties (1982-1989), an NBC television-network situation comedy.
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.[2] 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 the 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, on Family Ties. In reality she is only fourteen years older than Michael J. Fox, who played her son Alex Keaton.
Following Family Ties, Baxter (whose marriage to Birney ended in 1989) produced and starred in television films. 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[1] 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 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 the web series We Have To Stop Now.[3]
In recent years, Baxter has also created a skin-care line, Meredith Baxter Simple Works,[4] 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.
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 1969. In 1974, she married Birney and had three children — Kate (born 1974) and twins, Mollie and Peter (born 1984).[5] 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.[6]
In 2004, she joined with Michael Gross, her former co-star from Family Ties, to campaign for John Kerry's candidacy for the U.S. presidency.[7]
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.[8]
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 Lauer on Today, and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102[9][10]. 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.[1][11][12]
On December 17, 2009, TV Guide reported that Baxter will write a memoir. Broadway Books, an imprint of Crown Publishing Group, has 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. [13]
Coincidentally, Baxter and her Family Ties co-star Michael Gross (who played her husband Steven Keaton), were born on the same date, June 21, 1947.
Filmography
| Film | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 1972 | Stand Up and Be Counted | Tracy | |
| Ben | Eve Garrison | ||
| 1976 | All the President's Men | Debbie Sloan | |
| Bittersweet Love | Patricia | ||
| 1990 | Jezebel's Kiss | Virginia De Leo | |
| 1999 | Elevator Seeking | Ann | |
| 2003 | Devil's Pond | Kate | |
| 2005 | Paradise Texas | Liz Cameron | |
| The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green | Harper Green | ||
| 2008 | The Onion Movie | Cooking Show Chef | direct-to-video release |
| Television | |||
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1971 | The Young Lawyers | Gloria | 1 episode |
| The Doris Day Show | April | 1 episode | |
| 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 movie |
| Doc Elliot | Jenny | 1 episode | |
| The Cat Creature | Rena Carter | ABC television movie | |
| 1974 | Barnaby Jones | Jenny Sutherland | 1 episode |
| The Stranger Who Looks Like Me | Joanne Denver | ABC television movie | |
| Young Love | April | CBS television movie | |
| 1974–1975 | Medical Center | Paula Priscilla |
2 episodes |
| 1975 | Target Risk | Linda Flayly | NBC television movie |
| The Imposter | Julie Watson | NBC television movie | |
| The Streets of San Francisco | Jodi Dixon | 1 episode | |
| The Night That Panicked America | Linda Davis | ABC television movie | |
| Medical Story | Erica Schiff Sunny |
2 episodes | |
| McMillan and Wife | Faye Leonard | 1 episode | |
| 1976 | City of Angels | Mary Kingston | 3 episodes |
| Wide World Mystery | 1 episode | ||
| 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 movie |
| 1979 | The Family Man | Mercedes Cole | CBS television movie |
| 1980 | Beulah Land | Lauretta Pennington | NBC miniseries |
| 1981 | Vanities | Joanne | HBO televised presentation of stage production |
| The Two Lives of Carol Letner | Carol Letner | CBS television movie | |
| 1982 | Take Your Best Shot | Carol Marriner | CBS television movie |
| 1982–1989 | Family Ties | Elyse Keaton | 171 episodes |
| 1985 | The Rape of Richard Beck | Barbara McKee | ABC television movie |
| Family Ties Vacation | Elyse Keaton | NBC television movie | |
| 1986 | Kate's Secret | Kate Stark | NBC television movie |
| 1987 | The Long Journey Home (film) | Maura Wells | CBS television movie |
| 1988 | The Diaries of Adam and Eve | Eve | television movie |
| Mickey's 60th Birthday | Elyse Keaton | television special | |
| Winnie | Winnie | NBC television movie | |
| 1989 | She Knows Too Much | Samantha White | NBC television movie |
| 1990 | The Kissing Place | Florence Tulane | USA Network television movie |
| Burning Bridges | Lynn Hollinger | ABC television movie | |
| 1992 | A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story | Betty Broderick | CBS television movie |
| Stolen Love | DeeDee | ABC Television movie | |
| 1993 | Darkness Before Dawn | Mary Ann Guard | NBC television movie also co-executive producer |
| 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 movie |
| One More Mountain | Margaret Reed | ABC television movie | |
| My Breast | Joyce Wadler | CBS television movie also co-executive producer | |
| 1995 | Betrayed: A Story of Three Women | Amanda Nelson | ABC television movie also co-executive producer |
| 1996 | The Faculty | Flynn Sullivan | 1 episode also executive producer |
| After Jimmy | Maggie Stapp | television movie | |
| 1997 | Dog's Best Friend | Cow (Voice) | television movie |
| The Inheritance | Beatrice Hamilton | television movie | |
| Let Me Call You Sweetheart | D.A. Kerry McGrath | The Family Channel television movie | |
| Miracle in the Woods | Sarah Weatherby | television movie | |
| Spin City | Macy Flaherty | 2 episodes: "Family Affair" (Part 1) and "Family Affair" (Part 2) | |
| 1999 | Holy Joe | Annie Cass | CBS television movie |
| Down Will Come Baby | Leah Garr | CBS television movie | |
| Miracle on the 17th Green | Susan McKinley | CBS television movie | |
| 2000 | The Wednesday Woman | Muriel Davidson | CBS television movie |
| 2001 | A Mother's Fight for Justice | Terry Stone | Lifetime Television movie |
| Aftermath | Carol | television movie | |
| Murder on the Orient Express | Mrs. Caroline Hubbard | television movie | |
| 2002 | A Christmas Visitor | Carol Boyajian | Hallmark Channel television movie |
| 2003 | 7th Heaven | Mrs. Jones | 1 episode: "Go Ask Alice" |
| 2004 | Half & Half | Joan Tyrell | 1 episode |
| Angel in the Family | Lorraine | Hallmark Channel television movie | |
| 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 movie |
| Family Guy | Elyse Keaton and herself | 2 episodes: "Stew-Roids" and "Family Gay" | |
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 |
References
- ^ a b c Rao, Vidya (December 2, 2009)"'Family Ties' Mom: ‘I Am a Lesbian’ — Meredith Baxter Says She Has Been Dating Women for the Past Seven Years". Today (via MSNBC). Accessed December 2, 2009.
- ^ [verification needed]Staff writer (undated). "Meredith Baxter Biography (1947-)". filmreference.com. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ Staff writer (undated). "Season 2", section home page (providing guest star roster) at wehavetostopnow.tv. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ meredithbaxterskincare.com home page of Baxter's skin-care company. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ Staff writer (undated). "Biography for Meredith Baxter". Turner Classic Movies. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ [verification needed] Staff writer (January 30, 2009). "Meredith Baxter". Sharing Miracles ("a blog of personal stories of miracles and hope"). Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ [verification needed] Mongo (blog) (October 14, 2004). "Meredith Baxter and Michael Gross to Hold Kerry Rally in Z-Ville". Democratic Underground. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ Johnson, Tony (July 28, 2008). "National University Commencement 2008 — Could Be Good, Could Be Bad". The Herald. Accessed December 2, 2009.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ [verification needed]Staff writer (Undated). "Meredith Baxter: I'm a Lesbian". The Plastic Surgery Channel. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ Zwecker, Bill (December 2, 2009). "TV Mom Baxter Bares a Big Secret Today — 'Family Ties' Actress Reveals She's Lesbian". Chicago Sun-Times. Accessed December 6, 2009.
- ^ Eng, Joyce (December 17, 2009). "Family Ties' Meredith Baxter to Pen Memoir". TV Guide. Retrieved December 17, 2009.
External links
- 1947 births
- Living people
- Actors from California
- American film actors
- American television actors
- American television producers
- Breast cancer survivors
- Lesbian actors
- LGBT people from the United States
- People from Pasadena, California
- People from the Greater Los Angeles Area
- People self-identifying as alcoholics