Jessica Walter
Jessica Walter | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Spouse | Ross Bowman (1966-1978)Ron Leibman (1983-present) |
Jessica Walter (born January 31, 1941) is an American actress, known for the film Play Misty for Me and for her role as Lucille Bluth on the sitcom Arrested Development. She had a starring role for the first half of season 1 of 90210. She currently does the voice for Malory Archer in the FX animated series Archer and stars as Elaine Robbins in Retired at 35.
Early life
Walter was born to a Jewish household in Brooklyn, the daughter of Esther (née Groisser) and David Walter, a musician.[1] She was raised in Queens, New York, and graduated from Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts. In the early 1960s, she trained alongside James Caan and Christopher Lloyd at New York City's Neighborhood Playhouse before getting her big break, a regular role on the soap opera Love of Life.[2] She appeared on the show from 1962 to 1965.
Career
She appeared in the first episode of Flipper in September 1964. Also in 1964, she guest starred with Jack Lord, Nick Adams, and Herb Edelman in the episode "How Much for a Prince?" of CBS's short-lived drama The Reporter, with Harry Guardino in the title role. Walter had a recurring role on Trapper John, M.D. as Melanie McIntyre, Trapper John's former wife.
Her earliest notable film role was in the 1971 movie Play Misty for Me, in which she played a psychotic young woman stalking a disc jockey (played by Clint Eastwood), for which she received a Golden Globe nomination in the Best Motion Picture Actress - Drama category.[3] Walter's other film credits from that era include Lilith, Grand Prix, The Group, Bye Bye Braverman, Number One and Dr. Strange.
In 1974, Walter co-starred with Peter Falk, Jose Ferrer and Lew Ayres in the Columbo episode "Mind Over Mayhem." During the 1974-75 TV season, she was the star of Amy Prentiss, a spinoff of Ironside that became an element of the NBC Mystery Movie. She was the producers' first choice for the role of "Alexis Carrington" in the primetime soap opera Dynasty. In 1983, she had a role in the short-lived NBC primetime soap opera Bare Essence as "Ava Marshall".
Since then, she has worked most frequently in television and theater, though she did make an appearance in the 1994 film PCU. In the 1990s, Walter lent her voice to Fran Sinclair on the ABC comedy Dinosaurs, and appeared on Just Shoot Me! as Eve Gallo, the mother of Maya and the ex-wife of magazine publisher Jack Gallo (George Segal).
From 2003 to 2006, she appeared in a regular role as the scheming, alcoholic socialite matriarch Lucille Bluth on FOX's critically acclaimed comedy series, Arrested Development. Despite her convincing portrayal of Lucille (in 2005, Walter received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for the role), the actress has maintained that "I'm nothing like Lucille. Nothing. My daughter will tell you. I'm really a very nice, boring person."[2] Walter played Tabitha Wilson, a similar character, on 90210, for the first thirteen episodes of the first season, before she was written off. She also guest starred on the situational comedy Rules of Engagement in the Season 1, Episode 5 "Kids". She currently voices spy boss Malory on the FX network's animated show Archer.
Walter will guest-star in an episode of Law & Order: SVU in the fall. TVGuide.com has confirmed that Walter will appear in the third episode, which is titled "Solitary," as a legal-aid powerhouse named Petra Gilmartin.[4]
She is currently starring as Evangeline Harcourt in the Broadway revival of Anything Goes, which began previews in March 2011 and officially opened on April 7, 2011.[5]
Personal life
Walter's daughter, Brooke Bowman, was born in 1972.[6] Since 1983, Walter has been married to actor Ron Leibman, with whom she co-starred in Neil Simon's play Rumors. They also appeared together as husband and wife in the film Dummy and in the TV series Law & Order in the episode "House Counsel".
Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | Lilith | Laura | ||
| 1966 | Grand Prix | Pat Stoddard | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female | |
| 1966 | The Group | Libby | ||
| 1968 | Bye Bye Braverman | Inez Braverman | ||
| 1969 | Number One | Julie Catlan | ||
| 1971 | Play Misty For Me | Evelyn Draper | Nominated — Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama | |
| 1974 | Columbo: Mind Over Mayhem | Dr. Margaret Nicholson | ||
| 1974–1975 | Amy Prentiss | Amy Prentiss | TV series Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress – Miniseries or a Movie | |
| 1978 | Dr. Strange | Morgan le Fay | (TV) | |
| 1979 | Goldengirl | |||
| 1981 | Going Ape! | Fiona | ||
| 1982 | Spring Fever | Celia Berryman | ||
| 1984 | Terror in the Aisles | Evelyn Draper | Archival - segment Play Misty for Me | |
| 1984 | The Flamingo Kid | Phyllis Brody | ||
| 1984 | Secret Places | Girl #1 in art room | ||
| 1986 | Novel Connection & Magnum on Ice | Joan Forrester | Crossover episode of Magnum PI and Murder She Wrote | |
| 1988 | Tapeheads | Kay Mart | ||
| 1991–1995 | Dinosaurs | Fran Sinclair (voice) | ||
| 1993 | Ghost in the Machine | Elaine | aka Deadly Terror | |
| 1994 | PCU | President Garcia-Thompson | ||
| 1995 | Temptress | Dr. Phyllis Evergreen | ||
| 1998 | Slums of Beverly Hills | Doris Zimmerman | ||
| 2001 | My Best Friend's Wife | Mrs. Epstein | ||
| 2003 | Dummy | Fern Schoichet | ||
| 2003–2006 | Arrested Development | Lucille Bluth | (53 episodes) Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2003) TV Land Award for Future Classic (2004) Nominated — Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Comedy Series (2005) Nominated — Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series (2005, 2006) | |
| 2006 | Unaccompanied Minors | Cindi | ||
| 2008 | Law & Order: Criminal Intent | Eleanor Reynolds | (1 episode) | |
| 2008–2009 | 90210 | Tabitha Wilson | series regular (13 episodes) | |
| 2009 | Make It Or Break It | Grandma Tanner | (1 episode, Battle of the Flexes) | |
| 2009 | Law & Order: SVU | Attorney Petra Gilmartin | ||
| 2009–present | Archer | Mallory Archer | series regular | |
| 2010 | Arrested Development | Lucille Bluth | (pre-production) | |
| 2011–present | Retired at 35 | Elaine Robbins | series regular | |
| 2011 | Bending the Rules | Lena Gold | ||
| 2011 | The Big Bang Theory | Mrs. Latham | (1 episode, The Benefactor Factor[7]) |
References
- ^ http://www.filmreference.com/film/82/Jessica-Walter.html
- ^ a b "Jessica Walter: Lucille Bluth on Arrested Development talks about her kooky character". Entertainment Weekly. 2005-06-24. Retrieved 2007-03-18. Cite error: The named reference "must" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ http://www.imdb.com/Sections/Awards/Golden_Globes_USA/1972
- ^ Robyn Ross (5 August 2009). "Jessica Walter on SVU: An Arresting Development". TVGuide.com. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ Jones, Kenneth."Bon Voyage! Anything Goes, With Sutton Foster and Joel Grey, Opens on Broadway" playbill.com
- ^ Keck, William (2005-09-16). "A terrific 'Development' boosts Jessica Walter's career". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-03-18.
- ^ http://www.thefutoncritic.com/listings/20110125cbs08
External links
- Jessica Walter at IMDb
- Jessica Walter at the Internet Broadway Database
- Please use a more specific IOBDB template. See the template documentation for available templates.
- Jessica Walter on tvland.com