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Lynn Carlin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Lynn Carlin
Lynn Carlin in 1976
Born
OccupationActress
Years active1968–1987
Spouses
Peter Hall
(m. 1958; div. 1960)
Ed Carlin
(m. 1963; div. 1974)
John Wolfe
(m. 1983; died 1999)
Children2, including Dan Carlin

Mary Lynn Carlin (née Reynolds) is an American retired actress. For her debut role in the 1968 John Cassavetes film Faces, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first nonprofessional performer to receive an Oscar nomination. She was later nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Milos Forman’s Taking Off (1971).

Life and career

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Lynn Carlin was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of socialite Muriel Elizabeth (née Ansley) and 'Larry Reynolds' (Laurence Kramer).[1][2] Her father was a Hollywood business manager, and her mother worked in radio. She grew up in Laguna Beach.[3]

Carlin made her stage debut in The Women at the Laguna Beach Playhouse.[4][5]

Carlin, Robert Altman's[6] secretary-turned-actress,[7][8] earned her only Academy Award nomination in 1968 for her first feature role as John Marley's suicidal wife Maria in John Cassavetes' Faces (1968). She is the first nonprofessional to be nominated for an Academy Award.[9] She subsequently played wives and mothers before retiring in 1987. She next appeared in ...tick...tick...tick... (1970) as George Kennedy's ambitious, henpecking wife and returned to offbeat roles as Buck Henry's wife, searching for her missing daughter amid the hippies and drug culture of 1970s New York in Miloš Forman's Taking Off (1971).[10] The same year, she appeared in Blake Edwards' western Wild Rovers. In 1972, she was re-teamed with John Marley, again as his wife, in Bob Clark's horror film Deathdream, and her other film roles include the British drama film Baxter! (1973) as the mother of Scott Jacoby, the 1979 comedy French Postcards, and the 1982 horror film Superstition.

Carlin is perhaps best remembered as the parent of growing teen Lance Kerwin in the TV-movie James at 15 (1977) and its subsequent spin-off James at 16. In 1977, she was cast in several episodes of The Waltons as a nurse who marries the county sheriff. She appeared in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, and she had a recurring role on the short-lived television series Strike Force (1981–1982). She appeared in several other TV movies, including Silent Night, Lonely Night. In 1972, she appeared in an episode of Gunsmoke titled "Milligan" as the wife of Harry Morgan's character.

In 1971, she played the mother of teenage father Desi Arnaz Jr. in Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. The same year, she played Peter Falk's wife in A Step Out of Line. In 1974, she appeared in both Terror on the 40th Floor and The Morning After. She played the wife of Sam Houston in the biopic The Honorable Sam Houston in 1975. The following year, she played Eve Plumb's mother in Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway.

In her last television movie, she played the mother of three young men manipulated into breaking their father (Robert Mitchum) out of jail in A Killer in the Family (1983). Her last acting role was a guest appearance on Murder, She Wrote in 1987 as the wife of the episode's murder victim, played by Cornel Wilde.

Personal life

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Carlin was married to Peter Hall from 1958 until their divorce in 1960. Her second marriage was to Edward Carlin, with whom she had two children. This union (1963–74) also ended in divorce. Her oldest child is podcaster/journalist Dan Carlin. She was married to John Wolfe[11] from 1983 until his death in 1999.[12]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Title Role Notes
1968 Faces Maria Forst
1970 ...tick... tick... tick... Julia Little
1971 Taking Off Lynn Tyne
1971 Wild Rovers Sada Billings
1973 Baxter! Mrs. Baxter
1974 Dead of Night Christine Brooks
1975 Iron and Horse Meridel York Short
1979 French Postcards Mrs. Weber
1980 Battle Beyond the Stars Nell (voice)
1982 Superstition Melinda Leahy

Television

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Year Title Role Notes
1969 Marcus Welby, M.D. Helen Stewart Season 1 Episode 2: "The Foal"
1969 Silent Night, Lonely Night Jennifer Sparrow TV Movie
1969–1972 Medical Center Ruth Dwyer / Louise Nolan 2 episodes
1970 The Bold Ones: The Protectors Sister Marie Theresa Season 1 Episode 5: "A Thing Not of God"
1971 A Step Out of Line Linda Connors TV Movie
1971 Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones Christine Jones TV Movie
1971 The Bold Ones: The New Doctors Meredith Lindon Season 3 Episode 6: "The Glass Cage"
1971 Cannon Helen Kern Season 1 Episode 13: "The Nowhere Man"
1972 Gunsmoke Janet Milligan Season 18 Episode 9: "Milligan"
1972 Love, American Style Ruth Season 4 Episode 11: "segment: Love and the Swinging Philosophy"
1972 Emergency! Mrs. Patterson Season 2 Episode 10: "Dinner Date"
1972 Young Dr. Kildare Laura Henderson Episode: "The Stranger"
1973 Ironside Mary Jane Smith Season 7 Episode 1: "Confessions: From a Lady of the Night"
1973 Hawaii Five-O Maxine Taylor Season 6 Episode 11: "The Finishing Touch"
1974 The Morning After Fran Lester TV Movie
1974 The Last Angry Man Sarah Abelman TV Movie
1974 Terror on the 40th Floor Lee Parker TV Movie
1974 Petrocelli Audrey North Season 1 Episode 4: "Edge of Evil"
1974 Mannix Nancy Traherne Season 8 Episode 6: "Death Has No Face"
1974 Lucas Tanner Ann Lefferts Season 1 Episode 9: "Look the Other Way"
1974 Paper Moon Sue Jean Season 1 Episode 11: "Who Is M. P. Sellers?"
1974–1980 Insight Jean / Helen Madden / Marge / Betty / Janet / Betty 6 episodes
1975 The Honorable Sam Houston Margaret Houston TV Movie
1975 The Lives of Jenny Dolan Nancy Royce TV Movie
1975–1977 The Waltons Eula Mae / Sara Griffith Bridges 5 episodes
1976 City of Angels Cora Manning Season 1 Episode 5: "A Lonely Way to Die"
1976 The Tenth Level Barbara TV Movie
1976 Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway Dawn's Mother TV Movie
1976 Rich Man, Poor Man Book II Sarah Hunt Season 1 Episode 7: "Chapter VII"
1976 Serpico Viveca Janes Season 1 Episode 15: "A Secret Place"
1977 Bravo Two Mrs. Morgan TV Movie
1977 Gibbsville Season 1 Episode 13: "The Grand Gesture"
1977–1978 James at 15 Meg Hunter Series regular
1978 The Bionic Woman Norma Fisk Season 3 Episode 15: "The Martians Are Coming, the Martians Are Coming"
1979 Not Until Today Mae Henderson TV Movie
1979 The Incredible Hulk Elizabeth Collins Season 3 Episode 3: "Brain Child"
1979 Barnaby Jones Mary Baines Season 8 Episode 5: "Design for Madness"
1979 California Fever Mrs. Newman Season 1 Episode 6: "Portrait of Laurie"
1979 Charlie's Angels Warden Ingram Season 4 Episode 6: "Caged Angel"
1979 Mrs. Columbo Sheree Season 2 Episode 3: "Off the Record"
1980 Tenspeed and Brown Shoe Alice Rynkoff Season 1 Episode 13: "The Treasure of Sierra Madre Street"
1980 Lou Grant Catherine Marks Season 4 Episode 2: "Harassment"
1980–1985 Trapper John, M.D. Rose Tiegs / Claire Dearborne 3 episodes
1981 Girl on the Edge of Town Selma Mantley TV Movie
1981 Strike Force Lorraine Klein 2 episodes
1981 Darkroom Mrs. Shires Season 1 Episode 11: "Catnip"
1982 The Kid from Nowhere Molly Edward TV Movie
1982 Forbidden Love Ella Wagner TV Movie
1983 A Killer in the Family Dorothy Tison TV Movie
1987 Murder, She Wrote Nicole Season 4 Episode 5: "The Way to Dusty Death"
2021 Consequences Churchgoer Season 2 Episode 3: "Leap of Faith"

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result
1969 3rd National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actress Faces Nominated
41st Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress Nominated
1972 25th British Academy Film Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Taking Off Nominated

References

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  1. ^ "Lynn Carlin". Biographical Summaries of Notable People. myheritage.com. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  2. ^ Muriel Reynolds LA Times obituary accessed 1-2-2016
  3. ^ Kleiner, Dick (July 5, 1969). "Lynn Carlin Nervous in Second Film Role". Cumberland Evening Times. Maryland, Cumberland. Newspaper Enterprise. p. 9. Retrieved January 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Lynn Carlin". female.com.au. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  5. ^ "Lynn Carlin".
  6. ^ Ebert, Roger (December 19, 1968). "'Faces' movie review & film summary (1968)". rogerebert.com. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  7. ^ Charity, Tom (26 June 2012). John Cassavetes: Lifeworks. Omnibus Press. p. 99. ISBN 978-0-85712-841-6. ... Lynn Carlin, a secretary who worked for another young, frustrated film-maker in the adjacent office at Screen Gems, Robert Altman. Carlin had done a little ...
  8. ^ Rosenbaum, Jonathan (July 13, 2001). "Faces". jonathanrosenbaum.net. Chicago Reader. Retrieved 22 October 2023.
  9. ^ Harford, Margaret (April 8, 1969). "Lynn Carlin: Memo Taker May Take Home an Oscar". The Los Angeles Times. California, Los Angeles. p. Part IV - 1. Retrieved January 17, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Klemesrud, Judy (April 18, 1971). "Movies". The New York Times. Retrieved 22 October 2023. WHAT kind of woman would go on as the very last guest on the David Frost show, where she barely gets to utter a peep, and not let it bother her; would, at the age of 33, take movie roles that make people think she is in her 40's and not let it bother her; would let herself get typecast as a hysterical suburban housewife and not let it bother her; and would play a partially nude scene— even though she has one inverted nip ple—and not let it bother her? (Well, not much, anyway.)
  11. ^ "Looking into the LA radio connection to Carney's restaurant". Daily News. 9 May 2022. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  12. ^ "John M. Wolfe; Founded Carney's Restaurants". Los Angeles Times. 8 April 1999. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
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