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Kay Lenz

 
Actor: Kay Lenz
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: Mar 04, 1953 in Los Angeles, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '70s-'90s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Mystery
  • Career Highlights: Falling From Grace, Fast-Walking, Breezy
  • First Major Screen Credit: Breezy (1973)

Biography

Thrushlike American actress Kay Lenz was most effectively cast as hippielike free spirits, even though she rose to prominence after the "flower child" craze had come and gone. After a lot of TV work, Lenz was given her big movie break in director Clint Eastwood's Breezy (1973) as the teenybopper girl friend of middle-aged businessman William Holden. Kay followed this triumph with an Emmy-winning performance in the 1974 ABC Afternoon Playbreak special "Hearts in Hiding." After another good movie assignment in the above-average Canadian actioner White Line Fever, Kay was cast as one of the title characters in The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday (1976), portraying a gold-hearted (and light-headed) whore in the old west. Though heavily promoted, the film was a failure, and Lenz had to step down from the ranks of Movie Star to become an actress again -- which she did, in the TV miniseries Rich Man Poor Man. Amidst indifferent movie roles, solid TV work and occasional cartoon voiceover assignments, Kay returned to the forefront of public consciousness in 1988, winning her second Emmy for her guest role as an embittered AIDS victim on the TV series Midnight Caller. This scorching performance assured that Kay Lenz would never, ever be written off as merely the wife of one-time teen idol David Cassidy. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Kay Lenz
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Kay Ann Lenz
Born March 4, 1953 (1953-03-04) (age 56)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1967–present
Spouse(s) David Cassidy (1977–1982)

Kay Ann Lenz (born March 4, 1953) is an American actress.

A former child performer, Lenz has worked primarily in television and has won two Emmy Awards.

Contents

Background

Born in Los Angeles, California, the daughter of a producer/commentator father and a model/radio engineer mother, Lenz began working as a child actress, appearing in such television shows as The Andy Griffith Show as well as in stage productions. She had a minor role in the film American Graffiti (1973) before achieving recognition for her title-role performance as the free spirit who captivates William Holden in Breezy, directed by Clint Eastwood. Lenz and Breezy figure into the storyline of Philip K. Dick's novel VALIS.[1]

She made guest appearances in television series such as The Streets of San Francisco, Gunsmoke, MacGyver, McCloud, Cannon and Petrocelli, and played a lead role in the film White Line Fever (1975), before being cast in the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man in 1976, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award. She reprised her role for the sequel, Rich Man, Poor Man Book II (1976). Since the 1980s, she has played guest roles in numerous television series. She won an Emmy in 1989 for Midnight Caller.

Personal life

Lenz was the first wife (1977-82) of singer/actor David Cassidy.

Filmography

Year Film Role Other notes
1973 American Graffiti Jane, girl at dance as Kay Ann Kemper
Breezy Edith Alice Breezerman ('Breezy')
1975 White Line Fever Jerri Kane Hummer
1976 Moving Violation Cam Johnson
The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday Thursday
1978 Mean Dog Blues Linda Ramsey
1979 The Passage Leah Bergson
1981 Sekai meisaku dôwa: Hakuchô no mizûmi Odille voice
1982 Fast-Walking Moke
1983 Prisoners of the Lost Universe Carrie Madison
Trial by Terror Karen Armstrong
1986 House Sandy Sinclair
1987 Death Wish 4: The Crackdown Karen Sheldon
Stripped to Kill Detective Cody Sheenan
1988 Fear Sharon Haden
1989 Headhunter Katherine Hall
Physical Evidence Deborah Quinn
1990 Streets Sargent
1991 Shakespeare's Plan 12 from Outer Space Sebastian
1992 Falling From Grace P.J. Parks
Wild West C.O.W.Boys of Moo Mesa Cowlamity Kate Cudster (voice)
1994 Trapped in Space Gillings
1995 Gunfighter's Moon Linda Yarnell
1997 A Gun, a Car, a Blonde Peep/Madge
1998 The Adventures of Ragtime Detective Hill
2003 Southside Claire Coleman

References

  1. ^ VALIS

External links

v • d • e
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress - Drama Series

Zohra Lampert (1974) · Fionnula Flanagan (1976) · Beulah Bondi (1977) · Rita Moreno (1978) · Alfre Woodard (1987) · Shirley Knight (1988) · Kay Lenz (1989) · Viveca Lindfors (1990) · Peggy McCay (1991) · Elaine Stritch (1993) · Faye Dunaway (1994) · Shirley Knight (1995) · Amanda Plummer (1996) · Dianne Wiest (1997) · Cloris Leachman (1998) · Debra Monk (1999) · Beah Richards (2000)

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

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