Leigh Taylor-Young (born January 25, 1945) is an
American actress who has appeared on stage, screen, and television.
Early life and career
Leigh Taylor-Young was born on January 25, 1945 in
Washington, DC. Her last name is an amalgamation of the last names of her father, a diplomat, and her stepfather, a successful Detroit executive. She was raised in
Oakland County, Michigan, and attended
Northwestern University as an economics major. However, she left before graduating to pursue a full-time acting career, making her professional debut on
Broadway in
Three Bags Full.
Taylor-Young got her first big break in 1966, when she was cast as
Rachel Welles in the prime time soap opera
Peyton Place. It was on this series that she met
Ryan O'Neal, whom she later married. After leaving
Peyton Place, Taylor-Young pursued a career in films, landing a lucrative seven-year contract with a major studio. Her first film role came opposite
Peter Sellers in the 1968 comedy,
I Love You, Alice B. Toklas. The film was commercially successful, and she received a
Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Female Newcomer. This was followed by her appearance with husband Ryan O'Neal in
The Big Bounce in 1969.
For the next several years her pictures tended to be high budget films, such as
The Adventurers and
The Horsemen. She is perhaps best known for her performance as Shirl, the "furniture" girl, in the 1973
science fiction classic
Soylent Green. For almost ten years after her appearance in
Soylent Green, however, her career went into an extended hiatus as she concentrated on raising her son
Patrick O'Neal.
1980's
The 1980s saw Leigh Taylor Young return to both film and television, where her looks and voice often led to casting in roles of an aristocratic bent. In 1981, she appeared in the high tech
Michael Crichton production
Looker. In 1985, she was cast as Virginia Howell in
Jagged Edge, for which she received a
Golden Globe acting nomination. She also appeared in the 1985
romantic comedy Secret Admirer.
In addition to her film work, Taylor-Young guest-starred on such television series as
McCloud,
Fantasy Island,
The Love Boat,
Hart to Hart,
Hotel, and
Spenser: For Hire. She returned to her soap opera roots in 1983, appearing in the short-lived daytime series
The Hamptons. From 1987 to 1989, she played Kimberly Cryder on
Dallas, her first role in a major prime time soap since
Peyton Place.
Despite being best known for her film and television work, she has stated a preference for live theatre' where her career began. She was a favorite of playwright
Samuel Beckett, and toured
Los Angeles,
New York,
London, and
Edinburgh in one of his last works,
The Beckett Plays.
1990s and 2000s
Taylor-Young's recent film credits have included minor roles in
Honeymoon Academy (1990),
Bliss (1997), and
Slackers (2002), as well as
direct-to-video films
Addams Family Reunion (1998) and
Klepto (2003).
Perhaps her best-known TV work was on the
CBS series
Picket Fences, in which she played mercurial mayor Rachel Harris from 1993 through 1995. She won an
Emmy for the role in 1994, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, as well as a Golden Globe nomination the following year. From 2004 through 2007, she played Katherine Barrett Crane on the soap opera
Passions.
In addition to her roles on
Picket Fences and
Passions, Taylor-Young has also appeared on shows such as
The Young Riders,
Murder, She Wrote,
Sunset Beach,
Malibu Shores,
7th Heaven, and
Life. She also had recurring roles on
Beverly Hills, 90210,
The Pretender, and
UPN's The Sentinel.
Taylor-Young has also appeared in a handful of
TV movies, including
Perry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987),
Who Gets the Friends?, and
Stranger in My Home (1997).
Personal Life
Leigh Taylor-Young married
Ryan O'Neal, her
Peyton Place co-star, in 1967. The marriage produced a son,
Patrick O'Neal, but Leigh and O'Neal divorced in 1973.
Since leaving
Passions, her screen appearances have been infrequent as she has concentrated on work in the
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.
External links
memoryalpha
EmmyAward DramaSupportingActress 1976-2000
Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
DEFAULTSORT:Taylor-Young, Leigh
