Mary Kay Place Biography

Fast Facts

• First job in Hollywood was as a production assistant for Tim Conway, which led to a secretarial job with Norman Lear typing Maude scripts
• Teamed with friend Linda Bloodworth (who later created Designing Women) to write sitcom scripts, including Friends and Lovers and M*A*S*H; received first Emmy nomination for writing M*A*S*H episode "Hot Lips and Empty Arms
• " Big acting break came when Lear put her on All in the Family as Gloria's friend and sang the self-penned protest song "If Communism Comes Knocking on Your Door, Don't Answer It
• " Lear later cast her as country singer Loretta Haggers on the cult soap spoof Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, for which she won a supporting actress Emmy
• Wrote more than 70 songs for her Haggers character and recorded the Grammy-nominated Tonite! At the Capri Lounge, Loretta Haggers in character
• Film debut was in 1976's Bound for Glory; first major role was in Martin Scorsese's New York, New York; most memorable screen part was as a single woman trying to get pregnant in The Big Chill
• While still enjoying a successful acting career, carved out a secondary career as a sitcom director on Baby Boom, Dream On, Friends and Arli$$