Meredith Baxter
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Meredith Baxter on the front of Spa magazine. |
Meredith Baxter (born
June 21,
1947, in
South Pasadena, California) is an
American actress. Her mother was the late actress and
sitcom creator
Whitney Blake, and her father is
Tom Baxter, who worked in radio. Her stepfather is sitcom writer,
Allan Manings.
She was married three times, most notably to actor
David Birney, whom she met on the set of the sitcom
Bridget Loves Bernie; she played his wife on the series. After the show was canceled, the couple became engaged and were married in
1974. From that date until their divorce in
1989, she was credited as
Meredith Baxter Birney.
She is best known for her work on two television shows. She first became popular in Hollywood playing the role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland on the television drama
Family from
1976 to
1980. She received two
Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, in
1977 and
1978. The second role she is well-known for is ex-
flower child Elyse Keaton on the sitcom
Family Ties, which aired from
1982 to
1989. (Coincidentally, Meredith was born on the same date as her
Family Ties husband,
Michael Gross.)
Since
Family Ties was cancelled, Meredith has been directing and starring in TV movies. In
1992, she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Special for her work in
A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story, in which she plays a divorcée who was convicted of murder in the shooting of her ex-husband and his young wife. She was nominated for a
Daytime Emmy award in
1993 for her work as a lesbian raising a young son in a
CBS after-school special. In
2000, she once again played the mother of a character played by
Michael J. Fox, this time on the sitcom
Spin City.
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