- Michael Learned
-
Michael Learned Born April 9, 1939
Washington, D.C., United StatesOccupation Actress Years active 1961—present Spouse John Doherty (1988-present)[1]
William Parker, IV (1979-?)
Glenn Chadwick (1974-1977)
Peter Donat (1956-1972) 3 sonsMichael Learned (born April 9, 1939) is an American actress known for her role as Olivia Walton on The Waltons.
Contents
Personal life
Learned was born in Washington, D.C., the daughter of Elizabeth Duane "Betti" (née Hooper) and Bruce Learned, a diplomat.[2] Her maternal grandfather was an attache for the United States Embassy in Rome.[3] She lived on a Connecticut farm with her five sisters for the first ten years of her life. She was named Michael because her father, a diplomat, had wanted and expected to have a boy and had selected the name Michael in advance. When it was clear he had a daughter rather than a son, he decided to keep the name he had chosen.[citation needed]. When she was 11, Learned moved to Austria, where her father worked for the U.S. State Department. At this time, she attended Arts Educational School, Tring now Tring Park School for the Performing Arts in Tring, Hertfordshire, England. During this time, she discovered the theatre and decided to make acting her life's work.[4] In a 2002 article she wrote for Daily Word, a publication of the Unity Church, Learned states that at the time she was cast in The Waltons, she had "hit rock bottom". It was then, at age 32, that Learned realized she was an alcoholic. Taking herself to ex-husband Peter Donat's cabin on the California coast, Learned states she decided to "get sober" and that her time there was the beginning of a spiritual journey. Learned further stated in the article that she has been sober since 1977.[5]
Learned has been married four times. Her first husband was Canadian-American actor Peter Donat, whom she married in 1956, when she was 17 years old. The marriage was dissolved in 1972. She had three children by this marriage: Caleb, Christopher and Lucas. Her second marriage, to Glenn Chadwick, lasted from 1975–1977,[clarification needed] and ended in divorce. In 1979, she married actor/screenwriter William Parker. That marriage ended prior to her 1988 marriage to lawyer John Doherty; they reside in California.
Career
Television
She was billed as "Miss Michael Learned" on The Waltons because she was relatively unknown at the time, and producers did not want confusion among viewers about her gender. She was nominated for six Emmy Awards and won three for her role of Olivia Walton. In 1979, her contract was not renewed; some sources indicate that she opted not to re-sign with the show.[citation needed] Her character's abrupt disappearance was explained by Olivia developing tuberculosis and entering a sanatorium in Arizona. She made occasional guest appearances until the show's cancellation and later appeared in the three Waltons reunion movies during the 1990s. For her portrayal of Olivia Walton, Learned was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards.
During her run as Olivia Walton, Learned and Waltons co-star, Will Geer, appeared together in the 1974 made-for-TV movie, Hurricane.
Learned later starred as Nurse Mary Benjamin in the hospital drama Nurse, which ran on CBS during the 1981-82 season. Though the series was well received critically, it was not a ratings success and lasted only two seasons. Learned was nominated for two Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Lead Actress" and won yet another Emmy for this role in 1982.
She later had a starring role in the unsuccessful 1989 sitcom Living Dolls and reprised her Waltons role for a number of TV movies and reunions in the 1990s.
Learned played "Judge Helen Turner" on the ABC soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live as part of the "baby switch" storyline on both shows. In The Secret World of Alex Mack's second season, she guest starred as a ghost who regretted the decisions of her long-estranged granddaughter, revealed at the end to be the show's main villain, Danielle Atron. She also guest-starred in Scrubs as Mrs. Wilk in five episodes from the show's fifth season. She also played Shirley Smith on ABC's General Hospital.
In October 2011, it was announced Learned had been hired as a temporary recast in the character of Katherine Chancellor on the CBS daytime drama, The Young and the Restless. Learned was hired to replace Jeanne Cooper, who is on medical leave from the series.[6]
Theater
In the late 1960s, Learned and her husband (Peter Donat) appeared in various roles with the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) in San Francisco.
She has appeared in many stage productions on Broadway, Off Broadway, and elsewhere, including in the 2006-2007 national touring production of On Golden Pond. In the fall of 2008 she starred in Innovation Theatre Works' production of Driving Miss Daisy, playing the title role of Daisy Werthen opposite Willis Burks II as Hoke and Dirk Blocker as Daisy's son Boolie.
Filmography
- 1960s
- The Other Man (mini-series) (1963)
- Wojeck (1968)
- 1970s
- The Waltons (1972–1979) (as "Miss Michael Learned")
- Gunsmoke (1973)
- Match Game 73 (1973)
- Hurricane (1974)
- It Couldn't Happen to a Nicer Guy (1974)
- Police Story (1974)
- Little Mo (1978)
- The 30th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1978)
- 1980s
- Nurse (1980)
- Touched by Love (1980)
- A Christmas Without Snow (1980)
- Politics of Poison (1982)
- Night of 100 Stars (1982)
- Mother's Day on Waltons Mountain (1982)
- The Parade (1984)
- St. Elsewhere (1984)
- Power (1986)
- A Deadly Business (1986)
- Picnic (1986)
- All My Sons (1987)
- Mercy or Murder? (1987)
- Hothouse (1988)
- Roots: The Gift (1988)
- Living Dolls (1989)
- Murder, She Wrote (1989)
- Who's the Boss? (1989)
- 1990s
- Gunsmoke: The Last Apache (1990)
- Wiseguy (1990)
- Aftermath: A Test of Love (1991)
- Murder in New Hampshire: The Pamela Wojas Smart Story (1991)
- Keeping Secrets (1991)
- Mattie's Waltz (1992)
- Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993)
- A Walton Thanksgiving Reunion (1993)
- The American Revolution (1994)
- Reading Rainbow (1994)
- The Secret World of Alex Mack (1995)
- A Walton Wedding (1995)
- A Walton Easter (1997)
- Life During Wartime (1997)
- A Father for Brittany (1998)
- Profiler (1998)
- Promised Land (1998)
- 2000s
- For the Love of May (2000)
- Pensacola: Wings of Gold (2000)
- So Graham Norton (2000)
- The Best of So Graham Norton (2000)
- CBS at 75 (2003)
- Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2003)
- TV Total (2004)
- All My Children (2005)
- Lethal Eviction (2005)
- Loggerheads (2005)
- One Life to Live (2005)
- Scrubs (2006)
- The Killer (2007)
- Cold Case (2009)
- An American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong (2009)
- 2010s
- General Hospital (2010)
- The Young and the Restless (2011)
References
External links
- Michael Learned at the Internet Movie Database
- Michael Learned at the Internet Broadway Database
- Michael Learned at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series (1952–1975) Helen Hayes (1952) · Loretta Young (1954) · Loretta Young (1956) · Loretta Young (1959) · Barbara Stanwyck (1961) · Barbara Stanwyck (1966) · Barbara Bain (1967) · Barbara Bain (1968) · Barbara Bain (1969) · Susan Hampshire (1970) · Susan Hampshire (1971) · Glenda Jackson (1972) · Michael Learned (1973) · Michael Learned (1974) · Jean Marsh (1975)
Complete List · (1952–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2025) Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress - Drama Series (1976–2000) Michael Learned (1976) · Lindsay Wagner (1977) · Sada Thompson (1978) · Mariette Hartley (1979) · Barbara Bel Geddes (1980) · Barbara Babcock (1981) · Michael Learned (1982) · Tyne Daly (1983) · Tyne Daly (1984) · Tyne Daly (1985) · Sharon Gless (1986) · Sharon Gless (1987) · Tyne Daly (1988) · Dana Delany (1989) · Patricia Wettig (1990) · Patricia Wettig (1991) · Dana Delany (1992) · Kathy Baker (1993) · Sela Ward (1994) · Kathy Baker (1995) · Kathy Baker (1996) · Gillian Anderson (1997) · Christine Lahti (1998) · Edie Falco (1999) · Sela Ward (2000)
Complete List · (1952–1975) · (1976–2000) · (2001–2025) Categories:- 1939 births
- Actors from Washington, D.C.
- American film actors
- American soap opera actors
- American television actors
- Emmy Award winners
- Living people
- People educated at Tring Park School for the Performing Arts
- People from Connecticut
- People from Washington, D.C.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
