Brenda Dickson

Infobox actor


imagesize = 150px
name = Brenda Dickson
birthdate = February 3, 1949
birthplace = Long Beach, California
website = http://www.brendadickson.com/

Brenda Dickson (born February 3, 1949 in Long Beach, California) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Jill Foster Abbott on the soap opera "The Young and the Restless" from 1973 to 1980, and from 1983 to 1987.

Biography

Dickson was a beauty pageant contestant who won the title of Miss California (preliminary to Miss World) 1967. According to a January 1975 CBS press release, Brenda then performed for USO shows and for the Armed Forces Radio Network and also attended Cerritos College in Norfalk, California, where she majored in psychology. [http://www.auctiva.com/hostedimages/showimage.aspx?gid=222845&
] She also studied acting for three years with Lee Strasberg at the Strasberg Theatre Institute in Hollywood, California. Then she appeared in some skits with Bob Hope, after which, she acted on stage and then in the feature film Deathmaster (1972). She guest-starred on several episodic television shows before being cast as one of the original cast members of the daytime drama "The Young and the Restless". She was on the show as Jill Foster Abbott when it launched in 1973. She remained on the show until 1980, at which time, she retired to become a real-life housewife. However, her marriage soon ended and she returned to acting. In 1983, she reprised the role of Jill on "The Young and the Restless," and her performance as the show's villainess supposedly pushed the soap opera to the top of the ratings. She played the role until 1987, when she was replaced by Jess Walton, who continues to play the role to this day.

The role of vampy, trampy Jill garnered Dickson and the show a great deal of attention. During her first run on the show, she was given the controversial storyline of the ingenue Jill falling in love with the rich husband of client Katherine Chancellor. Her involvement on the serial merited a brief cameo in the film "Taxi Driver," where Robert De Niro's character accidentally knocks over and breaks his television set while he watches Dickson play Jill. During Dickson's second run on the show, she was given another controversial storyline where Jill sleeps with her stepson Jack Abbott and then is blackmailed for it.

On "E! True Hollywood Story" Dickson indicated that she was terminated from her role as Jill because she was ill, and that she unsuccessfully pursued litigation regarding her termination. She has also indicated that she wasn't able to find any other acting roles after Young and the Restless, because she has been blacklisted. [http://www.wrf.com/docs/newsletter_issues/278.pdf] . Industry magazines attributed her termination to diva-like conflict with costars or executives. Publicly, she and Jeanne Cooper, who plays Katherine Chancellor, expressed warm feelings toward each other. In 1988, Dickson hugged and then thanked Cooper in her acceptance speech when she won the Soap Opera Digest Award Outstanding Villainess in a Daytime Serial. Cooper was quoted in a January 2007 issue of Soap Opera Digest as stating that she "adores Brenda".

Dickson has earned a reputation for occasionally living up to her character's wild and colorful nature. Among media related to Dickson is a vanity video production she hosted titled "Welcome to my Home" taped in 1987, for which she is also credited as writer, director and executive producer. It has resurfaced on several video-based websites, and has gained unintentional camp status.

Personal life

Dickson has been married twice: to dentist Robert Rifkin and attorney Jan Weinberg. In 2007, Dickson was jailed in Hawaii because of a civil contempt order stemming from the divorce judgment from her second marriage. [ [http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Feb/20/ln/FP702200345.html Jailed actress says she's the victim - The Honolulu Advertiser - Hawaii's Newspaper ] ] The judge released her after sixteen days in jail when she told him that she would vacate the Hollywood condo that was part of the marital estate, so it could be put up for sale. [ [http://www.khon2.com/news/local/6006411.html Actress makes agreement to get out of jail | KHON2 FOX | Local Top Stories ] ] Because of this incident, Dickson received a flurry of publicity. In a television interview conducted by her former co-star, Michael Corbett from "The Young and the Restless," she indicated that she would not move out of the marital condo, reneging on her word to the judge, which landed her in jail again. After nearly three months in jail, the judge released her on June 27, 2007, because the Hollywood condo was sold and her ex-husband had withdrawn his objection to her release. [ [http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007706280343 Hilo coast is a big rainwater mess - The Honolulu Advertiser ] ] Dickson claims to be extemely dyslexic. [http://www.khon2.com/news/local/6006411.html]

Awards and nominations

* Soap Opera Digest Award Nomination for Outstanding Villainess in a Daytime Serial "The Young and the Restless"- 1986
* Soap Opera Digest Award for Outstanding Villainess in a Daytime Serial "The Young and the Restless"- 1988 [ [http://www.soapoperadigest.com/awards/1988/index.html 1988 ] ]

References

External links

* http://www.brendadickson.com/ Brenda Dickson website
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