I was born and raised in and around the Gold Coast of Chicago. I went to one of the best high schools in the country, New Trier East in Winnetka, Illinois. My first jobs were for doctors in medical offices – Veterinarian, Oral Surgeon and Pediatrician. I trained in all phases of manual bookkeeping (this was pre-computer, of course – ugh!), patient relations, scheduling, etc.
I went to college for one year – Texas Christian University.
I moved to Arizona in the mid-70’s. I worked for First Interstate Bank for 5 years doing various phases of financially oriented banking procedures including; customer relations, teller, foreign exchange, international transfers of funds and collections. I also worked for Plaza 3, which at the time was considered the number one modeling school in the country. At the school I prospected for and sold classes to ducklings who wanted to be swans. Also, I took all the classes and traveled around the state of Arizona as the school’s representative. After that I worked as a “Head Hunter” for a short period of time, lining up professional business people with corporate jobs.
I moved to Los Angeles in the early 80’s to pursue acting. I went over on a whim and stayed – I had $90 in my pocket. I worked for Trailways Regional Headquarters in the World Trade Center, Downtown, LA, where I did various manual accounting procedures, handled phones and worked directly for the Regional VP.
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| My first modeling job - I contracted polio along with 13 others in my neighborhood when I was 6 months old. That was in 1952 in a suburb north of Chicago called Highland Park. |
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I went to work actively as an actress 2 years after landing in LA. I acquired a lead role on The Young and the Restless where I starred for 11 years as Carol Robbins Evans (yes, only one marriage!). During that time I also guest starred in over a dozen prime-time episodics, 3 independent films, 2 Movies of the Week. I even tried my hand at screen writing. I got “story by” credit for an episode of Simon and Simon that I starred in with my good friends Gerald McRaney and Jamison Parker. We also had the rights to and wrote story outlines for several Movies of the Week.
During that time I became an activist for disability rights. I was hired because producers were actively writing to educate the public regarding the normalcy of disability rather than the abnormalcy of it – to subliminally eradicate the “fear factor”. I was awarded by the CA Governors Committee, The Dole Foundation, LA’s Project with Industry, Public Service Achievement Award for the National Legislation Council for the Handicapped, was the National spokesperson for Rotary International’s Polio Plus Program, Special Consultant on Public Relations to the President’s Committee on Employment of Persons with Disabilities (as well as a board member) and an Advisory Board member of the Media Access Office (on disabilities) in Los Angeles. I have also represented CBS’s Stop the Madness and Share the Spirit campaigns (PSA’s), NBC’s Profiles in Pride campaign (bio-docu-mercials) and have done national commercials for IBM, Kodak, Kellogg and Osco Drugs.
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| ADA demonstration in Washington, D.C. |
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After a while I decided to capitalize on my visibility. I started a mail order business. I became computer literate and the business became international. I learned all phases of mail order from manufacturing, to fulfillment, to marketing, to advertising. It took two years to become the only company ever to hold the licenses to all eleven Soap Operas.
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Acting exposed me to “celebrity” – what
to do, how to act, what to expect, how to promote and how to protect
myself. It taught me about fans and politics. I learned that when
you’re on top you’re everybody’s friend and how nobody knows you when
you’re down and out. I learned about public relations and how to become
a “back door” person. When they don’t give you what you want up front,
you find another way in. I can’t think of an acting job I did in the 20
years I spent in Hollywood that I didn’t generate myself.
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At
this time I am volunteering at Christ Healing Center in Olmos Park. I
just arranged, produced and performed on a CD of healing songs,
scriptures and psalms. I am now in the process of promoting, marketing,
advertising, selling and fulfilling orders for Christ Heals.
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