Monster M*A*S*H
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Linda Kelsey (born July 28, 1946) appeared as Lt. Mickey Baker in two M*A*S*H episodes, "The Nurses" in Season 5 and then in "Our Finest Hour" in episode reel footage.

Life and career[]

Linda's professional career began with stage appearances in her home of Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her good looks and striking mane of red hair winning her success that ultimately landed her in Los Angeles in 1972, with appearances in small roles on TV shows like Emergency! and The Rookies, and the made-for-television movie The Picture of Dorian Gray (1973). Her first recognition came with an appearance on an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as a rival to the "Happy Homemaker" character Sue Ann Nivens (played by Betty White). That led to prominent guest appearance on shows like M*A*S*H, The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Streets of San Francisco, Barnaby Jones, Spencer's Pilots, Quincy M.E., The Rockford Files, the television movies The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (1976) Something for Joey (1977), and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977), and the miniseries Captains and the Kings (1976).

Her big break came when producers of the television series Lou Grant decided that the actress playing the female reporter on the show was too young and perky, and recast the part after three episodes with Kelsey in the role of Billie Newman, the crusading reporter for the fictional Los Angeles Tribune. Kelsey won five consecutive Emmy Award nominations (1978 through 1982) for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, losing four times to her Lou Grant co-star Nancy Marchand and once to Kristy McNichol in Family.

After CBS-TV cancelled Lou Grant in 1982, Kelsey was primed for stardom by NBC as the lead in the sitcom Day by Day (1988) as a woman who runs a daycare center out of her home. The show ran for two seasons.

Kelsey continued to make guest appearances in television series and TV movies through the late 1990s, notably in the TV movie The Babysitter's Seduction and on several episodes of Murder, She Wrote.

After television work stopped trickling in, Kelsey returned to her native Twin Cities' area where she has continued her career in regional theater productions, memorably in the title role of Mary Stuart at the Park Square Theater, a performance that Talkin' Broadway described as "beautiful, feminine, determined and regal throughout, even when she's giggling with her lady-in-waiting. She affects every man who comes to see her."[1] In 2009, she revisited her television past, playing Sue Ann Nivens for a week in a Minneapolis theatre company's restaging of The Mary Tyler Moore Show scripts, including the episode in which she originally appeared.[2][3]

Awards[]

  • Emmy Award
    • Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (five nominations from 1978 to 1982) - Lou Grant
  • Golden Globe Award
    • Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (three nominations from 1979 to 1981) - Lou Grant
  • CableACE Award
    • CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series (1993) - Sessions

Personal life[]

Kelsey married William Grivna on March 16, 1968; they divorced in 1972. She has been married to Glenn Strand since May 20, 1979. They had two children, now grown.

References[]

External links[]

Wikipedia logo 165x125 This page uses content from Wikipedia. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with Monster M*A*S*H, the text of Wikipedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
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