Meredith Baxter facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Meredith Baxter
Baxter at the Human Rights Campaign Gala in 2014
Born	Meredith Ann Baxter (1947-06-21) June 21, 1947 (age 77) South Pasadena, California, U.S.
Other names	Meredith Baxter Birney
Education	Interlochen Center for the Arts
Occupation	Actress producer
Years active	1971–present
Spouse(s)	Robert Lewis Bush ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1969)​ David Birney ​ ​ (m. 1974; div. 1989)​ Michael Blodgett ​ ​ (m. 1995; div. 2000)​ Nancy Locke ​ (m. 2013)​
Children	5
Parents	Tom Baxter (father) Whitney Blake (mother)

Meredith Ann Baxter (born June 21, 1947) is an American actress and producer. She is known for her roles on the CBS sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie (1972–1973), ABC drama series Family (1976–1980) and the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989). A five-time Emmy Award nominee, one of her nominations was for playing the title role in the 1992 TV film A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story.

Early life

Baxter was born in South Pasadena, California, the daughter of actress, director and producer Whitney Blake; and Tom Baxter, a radio announcer. After her parents were divorced in 1953, Baxter and her two brothers, Richard (born 1944) and Brian (born 1946), were raised by their mother in Pasadena. Her second stepfather was situation comedy writer Allan Manings. She and her Family Ties co-star, Michael Gross, were both born on June 21, 1947.

Baxter was educated at James Monroe High School before transferring to Hollywood High School. During her senior year, she attended Interlochen Center for the Arts as a voice major, but returned to Hollywood High, where she graduated in 1965.

Career

Baxter got her first appearance in television in 1967 on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-in, followed by The Interns, The Young Lawyers, The Doris Day Show, and Insight and in 1971 on an episode of The Partridge Family in its second season. She later appeared in 1972 as one of the stars of Bridget Loves Bernie, a CBS television network situation comedy. The series was canceled after one season. Her co-star, David Birney, became her second husband in 1974. Until they were divorced in 1989, she was credited as "Meredith Baxter Birney", under which name she became widely known in 1976 on Family. She played the role of Nancy Lawrence Maitland and received two Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1977 and 1978). In 1976 she played the wife of White House staffer Hugh W. Sloan Jr. in All the President's Men.

Baxter in 1977

After Family ended, she starred with Annette O'Toole and Shelley Hack in Vanities (1981), a television production of the comedy-drama stage play about the lives, loves and friendship of three Texas cheerleaders starting from high school to post-college graduation; it aired as a part of Standing Room Only, a series on the premium television channel HBO.

In 1982, Baxter landed the role of Elyse Keaton, the former flower child matriarch of the Keaton family on the NBC sitcom Family Ties. In 1986, during her time on Family Ties, Baxter earned critical acclaim for her dramatic performance as Kate Stark in the NBC television film Kate's Secret, about a seemingly "perfect" suburban housewife and mother who is secretly suffering from bulimia nervosa. Following Family Ties, Baxter produced and starred in television films. She portrayed a psychopathic kidnapper in The Kissing Place (1990) and 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 (1992), based on the true story of Betty Broderick, a divorcée who was convicted of murder of her ex-husband and his young wife. For her work on the television film My Breast (1994), she received a special award for public awareness from the National Breast Cancer Coalition. In 1997, Baxter once again played the mother of a character played by Michael J. Fox (who portrayed her son, Alex P. Keaton, on Family Ties), this time in two episodes of Spin City.

In 2005, she began appearing in television commercials for Garden State Life Insurance Company. In 2006, she temporarily co-hosted—with Matt Lauer—Today, the NBC morning news and talk show. In 2007, she made a guest appearance on What About Brian, an ABC drama series. That same year, she also made several appearances as the dying mother of Detective Lilly Rush in Cold Case, a CBS police procedural series. In recent years, Baxter created a skin care line called Meredith Baxter Simple Works, which raises funds for Baxter's breast cancer research foundation.

Baxter was the guest speaker at the 2008 Southern Commencement for National University in La Jolla, California, and was awarded an honorary doctoral degree from the university.

On March 1, 2011, Baxter's memoir, titled Untied, was published. In the book, she details her early life, her unhappy and in some cases abusive marriages and her realization that she is a lesbian. The book became a New York Times bestseller.

She is also a spokesperson for the senior mobile service provider Consumer Cellular. She voiced the character "Elise Sr." in Dan Vs.. In April 2013, it was announced that Baxter would be in the season 4 finale episode of Glee, along with Patty Duke, as a mentor to Darren Criss's character Blaine Anderson and Chris Colfer's character, Kurt Hummel. She also made a guest appearance on the ABC Family/Freeform series Switched at Birth as the widowed mother of Kathryn Kennish (portrayed by Lea Thompson).

On August 4, 2014, producers announced that Baxter would be joining The Young and the Restless as Maureen, a "charming, intelligent, middle-class woman who has always aspired to a more privileged life than she has had". Baxter started appearing on the program on September 8. She also played the mother to "Stich" Raybourne and Kelly Andrews.

Personal life

Marriages and children

Baxter and Birney in Bridget Loves Bernie (1972)

Baxter in September 1990

Baxter has been married four times and has five children.

• Robert Lewis Bush (1966–1971, divorce); two children, born 1967 and 1969
• David Birney (1974–1989, divorce); three children, born 1974, and twins, born 1984
• Michael Blodgett (1995–2000, divorce)
• Nancy Locke (2013–present)

On December 2, 2009, she came out as a lesbian during an interview with Matt Lauer on Today and on the Frank DeCaro Show on Sirius-XM OutQ 102. She said that accepting her sexual orientation helped her understand why, in part, previous relationships with men had failed.

Diet

Baxter is a vegetarian.

Health issues

Baxter became a vegetarian to keep her weight under control.

Baxter was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1999. After treatment, she made a full recovery.

Filmography

Film

Chad Everett and Baxter in 1975

Television

Award nominations

See also

In Spanish: Meredith Baxter para niños