Michael Learned facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Michael Learned
Learned in 2020
Born	(1939-04-09) April 9, 1939 (age 86) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1961–present
Spouse(s)	Peter Donat ​ ​ (m. 1956; div. 1972)​ Glen Chadwick ​ ​ (m. 1974; div. 1977)​ William Parker IV ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 1988)​ John Doherty ​ ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	3

Michael Learned (born April 9, 1939) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Olivia Walton in the long-running TV show The Waltons. This drama series aired on CBS from 1972 to 1981.

Michael Learned has won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series four times. This ties her for the most wins in that category with actress Tyne Daly. Three of her Emmy awards were for The Waltons (in 1973, 1974, and 1976). Her fourth Emmy was for the TV series Nurse in 1982.

Early Life and Education

Michael Learned was born in Washington, D.C., on April 9, 1939. She is the oldest daughter of Elizabeth Duane "Betti" and Bruce Learned. Her father was a diplomat. Her grandfather also worked for the United States Embassy in Rome. Michael has five younger sisters named Gretl, Susan, Sabra, Dorit, and Philippa.

She spent her first 10 years on a farm in Connecticut. Michael has a boy's name, and she once said her parents never explained why. Her father only told her that if she had been a boy, she would have been named Caleb.

When she was 11, Michael moved to Austria because of her father's work. She attended the Arts Educational School, Tring, in England. This school is now called Tring Park School for the Performing Arts. It was there that she discovered her love for theater. She decided then that acting would be her life's work.

Acting Career Highlights

Television and Film Roles

Michael Learned in 1973

Michael Learned's first big role was as Olivia Walton. She played the mother and wife in The Waltons. This popular TV show ran for nine seasons, from 1972 to 1981. For the first five seasons, she was listed as "Miss Michael Learned" in the credits. This was because she was not very well known. Producers wanted to make sure viewers knew that "Michael" was a woman's name. By the sixth season, the show was very successful. The "Miss" was removed from her name in the credits.

She was nominated for six Emmy Awards for her role as Olivia. She won three of these awards. After the sixth season, she agreed to stay for one more season. However, she did not have to work the full nine months. She left the show after the seventh season. Her character, Olivia, was said to have gotten tuberculosis. She went to a special hospital in Arizona. Michael returned for a short time in Season 8. She also appeared in four of the six Waltons TV movies made later. These movies were in 1982, 1993, 1995, and 1997. She was also nominated for four Golden Globe Awards for playing Olivia Walton.

In 1974, Michael Learned also appeared in the TV movie Hurricane. She was in it with her Waltons co-star, Will Geer.

Michael Learned made her first movie appearance in 1980. She had a supporting role in the drama film Touched by Love. She later appeared in Power (1986) and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993). She also acted in many other TV movies.

She starred as Nurse Mary Benjamin in the hospital drama Nurse. This show aired on CBS in 1981 and 1982. Even though critics liked the show, it did not get high ratings. It only lasted for two partial seasons. Still, Michael was nominated for two Emmy Awards for this role. She won another Emmy for Nurse in 1982.

Later, she had main roles in the TV series Hothouse (1988) and the sitcom Living Dolls (1989). She also returned as Olivia Walton for several Waltons TV movies in the 1990s. In 2005, she played Judge Helen Turner on the soap operas All My Children and One Life to Live. She also guest-starred in The Secret World of Alex Mack and Scrubs. In 2010, she played Shirley Smith on General Hospital. In 2011, she filled in for actress Jeanne Cooper as Katherine Chancellor on The Young and the Restless. In 2022, Michael Learned returned to TV in the Netflix series Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story. She played Catherine Dahmer, who was Jeffrey Dahmer's grandmother.

Stage Performances

In the late 1960s, Michael Learned and her husband Peter Donat performed with the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, California. She has acted in many plays on Broadway and in other theaters. This includes a national tour of the play On Golden Pond in 2006–2007.

In 2008, she starred in Driving Miss Daisy. She played the main character, Daisy Werthen. She played this role again in 2013.

Personal Life

Michael Learned has been married four times. Her first husband was Canadian-American actor Peter Donat. They married in 1956 when she was 17 years old. Their marriage lasted 16 years and ended in 1972. They had three sons together. One of her sons is actor and business executive Lucas Donat.

Her second marriage was to Glen Chadwick. It lasted three years, from 1974 to 1977, and also ended in divorce. In 1979, she married actor and screenwriter William Parker. That marriage also ended. Since 1991, she has been married to lawyer John Doherty. They live in California.

In a 2002 article, Michael Learned wrote that she faced personal challenges around the time she was cast in The Waltons in 1971.

Filmography

Film

Television Films

Television Series

See also

In Spanish: Michael Learned para niños