Dorothy Lyman
Although she was best known for playing unsophisticated, gum-smacking blue-collar southern belles, actress and director Dorothy Lyman herself was very different. She grew up the daughter of a stockbroker in Minneapolis. In 1971, she got her start acting on the CBS soap "A World Apart," moving over to its sister show, "The Edge of Night," a year later to play the sinister Elly Jo Jameson. After a brief stint on "One Life to Live" and a longer run on "Another World," Lyman finally found a home on the popular ABC daytime drama "All My Children" as the fish-out-of-water beautician Opal Sue Gardner. Shortly after joining the show she was also cast in Vicki Lawrence's new "Carol Burnett Show" spin-off, "Mama's Family"; Lyman played Mama's daughter-in-law, Naomi. With "Mama's Family" Lyman found herself in a leading role on a respectably rated television show and stayed on for the series' entire six seasons. After "Mama's Family" went off air in 1990, Lyman jumped into directing, teaming up with Fran Drescher to helm over 70 episodes of "The Nanny" from 1993 to 1998. Lyman also made regular returns to the soap-opera genre, playing guest roles on "The Bold and the Beautiful," "Days of Our Lives," and "As the World Turns." She won two Emmy awards for Outstanding Actress for her work on "All My Children."
Photos
Dorothy Lyman
Filmography
Movies
Credit | |||||
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No Score Yet |
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Vault | Ma (Character) | - | 2019 |
No Score Yet |
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Back Fork | Susie (Character) | - | 2019 |
46% |
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Bullitt County | The Mrs. (Character) | - | 2017 |
80% |
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Bad Hurt | Mrs. Salisbury (Character) | - | 2015 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Split Ends |
Director, Producer |
- | 2009 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Northern Kingdom |
Nan (Character), Director, Producer |
- | 2009 |
No Score Yet |
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Dinner & Driving | Rita (Character) | - | 1997 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Tears and Laughter: The Joan and Melissa Rivers Story | Dorothy (Character) | - | 1994 |
86% |
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Ruby in Paradise | Mildred Chambers (Character) | $77.6K | 1993 |
No Score Yet |
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Ollie Hopnoodle's Haven of Bliss | Mom (Character) | - | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Summer Fantasy | Dr. Nancy Brannigan (Character) | - | 1984 |
No Score Yet |
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Night of the Juggler | Nurse Jenny (Character) | - | 1980 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The 300 Year Weekend | Jean (Character) | - | 1971 |
TV
Credit | ||||
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No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Mama's Family | Naomi Oates Harper (Character) | 1983-1984 1986-1990 2024 |
No Score Yet | 81% | Blue Bloods | Elizabeth (Guest Star) | 2022 |
91% | 79% | The Blacklist | Delaine Uhlman (Guest Star) | 2019 |
No Score Yet | 62% | FBI | Jilly Peters (Guest Star) | 2018 |
95% | 89% | Elementary | Belinda (Guest Star) | 2015 |
No Score Yet | 83% | Law & Order | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2009 |
78% | 83% | Law & Order: Special Victims Unit | Principal Parker (Guest Star) | 2005 |
No Score Yet | 65% | CSI: Miami | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2003 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | The Practice | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1999 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | V.I.P. | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Reba | Helen (Guest Star) | 2002 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Family Law | Unknown (Guest Star) | 2000 |
22% | No Score Yet | Payne | Director | 1999 |
No Score Yet | 72% | The Nanny |
Maureen Wentworth (Guest Star), Director |
1993-1998 |
No Score Yet | 89% | Murder, She Wrote | Norma Shey (Guest Star) | 1995 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hope & Gloria | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1995 |
82% | 93% | Picket Fences | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Afterschool Special | Unknown (Character) | 1994 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Bodies of Evidence | Unknown (Guest Star) | 1993 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Hunter | Sgt. Carol James Meyers (Guest Star) | 1989 |
No Score Yet | 79% | ALF | Maura Norris (Guest Star) | 1988 |
No Score Yet | No Score Yet | Super Password | Guest | 1985 |