Lois Nettleton

An actress renowned within Hollywood circles, but who has never connected on successful TV series or become more of a "Don't I know you?," Lois Nettleton has appeared in regular roles in several series and been featured in movies. She may be best recalled for guest appearances on top TV series: such as when she played the station manager with the hots for Lou Grant on an episode of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" (CBS), or Dorothy's lesbian friend who falls for Rose on an episode of "The Golden Girls" (NBC). Nettleton, whose appearance can come across as fraught, anxious, or strong, studied at the Goodman Theatre in her native Chicago and at the Actors Studio in New York. She made her Broadway debut in 1949 in "The Biggest Thief in Town" and understudied Barbara Bel Geddes as Maggie in Tennessee Williams' "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" (1955). She made her TV debut while still a New York stage actor in anthology series produced there as well as on the soap opera "The Brighter Day" (1954). Nettleton won attention after starring on Broadway in "God and Kate Murphy" (1959), which led to her first feature film of significance, "Period of Adjustment" (1962), in which she was in a troubled marriage with Anthony Franciosa. Along with Delores Hart, she was a flight attendant who falls in love on a TransAtlantic flight in "Come Fly With Me" (1963). To satisfy his late father's wishes, Keir Dullea married a widowed Nettleton in "Mail Order Bride" (1964). Additionally, she played a schoolmarm with surprise sexuality in "Dirty Dingus McGee" (1970). Nevertheless in the last two decades, film roles became sporadic. Nettleton was in support of Maximilian Schell in "The Man in the Glass Booth" (1975) and oddly cast as the hard-working but under-loved Dulcie Mae in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" (1982), proving she was incapable of giving a bad performance. By 1994, Nettleton's feature film canon included such lesser efforts as "Mirror Mirror 2: Raven Dancer," a low-budget effort in which she was the evil sister.