| Name | Mariette Hartley |
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| Birthname | Mary Loretta Hartley |
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| Birthdate | June 21, 1940 |
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| Birthplace | Weston, Connecticut,United States |
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| Occupation | Actress |
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| Yearsactive | 1962–present |
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| Spouse | John Seventa (1960-1962; divorced)Patrick Boyriven (1978-1996; divorced) 2 children |
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Mary Loretta "Mariette" Hartley (born June 21, 1940) is an American character actress.
Biography
Personal life
Hartley was born in
Weston, Connecticut, the daughter of Mary Ickes “Polly” (
née Watson), a manager and saleswoman, and Paul Hembree Hartley, an account executive. Her maternal grandfather was psychologist
John B. Watson (through Watson’s daughter from his first marriage) and her maternal grandmother was the sister of politician
Harold L. Ickes.
In her 1990 autobiography Breaking the Silence, written with Anne Commire, Hartley talked about her struggles with psychological problems, pointing directly at Watson’s practical application of his theories as the source of the dysfunction in his family. She has also spoken in public about her experience of bipolar disorder, and was a founder of the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. In 2009, Mariette spoke at a suicide and violence prevention forum about her father's suicide.
Career
Hartley began her career in her teens as a stage actress, coached and mentored by the noted
Eva Le Gallienne. Her film career began with
Ride the High Country (1962), a western with actors
Randolph Scott and
Joel McCrea, and directed by
Sam Peckinpah. She also had a supporting role in
Alfred Hitchcock’s
Marnie (1964). In 1963 she played Clary in Gunsmoke episode 53
In the 1963-1964 television season, she appeared in an episode of ABC’s drama about college life, Channing and in two episodes of The Virginian. In 1966, she appeared as Polly Dockery in the series finale, "A Burying for Rosey", of The Legend of Jesse James.
She worked with Rod Serling and Gene Roddenberry, two famed creators of television and film science fiction. She first appeared in an episode of The Twilight Zone ("The Long Morrow"). In 1969, she appeared in the penultimate episode of , "". She appeared in several science fiction films, Marooned (1969), Earth II (1971), and the pilot for the post-apocalyptic Genesis II (1973), another Roddenberry production.
On television, she portrayed Dr. Claire Morton on the primetime adaption of Peyton Place. In 1971, Mariette had a guest appearance with Glenn Corbett on the Gunsmoke episode "Phoenix". In 1978, she appeared in the TV series Logan’s Run (based on the film of the same name) and in The Incredible Hulk in two episodes. As Dr. Carolyn Fields, she marries Bill Bixby's character, the alter ego of the Hulk; for her performance, Hartley won an Emmy Award. Hartley appears in an episode of M*A*S*H as Dr. Inga Halverson (Series 7, Episode 17, "Inga"). She also co-starred with Bixby in the 1983 situation comedy Goodnight, Beantown. She appeared in two episodes of the mystery series Columbo, starring Peter Falk as the rumpled detective. In 1979, she portrayed the Witch in ABC’s holiday telefilm The Halloween That Almost Wasn't (a.k.a. The Night Dracula Saved The World). Hartley portrayed a neighbor friend to Emily Suzanne Pleshette on an episode of The Bob Newhart Show.
In the 1990s, she toured with Elliott Gould and Doug Wert in the revival of the mystery Deathtrap. She hosted the television documentary series Wild About Animals. In 2006, Hartley starred in her own one-woman show, If You Get to Bethlehem, You've Gone Too Far, which ran in Los Angeles.
She played Dorothy Spiller, the mother of Courteney Cox’s character on the drama series Dirt on FX Networks and is featured as Ceptembre Sage Weller in Shhh ..., a spoof based on The Secret. Hartley has had a recurring role on as Lorna Scarry.
Advertising
During the late 1970s, Hartley also appeared with
James Garner in a popular series of
television commercials advertising
Polaroid cameras. The two actors had such chemistry that it was often (erroneously) believed that they were married in real life. Her biography contains a photo of her in a T-shirt proclaiming, “I am NOT Mrs. James Garner.” Hartley also guest-starred in a memorable episode of Garner’s TV series
The Rockford Files during this period. The script required them to kiss at one point. Unknown to them, a
paparazzo was photographing the scene from a distance. The photos were run in a
tabloid trying to provoke a scandal, causing a good deal of attention. (An article that ran in
TV Guide was titled, “That woman is
not James Garner’s wife!”)
Between 2001 and 2006, Hartley endorsed the See Clearly Method, a commercial eye exercise program of which sales were eventually halted by a court which found that it had been marketed dishonestly.
Awards and recognition
Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series for the episode “Married” of The Incredible Hulk (1978)
Honorary degree, Rider College (1993)
See also
Photograph of Hartley at
Further reading
Hartley, Mariette; Commire, Anne. Breaking the Silence, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1990. ISBN 0399135839
References
External links
Official website
Morgan, John; Shoop, Stephen A. "Mariette Hartley triumphs over bipolar disorder", USA Today, 1 August 2003.
"Mariette Hartley's autobiography and John B. Watson" - article about the children of psychologists Watson and B. F. Skinner
Category:1940 births
Category:American film actors
Category:American television actors
Category:Living people
Category:People from Connecticut
Category:People with bipolar disorder
