PATTY DUKE (Bridget Connolly) – Patty Duke skyrocketed from bit player to Broadway star when, at the age of 14, she was honored with the Theater World Award as Most Promising Newcomer for her performance as Helen Keller in the Tony® Award-winning play The Miracle Worker.
Reprising her role in the feature film version, Duke won a Golden Globe Award as the Most Promising Newcomer and the Academy Award® as Best Supporting Actress, at 16, the youngest person at that time to be so named.
Soon after, “The Patty Duke Show” debuted, becoming a Top 20 hit and earning Duke her first Emmy® Award nomination. Duke’s other Emmy® nominations were for her work in “Having Babies,” “A Family Upside Down,” “Girl on the Edge of Town,” “The Women’s Room,” “George Washington” and “Touched By an Angel.” She is the winner of three Emmy® Awards for her roles in “My Sweet Charlie,” “Captains and The Kings” and “The Miracle Worker,” in which she played the role of Annie Sullivan.
Among Duke’s additional feature film credits are “Billie,” “Valley of the Dolls,” “Me, Natalie,” “Prelude to a Kiss” and “Harvest of Fire.”
In 1982, Duke was diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder. At last, the demon that had plagued and mystified her for a lifetime finally had a name. Duke began taking Lithium, to keep her symptoms under control and, in 1987, penned her best-selling autobiography, “Call Me Anna.” Five years later, she and medical reporter Gloria Hochman co-authored “A Brilliant Madness: Living with Manic Depressive Illness.”
Duke, the first recipient of the Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Democratic Action and only the third woman in history to be elected president of the Screen Actors Guild, is the mother of two biological sons, two stepdaughters and one adopted son. “People don’t call me Patty Duke anymore,” she jokingly states. “They refer to me as Sean Astin’s mother.”
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SHELLEY LONG (Betsy Lucas) – Shelley Long began her career after attending Northwestern University in Chicago by performing in small films and local theatre eventually going on to become co-host and associate producer of the Chicago magazine show “Sorting it Out,” for which she won three local Emmys®.
Shortly after joining Chicago’s famed Second City improvisational comedy troupe, Long landed the role as barmaid Diane Chambers in the long-running NBC hit comedy “Cheers.” Long tickled audiences for five seasons on the perennial hit, garnering an Emmy® Award and two Golden Globes for her memorable performances. She returned to the series’ top-rated finale and reprised her role as “Cheers” Diane in guest appearances on NBC’s “Frasier,” for which she was nominated for an Emmy®.
Long’s impressive film credits include starring roles in “Losin’ It” opposite Tom Cruise, Ron Howard’s “Night Shift” with Henry Winkler and Michael Keaton, “Irreconcilable Differences” with Ryan O’Neal, “The Money Pit,” co-starring Tom Hanks and “Outrageous Fortune” with Bette Midler. Her other film credits include “The Brady Bunch Movie,” “Dr. T and the Women,” “Hello Again,” “Troop Beverly Hills,” “Boston Legal” and “Joan of Arcadia.”
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PATRICK DUFFY (James Connolly) – Patrick Duffy began his acting career in the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington in 1968. Upon graduating Duffy was hired as an Artist-in Residence for the state of Washington where he performed with symphonies, operas and ballet companies. With the encouragement of his wife, Carlyn, Duffy moved to New York where he performed in an Off-Broadway production of William Inges’ play “Natural Affection,” before moving to Hollywood.
In 1976, Duffy was cast as Mark Harris in “Man from Atlantis,” which ran for two years and was the first American television program to be aired in China. One week after the show was cancelled, he was cast in “Dallas” in which he starred as Bobby Ewing for 13 years before going on to do seven seasons of “Step by Step.” Duffy also recently starred in the Hallmark Channel Original Movie “Desolation Canyon” with his good friend Stacy Keach.
Duffy began his directing career while on “Dallas,” helming 30 episodes and went on to direct several episodes of “Step by Step.”
Duffy and Carlyn have been married for 31 years and have two children. They split their time between Los Angeles and their ranch in Oregon.
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BRUCE BOXLEITNER (Frank Lucas) – Bruce Boxleitner is known to sci-fi fans worldwide as John Sheridan, the President of the Interstellar Alliance, on “Babylon 5.” Before transforming himself as Sheridan, Boxleitner stared opposite Kate Jackson in “Scarecrow and Mrs. King” and the CBS miniseries “Gambler V: Playing for Keeps.”
In addition to his extensive television work, Boxleitner has co-starred in many motion pictures, including “The Babe” with John Goodman, “Kuffs” with Christian Slater, and “Tron” with Jeff Bridges.
Most recently, Boxleitner starred in the PAX TV series “Young Blades,” the TV movies “Saving Emily” and “Snakehead Terror,” as well as the feature film “Gods and Generals.”
Boxleitner lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Melissa Gilbert, and their children.
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KEN MARINO (Mark Lucas) – As the oldest member of the 11 member sketch comedy troupe “The State,” Ken Marino was trained at the Tisch School of Arts at NYU. He became a recurring guest on the fifth season of “Dawson’s Creek” playing Professor David Wilder and went on to become a series regular on NBC’s “Men Behaving Badly,” “Leap of Faith” and “First Years.” He is currently in production on a comedy called “Diggers” with Lauren Ambrose and Paul Rudd.
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CRYSTAL ALLEN (Theresa Connolly) – Crystal Allen was classically trained in ballet attending prestigious institutes such as the Edmonton Ballet School, Alberta Ballet School and the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. After making the leap to acting, her credits include “Sex and the City,” “The Sopranos,” “JAG,” “Boston Legal,” “Maid in Manhattan,” “NCIS” and “Enterprise.”
