Kate Jackson

Lucy Kate Jackson (born October 29, 1948) is an American actress and television producer, known for her television roles as Sabrina Duncan in the series Charlie's Angels (1976–1979) and Amanda King in the series Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983–1987).

Jackson began her career in the late 1960s in summer stock, before landing major television roles in Dark Shadows (1970–71), Bonanza (1972), and The Rookies (1972–1976).

Initially, Jackson worked as an NBC page and tour guide at the network's Rockefeller Center before landing a role as the mysterious, silent ghost Daphne Harridge on the 1960s supernatural daytime soap opera Dark Shadows.

She then appeared as nurse Jill Danko for four seasons on the 1970s crime drama The Rookies.

A supporting cast member, Jackson filled her free time by studying directing and editing.

She also appeared in several TV films during this period.

She also appeared in the film Night of Dark Shadows (1971).

In 1971, Jackson had a starring role as Tracy Collins in Night of Dark Shadows, the second feature film based on the daytime serial.

This film was more loosely based on the series than the first feature film, and it did not fare as well at the box office.

The same year, she appeared in two episodes of the short-lived sitcom The Jimmy Stewart Show.

Jackson's performance was well received in the 1972 independent film Limbo, one of the first theatrical films to address the Vietnam War and the wives of soldiers who were POWs, MIA or killed in action.

She also appeared in Death Scream, a 1975 television dramatization of the circumstances surrounding the 1964 murder of Kitty Genovese.

In 1975, Jackson met with Rookies producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg to discuss her contractual obligation to star in another television series for Spelling/Goldberg Productions upon that show's cancellation.

Goldberg told her of a series that was available—because "every network has passed on it," The Alley Cats.

Spelling said that when he told Jackson the title of the series had to be changed and asked her what she would like to call it, she replied "Charlie's Angels," pointing to a picture of three female angels on the wall behind Spelling.

Jackson was originally cast as Kelly Garrett (which ultimately went to her co-star Jaclyn Smith), but decided upon Sabrina Duncan instead.

The huge success of the show saw Jackson, Smith and Farrah Fawcett-Majors (who played Jill Munroe) appear on the front cover of Time magazine.

The show aired as a television film on March 21, 1976, before debuting as a series on September 22, 1976.

Because Jackson was considered the star of Charlie's Angels following her experience and four years on The Rookies, her original role of Kelly Garrett was featured prominently in the pilot film.

She is a three-time Emmy Award nominee and four-time Golden Globe Award nominee, and Photoplay (magazine) award winner for "Favorite TV Actress" 1978.

Jackson hosted the thirteenth episode of season four of Saturday Night Live which aired in February 1979.

During her monologue, she referred to being an NBC page ten years earlier where she led tours of the studio.

At the beginning of the third season of Charlie's Angels, Jackson was offered the Meryl Streep role in the feature film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), but was forced to turn it down because Spelling told her that the show's shooting schedule could not be rearranged to give her time to do the film.

At the end of the third season, Jackson left the show saying, "I served it well and it served me well, now it's time to go."

Spelling cast Shelley Hack as her replacement.

Her film roles include Making Love (1982) and Loverboy (1989).

Jackson starred alongside Harry Hamlin and her Rookies co-star Michael Ontkean in the feature film Making Love (1982), directed by Arthur Hiller.

It was a film some considered to be ahead of its time, and attempted to deal sensitively with the topic of homosexuality.

However, it received tepid reviews and did poorly at the box office.

In 1983, Jackson had a starring role in Scarecrow and Mrs. King, a one-hour action drama in which she played housewife Amanda King opposite Bruce Boxleitner's spy, code-named "Scarecrow."

Jackson also co-produced the series with Warner Brothers Television through her production company, Shoot the Moon Enterprises.

During this time she developed an interest in directing.

Scarecrow and Mrs. King aired for four seasons from 1983 to 1987.

The huge success of her role as Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels saw her appear on the front cover of Time magazine, alongside co-stars Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith, while her role as Mrs. King won her Germany's Bravo Golden Otto Award for Best Female TV Star three times (1986–1988).

She then continued to star in numerous television films, including Quiet Killer (1992), Empty Cradle (1993) and Satan's School for Girls (2000), a remake of the 1973 TV film of the same name in which she also starred.

Jackson was born in Birmingham, Alabama, the daughter of Ruth (née Shepherd) and Hogan Jackson, a business executive.

She attended The Brooke Hill School for Girls while residing in Mountain Brook.

Jackson went on to enroll at the University of Mississippi as a history major where she was a member of the Delta Rho chapter of the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority.

Halfway through her sophomore year, she transferred to Birmingham–Southern College, a liberal arts college, taking classes in speech and history of the theatre.

At the end of the academic year, Jackson became an apprentice at the Stowe Playhouse in Stowe, Vermont, and then moved to New York City to study acting at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.