Jill Larson

Jill Larson

Larson in All My Children.
Born (1947-10-07) October 7, 1947
Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1980–present
Website http://www.jilllarson.com/

Jill Larson (born October 7, 1947) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Opal Cortlandt on the ABC daytime soap opera, All My Children.

Life and career

Larson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the daughter of Ruth Evangeline (née Boyce), an interior decorator, and John Charles Larson, an aerospace engineer.[1] She has three sisters. Larson attended the same high school as Dorothy Lyman, who played Opal on All My Children before her. She enrolled at the University of Minnesota (eventually, she finished her education at Hunter College), and began singing in nightclubs with a group called Just Us. It was not long before Just Us was discovered and headed to New York City, where they recorded several soundtracks, including the one for the film, Rachel, Rachel, starring Joanne Woodward.

Larson and her sister traveled throughout Europe in a bus, before she settled in Paris, France. She became a model, and was soon appearing in major American and European fashion spreads. While in Paris, she also landed her first film role (as a Swedish au pair) in Deadly Trap, starring Faye Dunaway and Frank Langella. Her next film role was as Jeanne Moreau's rival for her character's younger lover in the film, Dear Louise.

Larson made her Broadway debut in Death and the King's Horseman (1987). Other Broadway credits include Romantic Comedy by Bernard Slade and Dancing in the End Zone by Bill Davis. Her Off-Broadway credits include Mayo Simon's two-person play These Men (1980) and Terrence McNally's It's Only a Play (1982). Other regional credits include Private Lives, Full Gallop (a one-woman show portraying the famous editor of vogue, Diana Vreeland), Holiday, The Seagull, the title roles in Agnes of God and Gypsy. In addition to performing, Larson produced the cabaret revue Serious Bizness (1983). One of her proudest accomplishments was producing and appearing in Wicked & My So Called Life - a comedy revue written by Winnie Holzman and David Babcock, which ran successfully Off-Broadway for 8 months.

In 1986, Larson made her daytime television debut as TV columnist Judith Clayton on CBS's As the World Turns. In 1988, she briefly played bomb-loving psycho Ursula Blackwell on One Life to Live before landing the role of Opal on All My Children.[2] In June 2006, after approximately 17 years on contract at All My Children, Larson was taken off contract and reassigned to recurring status. But in early December 2009, ABC announced that, effective immediately, Larson would go back to contract status to ensure her stay with the show through its move to LA. She returned to All My Children on the short-lived revival web series in 2013.[3] In 2014, Larson guest starred on The Young and the Restless.[4]

In addition to her career on the daytime television, Larson appeared in a number of films, such as White Squall (1996), Were the World Mine (2008) and Shutter Island (2010), and guest starred on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Desperate Housewives, and CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. In 2014 she had the leading role in the horror-thriller film, The Taking of Deborah Logan.[5][6]

Filmography

Film

Year Title Role Notes
1971 The Deadly Trap Au pair
1972 Dear Louise
1980 The Day the Women Got Even Paula Robinson Television film
1986 Wise Guys Mrs. Fixer
1990 Over the Limit Mrs. Walsh Television film
1996 White Squall Peggy Beaumont
1996 Vertical City
2005 Barry Dingle
2007 The Living Wake Alma Binew
2008 Were the World Mine Nora Bellinger
2008 Manhattanites Mrs. Grimm
2010 Shutter Island Manacled Woman
2012 Soap Life Herself Documentary film
2014 First Kiss Kisser Short film
2014 Red Velvet Cake Denise Short film
2014 The Taking of Deborah Logan Deborah Logan
2015 Forever Rachel

Television

Year Title Role Notes
1984 Santa Barbara Garnette Recurring role
1985 The Equalizer Single Female Episode: "Mama's Boy"
1986-1987 As the World Turns Judith Clayton Recurring role
1988 Kate & Allie Felicia Brompton Episode: "Working Women"
1988-1989 One Life to Live Ursula Blackwell Series regular
1989-2011, 2013 All My Children Opal Cortlandt Series regular
Nominated — Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series (1991, 1993)
Nominated — Soap Opera Digest Award for Best Wedding: Daytime (1992)
2007 Law & Order: Criminal Intent Clara Holland Episode: "Bombshell"
2011 Desperate Housewives Sister Marta Episode: "Farewell Letter"
2012 CSI: Crime Scene Investigation Lucinda Kemp Episode: "Tressed to Kill"
2014 The Young and the Restless Connie Ross Recurring role

References

  1. ↑ "Jill Larson Biography". Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  2. ↑ "Jill Larson 411 - Soap Opera Digest". Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  3. ↑ "Who's returning to online edition of All My Children, One Life to Live - Inside TV - EW.com". EW.com. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  4. ↑ "‘AMC’ Alum Jill Larson Heads to ‘Y&R’". Soap Opera Network. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  5. ↑ "The Taking of Deborah Logan Leads to Bloody Murder in this Red Band Trailer ~ 28DLA". Retrieved 8 October 2014.
  6. ↑ "[Trailer] The Taking of Deborah Logan Puts a New Twist on Possession Films". Retrieved 8 October 2014.

External links

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