Dr. Marie Teller
7.7
Michael Learned The oldest of six sisters, Michael lived on her family's farm in Connecticut up untill age 11. When she was 11, Michael's family moved to Austria; her father worked for the U.S. State Department there. Michael attended boarding school in England where she discovered the theatre and made it her career. At 16, she married actor Peter Donat, producing 3 sons in this union; Caleb, Chris & Lucas. The marriage to Donat lasted until 1972. Between "theatre stage"-acting and rearing her 3 sons, Michael, for several years was associated with San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre. While appearing in a production of Noel Coward's Private Lives, Michael was chosen by John Rich to play Olivia Walton for Rich's new and upcoming TV series, The Waltons(1972). Michael was with The Waltons until 1980 and won three Emmies. In 1981 in her own series, Michael starred in "Nurse(1981-82)" as Mary Benjamin where she won her fourth Emmy. Trying to shed her type-cast Olivia Walton image, she played Dr. Marie Teller in the weekly TV series...Hothouse(1988) and a year later played model agency head Trish Carlin in Living Dolls (1989). She also appeared on the big screen a few times, one being...Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (1993) and Michael has appeared in numerous small screen television movies over 3 decades. Michael did return to The Waltons for a short while only to depart again. Michael says..."I left because I thought they had run out of ideas for my character. But the long hours simply became too much. "I'd be there for 16 hours a day to say, `More coffee, Grandma? Time for bed, kids. And then what happened? Pass the salt, please. They wanted me in the scene, but they didnt really give me anything, not even an attitude. Today Michael is happily married to an attorney, and lives in Beverly Hills, CA and at times does guest appearances on various TV shows and has returned to her first love, the "live theatre" stage.moreless