Actress daughter of an actress

Press, 7 December 1981, Page 19

Actress daughter of an actress

Meredith Baxter Birney, who plays Lauretta Pennington in '‘Beulah Land," tonight on Two. is the daughter of the actress, Whitney Blake. But she never intended to make acting her own profession. "I wanted to be in musical comedies and sing, but I never thought of that as acting." she says. "I also loved languages and thought of trying to be a United Nations interpreter.” Meredith was born in Los Angeles. ' California, the youngest of three children. While at Hollywood High School she concentrated on music studies and languages. She also studied voice. It was then that her course in life was suddenly sidetracked by marriage and early motherhood. Her marriage ended after the birth of a second child, and Meredith found herself with two small children and no profession. She worked for a while at odd jobs, as a theatre usher, a file clerk and a cashier before going to her stepfather, the agent, Jack Fields, for help. She won a role in “The

Interns." This led to some commercials and guest spots on shows such as “The Doris Day Show,” “The Partridge Family,” “The D.A.,” and “Owen Marshall.” She began to do well. On one show she met David Birney, to whom she is now married. She had starring roles in the feature films, “Ben,” “Bittersweet Love” and “All the President’s Men,” and has starred in six movies for television: “The Imposter,” “The Night That Panicked America,” “Target Risk.” "Little Women,” "The Stranger Who Looks Like Me” and "Family Man.” Among her television guesting credits are “Police Woman,” “Medical Story,” “The Streets of San Francisco” and "The Class of ’65.” Meredith has appeared on stage opposite her husband in "Guys and Dolls” and was also a regular on the much praised series, “Family.” Meredith and David live in Santa Monica with their daughter, Kate, five, and two > children from her previous marriage, Ted, 13, and Eva, 10.