A vivacious, red-haired actress who began her career as a dancer on a Danny Kaye special and now often plays wives and girlfriends, Annette O'Toole began her acting career in earnest with an episode of "Gunsmoke". She made her feature film debut as a savvy beauty contestant in "Smile" (1975) and next was Robby Benson's leading lady in "One on One" (1977), in which he was a misunderstood college student on a basketball scholarship and she gave him the support he needed. O'Toole had a similar role opposite Eric Roberts in "King of the Gypsies" (1978), in which he was a gypsy warring with his family and his background and she was his "American" girlfriend. She has subsequently played Lana Lang, the high school sweetheart of Clark Kent in "Superman III" (1983) and co-starred with Martin Short in "Cross My Heart" (1987).
O'Toole has had better luck with her TV roles. She made her TV-movie debut with "The Girl Most Likely To..." (ABC, 1973) and played country singer Tammy Wynette in the biopic, "Stand By Your Man" (CBS, 1981). Among her other roles were Lola Lamar, love interest for Barry Manilow in his TV-movie debut, "Copacabana" (CBS, 1985), Pamela Sue Martin's roommate, a woman who only wants to get married, in the syndicated "Arthur Hailey's Strong Medicine" (1986), the wife of Oliver North (David Keith) in "Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North" (CBS, 1989), and Rose Kennedy, matriarch of "The Kennedys of Massachusetts" (ABC, 1990). In 1996, she took on series TV for the first time as Don Johnson's first ex-wife in the CBS series "Nash Bridges".
Family
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Daughter: Anna Geisdinger. Born c. 1988; father, Bill Geisdinger
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Daughter: Nell Geisdinger. Born c. 1984; father, Bill Geisdinger
Significant Others
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Companion: Robby Benson. linked romantically in late-1970s after appearing together in One on One
Education
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University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA
Milestones
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1967 Performed as a dancer on The Danny Kaye Show (CBS) at age 16
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1969 Won first dramatic TV role in episode of Gunsmoke (CBS)
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1973 Made TV-movie debut in The Girl Most Likely to... (ABC)
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1975 Made film acting debut in Smile
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1977 Had first romantic leading role, One on One
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1981 Played Tammy Wynette in TV-movie Stand By Your Man
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1983 Played Clark Kent s boyhood love interest Lana Lang in Superman III
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1985 Offered fine turn as the romantic heroine Lola in the CBS film Copacabana
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1987 Had lead in the romantic comedy Cross My Heart
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1990 Played Mrs. Oliver North in miniseries Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North (CBS)
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1994 Last feature for more than five years, Imaginary Crimes
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1996 Played ex-wife of Don Johnson on the CBS series, Nash Bridges
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2000 Had title role of a widow who assumes her husband s business as a bounty hunter in the USA Network movie The Huntress
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2000 Reprised the title role in the USA Network spin-off series The Huntress
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2000 Returned to the big screen as Leelee Sobieski s mother in Here on Earth
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2001 Played Martha Kent, the adoptive mother of Superman, in Smallville (WB, 2001-2006; CW, 2006-2007); left the series after the sixth season
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2003 Co-starred with husband Michael McKean in A Mighty Wind ; also co-wrote A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow with husband; received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song