A perky brunette actress largely identified with her 1960s TV reincarnation of June Allyson, Gloria De Haven, Debbie Reynolds and Sandra Dee on the ABC sitcom "That Girl" (1966-71), Marlo Thomas acted intermittently on stage and in films and TV thereafter. The daughter of comedian Danny Thomas, she also has spent a fair amount of her time as an activist for women's rights and in charity work for children's causes. While at the height of her sitcom popularity, Thomas attempted to parlay her small screen success into a feature career with the lead in "Jenny" (1970), a drama about a pregnant woman who marries a filmmaker (Alan Alda). She has subsequently appeared in a handful of features, including "Thieves" (1977), in which she recreated her stage role as a free-spirited wife, and "Into the Spirit" (1990), alongside Elaine May. Thomas also filmed a supporting roles in Tom DiCillo's "The Real Blonde" (1998).
Thomas fared better on the small screen. Her children's special "Marlo Thomas and Friends in Free to Be . . . You and Me" (ABC, 1974) focused on building young people's self-esteem and spawned several small screen sequels. As a dramatic actress, Thomas began to prove herself in roles ranging from a woman hounded by authorities after she has a brief relationship with a suspected terrorist in "The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck" (CBS, 1984) to a mother coping with her son's homosexuality in "Consenting Adult" (ABC, 1985) to her Emmy-winning turn as a former mental patient who had been incorrectly institutionalized in the based-on-fact drama "Nobody's Child" (CBS, 1986). More recently, she was the guilt-ridden mother of a boy who had died in "Reunion" (CBS, 1994) and made a return to comedy with a recurring role as the mother of Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) on the hit NBC sitcom "Friends".
Thomas also became a sometime TV producer in the 70s, beginning with "It Happened One Christmas" (ABC, 1977), a distaff remake of Frank Capra's 1946 classic "It's a Wonderful Life". In the 80s, she formed Hart, Thomas & Berlin productions with partners Carole Hart and Kathie Berlin. The trio's ventures have included the TV-movies "Leap of Faith" (CBS, 1988) and "Taken Away" (CBS, 1989) and the short-lived sitcom "Wish You Were Here" (CBS, 1990).