Caroline McWilliams
{{short description|American actress (1945–2010)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Caroline McWilliams
| image = Caroline McWilliams.jpg
| caption = McWilliams as Marcy Hill in Benson
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1945|4|4}}
| birth_place = Seattle, Washington, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2010|02|11|1945|04|04}}
| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.
| alma_mater = Carnegie Mellon University
| known_for = Benson
Soap
Guiding Light
Beverly Hills, 90210
| occupation = Actress
| years_active = 1967–2003
| spouse = {{marriage|Michael Keaton|1982|1990|end=divorced}}
| children = Sean Douglas
}}
Caroline Margaret McWilliams (April 4, 1945 – February 11, 2010) was an American actress, best known for her portrayal of Marcy Hill in the television series Benson.{{cite news| title=Caroline McWilliams dies at 64; actress was on TV's 'Benson' and 'Soap'| url=https://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-caroline-mcwilliams22-2010feb22-story.html| last=Thursby| first=Keith| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| date=February 21, 2010| access-date=July 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141223111029/http://www.latimes.com/local/obituaries/la-me-caroline-mcwilliams22-2010feb22-story.html |archive-date=December 23, 2014}} McWilliams had also appeared in nine episodes of its parent-series Soap, as Sally. She was a regular on the CBS soap Guiding Light (as Janet Norris) for several years and appeared in a short-term role (as Tracy DeWitt) on the NBC soap Another World. She also had a recurring role on Beverly Hills, 90210 playing the mother of Jamie Walters' character, Ray Pruit.
Early years
McWilliams was born in Seattle, Washington on April 4, 1945 to Dr. Joseph G McWilliams Jr and Pattie Dwell, and grew up in Barrington, Rhode Island. She graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
Career
McWilliams's television appearances spanned every decade from the 1960s through the 2000s. She was a regular player on Guiding Light as Janet Mason Norris from 1969 until 1975. She portrayed a prostitute who helped an immigrant stay in the country by marrying him for money on Barney Miller in 1977. She was a semi-regular on Soap during the second season in 1978. She then appeared on Benson (as a different character) when that series premiered in 1979. She remained on Benson until 1981; the storyline stated that her character was departing to move away with her husband (her fiancé-turned-husband on the show having been played by Ted Danson).
On stage, she appeared in the musical Boccaccio, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Rothschilds and productions with the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut, and the New York Shakespeare Festival.
After this, she made a number of appearances in television comedies and dramas,{{cite web| url=http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Caroline_McWilliams/1424502 |title=Caroline McWilliams |website=Hollywood.com |access-date=September 19, 2015 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125181558/http://www.hollywood.com/celebrity/Caroline_McWilliams/1424502 |archive-date=January 25, 2013}} including Kojak; Quincy, M.E.; The Incredible Hulk; $weepstake$; Project U.F.O.; Hill Street Blues; Night Court; St. Elsewhere; Cagney & Lacey; Sisters (two episodes); Home Improvement; Murphy Brown and Judging Amy (three episodes). In 1989, she portrayed the ghostly wife, Clair Pritchard, in the short-lived comedy series Nearly Departed. She also appeared in numerous made-for-television movies, including The Death of Ocean View Park (1979), Rage! (1980), The Gift of Life (1982), and Sworn to Silence (1987). In 1982, she starred in Cass Malloy, a CBS sitcom television pilot which aired as a one-off that summer but did not result in a regular series, although it served as the basis for She's the Sheriff, which aired in first-run syndication from 1987 to 1989 with Suzanne Somers in the starring role.
McWilliams appeared in two major motion pictures:
- White Water Summer (1987) – as Virginia Block
- Mermaids (1990) – as Carrie
Personal life and death
McWilliams was married to, and divorced from, Michael Keaton, with whom she had a son, Sean. Through their son, McWilliams and Keaton have two grandchildren. She died from multiple myeloma at her home in Los Angeles, California, on February 11, 2010, aged 64.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0574797}}
- {{rotten-tomatoes-person|caroline_mcwilliams}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, Caroline}}
Category:Actresses from Rhode Island
Category:American Shakespearean actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Category:Deaths from multiple myeloma in California
Category:Actresses from Greater Los Angeles
Category:Carnegie Mellon University College of Fine Arts alumni
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:American film actresses
Category:Actresses from Seattle
Category:21st-century American actresses