Lydia Cornell

Cornell was born Lydia Korniloff in El Paso, Texas on July 23, 1953. She is the eldest daughter of concert violinist Irma Jean Stowe, the great-granddaughter of Harriet Beecher Stowe,{{cite web| url=http://www.lydiacornell.com/new-bio.html| website=Lydia Cornell Official Website| title=Biography| access-date=March 4, 2022}}{{cite news| first=Dick| last=Kleiner| title='Bosom Buddies' may have 'beauty of the year'| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96952361/st-joseph-news-press/| newspaper=St. Joseph News-Press Spotlight| date=November 22, 1980| page=22| access-date=March 4, 2022}} and Gregory Jacob Korniloff,{{cite news| url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=LGFDAAAAIBAJ&sjid=AK4MAAAAIBAJ&pg=4440,1391049&dq=lydia+korniloff&hl=en| title=El Paso Actress's Success Not Too Close for Comfort| agency=United Press International| newspaper=Daily Leader| location=Frederick, Okla| date=August 15, 1982| page=10}} a graduate of the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music and Arts, who was later assistant concertmaster of the El Paso Symphony Orchestra.{{cite news| first=Loretta| last=Overton| title=EP Couple Keeps in Tune; No One in Family Plays Second Fiddle| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96933776/el-paso-herald-post/| newspaper=El Paso Herald-Record| date=April 22, 1965| page=B1}} Cornell is the elder sister of the late Paul Korniloff, a piano prodigy, and Kathryn Korniloff, co-founder of the band Two Nice Girls{{cite book| editor-first=Colin| editor-last=Larkin| title=Two Nice Girls| work=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music| url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpop700lark/page/5550/mode/2up?q=%22two+nice+girls%22| volume=7| edition=3rd| publisher=Muze| location=London| year=1998| isbn=978-0-3337-4134-4| access-date=March 4, 2022}}{{cite web| url=http://www.afterellen.com/people/2007/8/twonicegirls| title=Where Are They Now? Two Nice Girls| website=AfterEllen| date=August 22, 2007| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813231429/http://www.afterellen.com/people/2007/8/twonicegirls| archive-date=August 13, 2011}} and a sound designer and composer since 1995.{{cite web| url=http://sonicfruit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=0| title=Bio| website=sonicfruit.com| access-date=January 19, 2016| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120715183235/http://sonicfruit.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=21&Itemid=0| archive-date=July 15, 2012 }}

While a nine-year-old fourth grade student at Mesita Elementary School, Cornell was chosen as El Paso's "Little Miss Cotton" in March 1963.{{cite news| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96932559/el-paso-herald-post/| title=El Paso Areas Miss Cotton Is Happy Nine Year Old Girl| newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post| date=April 1, 1963| page=A4| access-date=March 4, 2022}}{{cite news| title=Great-Grandmother of Eight Feted as 'Mother of the Year'| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96933105/el-paso-herald-post/| date=May 11, 1963| page=A8| newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post}}

In 1966, Cornell and her family moved to Scarsdale, New York. She attended both Scarsdale Junior High School{{cite news| first=Joan| last=Crosby| title=Tony Orlando Fan Requests Information About Singer| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96942194/st-joseph-news-press/| newspaper=St. Joseph News-Press| date=July 11, 1981| page=Spotlight 3| access-date=March 4, 2022}} and Scarsdale High School, from which she graduated in 1971.{{cite web| archive-url=https://archive.today/20120712203831/http://missvintagepopculture.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/celebrity-high-cast-of-too-close-for.html| archive-date=July 12, 2012| title=Celebrity High — The Cast of "Too Close For Comfort| website=Miss Vintage Pop Culture| url=http://missvintagepopculture.blogspot.com.au/2011/09/celebrity-high-cast-of-too-close-for.html| date=September 4, 2011| access-date=March 4, 2022}}

After graduation, Cornell enrolled at the University of Colorado Boulder, where she studied business, drama, English, Russian, Spanish and Anthropology.{{cite news| first=Stacy Jenel| last=Smith| title=Lydia Cornell: 'Too Close for Comfort' star is close to stardom| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96943231/the-spokesman-review/| newspaper=The Spokesman-Review TV Preview| location=Spokane, Wash.| date=June 27, 1982| pages=3–4| access-date=March 4, 2022}}{{cite web| first=Randy| last=Waage| url=http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2005/Lydia/| title=If You Can Read This You are Too Close!| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180827234349/http://www.retrocrush.com/archive2005/Lydia/| archive-date=August 27, 2018| year=2005}} During the summer between her sophomore and junior year in college, she worked at the recording studio Caribou Ranch in Nederland, Colorado. There she met Billy Joel, Dennis Wilson, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, David Cassidy, and photographer Henry Diltz. As a Caribou Ranch photographer and "kitchen girl" she brought food to the cabins (Ooray, Running Bear, the Grizzle Bear Lodge) of such rock stars as The Beach Boys, America, Chicago and Billy Joel. The Ozark Mountain Daredevils gave her a credit on their album Men from Home. Before graduation, Cornell was the road manager for musician Michael Murphey. In May 1976, Cornell graduated from the University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor of Science in Business, with majors in both advertising and English/drama.

By the time of her father's death in May 1977, Cornell had joined the rest of the Korniloff family, who had been living in The Hague, the Netherlands since mid-1975.{{cite news| title=Former EP man is dead| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/96944072/el-paso-herald-post/| newspaper=El Paso Herald-Post| date=June 3, 1977| page=A8| access-date=March 4, 2022}}{{cite web| title=Kathryn (Kathy) Korniloff| url=http://shs78.myevent.com/page.php?groupingID=registration&page_num=18&search=&sort=2&limit=10| website=Scarsdale Class of 1978}} Soon after, her mother and siblings moved back to El Paso, Texas. By 1978 Cornell had moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. While there she had a job for three months working at a recording studio and modeling for album covers, before being employed by Jack Webb Productions as a secretary-production assistant. Still known as Lydia Korniloff, Cornell also worked as an assistant to the producer on the television movie Little Mo, a biography of tennis star Maureen Connolly.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}

File:Lydia Cornell "Too Close For Comfort"(1980 ABC publicity photo).jpg

Cornell's first screen appearance was as Lydia Korniloff in a walk-on as a girl in a car in the film Steel (1979), produced by and starring Lee Majors. Her first professional speaking part was in an episode of The Love Boat, for which she had two lines.Donna Wasiczko, "A Blonde, She Is; Dumb, She Is Not", Milwaukee Sentinel (April 4, 1985): 1, Part 3. In the summer of 1980, Cornell spent nine weeks filming in the Greek Isles for her appearance in the mythological horror film Blood Tide,{{cite book| first=Donald C.| last=Willis| title=Horror and Science Fiction Films III| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HqzC5HaCupYC&q=cornell| publisher=Scarecrow Press| location=Metuchen, N.J.| year=1984| page=29| isbn=978-0-8108-1723-4}} which was not released until 1982.{{cite book| editor-first=James J.| editor-last=Mulay| title=The Horror Film: A Guide to More Than 700 Films on Videocassette| url=https://archive.org/details/horrorfilmguidet0000unse/page/24/mode/2up?q=%22blood+tide%22| publisher=CineBooks| location=Evanston, Ill| year=1989| page=24| isbn=978-0-9339-9723-3}}{{cite web |url=http://movies.tvguide.com/blood-tide/review/116568 |title=Blood Tide Review |website=TV Guide |accessdate=2013-12-21}}

Cornell's first major role was as Sara Rush, the daughter to Ted Knight's character Henry Rush,{{cite book| first=Elana| last=Levine| title=Wallowing in Sex: The New Sexual Culture of 1970s American Television| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0B1y4YV5ji8C&q=cornell| page=162| publisher=Duke University Press| date=January 9, 2007| isbn=978-0-8223-3919-9}} on the sitcom Too Close for Comfort during 1980–1985.{{cite book| first=Marla| last=Brooks| title=The American Family on Television: A Chronology of 121 Shows, 1948–2004| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qOUyBwAAQBAJ&q=too+close+for+comfort| publisher=McFarland| date=March 12, 2015| page=132| isbn=978-1-4766-0690-3}} In 1982, at the height of the sitcom's popularity, Cornell was described by sexologist Robert T. Francoeur as providing a modern example of "classic female stereotypes in the mold of Marilyn Monroe and Jayne Mansfield".{{cite book| first=Robert T.| last=Francoeur| title=Becoming a Sexual Person| url=https://archive.org/details/becomingsexualpe0000fran/page/474/mode/2up?q=cornell| publisher=Macmillan| year=1982| page=474| isbn=978-0-0233-9220-7}}

Cornell appeared in several single episode roles on television series such as The Love Boat, Charlie's Angels,{{cite book| first1=David| last1=Hofstede| first2=Jack| last2=Condon| title=Charlie's Angels Casebook| publisher=Pomegranate Press| year=2000| isbn=978-0-9388-1720-8}} The Drew Carey Show, Quantum Leap (the pilot episode){{cite web| title=Quantum Leap 20th Anniversary Convention| url=http://www.leapback2009.com/gueststars.htm#Lydia| website=The Leap Back 2009| date=December 31, 2009| access-date=March 4, 2022}} Full House, Knight Rider,Huth, Joe F. and Richie F. Levine. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=5fgxxijqTb8C&q=cornell&pg=PP1 Knight Rider Legacy: The Unofficial Guide to the Knight Rider Universe]" iUniverse (January 1, 2004) p. 200. {{ISBN|978-0-5952-9848-8}} The Dukes of Hazzard,{{cite book| first=David| last=Hofstede| title=The Dukes of Hazzard: The Unofficial Companion| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VHV5iZH9uG4C&q=cornell| publisher=St. Martin's Griffin| year=2005| isbn=978-0-3123-5374-2}} The A-Team,{{cite book| first=Jon| last=Abbott| title=Stephen J. Cannell Television Productions: A History of All Series and Pilots| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Dc0TF0GHAmAC&q=cornell| publisher=McFarland| date=September 12, 2009| page=153| isbn=978-0-7864-5401-3}} T. J. Hooker, Simon & Simon, Hunter,{{sfn|Abbott|2009|page=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Dc0TF0GHAmAC&q=cornell 212]}} Hardball,{{cite book| first=Vincent| last=Terrace| title=Television Character and Story Facts: Over 110,000 Details from 1,008 Shows, 1945–1992| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1jUbAQAAIAAJ&q=cornell| publisher=McFarland| year=1993| page=193| isbn=978-0-8995-0891-7}} Black Scorpion,{{cite book| first=John Kenneth| last=Muir| title=The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dx6hBAAAQBAJ&q=cornell| edition=2nd| publisher=McFarland| date=August 21, 2008| page=155| isbn=978-0-7864-3755-9| url-access=subscription}} Hotel, Fantasy Island and Curb Your Enthusiasm. She also appeared as a guest on episodes of television game shows including Battle of the Network Stars, Super Password, and Match Game Hollywood Squares Hour.

Cornell works as a stand-up comedian writing her own material. She writes political barbs on her personal blog.

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Category:1953 births

Category:Living people

Category:American film actresses

Category:American television actresses

Category:American people of Russian descent

Category:Actresses from El Paso, Texas

Category:Actresses from New York (state)

Category:Scarsdale High School alumni

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American actresses

Category:21st-century American comedians

Category:American women comedians

Category:Comedians from Texas