Kathryn Walker is an American theater, television and film actress.

Biography

Walker was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. She is a

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

graduate of

Wells College Wells College is a private liberal arts college in Aurora, New York. The college has cross-enrollment with Cornell University and Ithaca College. For much of its history it was a women's college. Wells College is located in the Finger Lakes reg ...

in Aurora, New York, and was a

Fulbright Scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in music and drama. Walker's career began on the off-Broadway New York stage with her performance in ''Slag'' in 1971. On Broadway she appeared in ''The Good Doctor'' (1974), ''A Touch of the Poet'' (1977), ''Private Lives'' (1983) and ''Wild Honey'' (1986), among others. She also has been a sporadic presence on daytime drama, including ''

Search for Tomorrow ''Search for Tomorrow'' is an American television soap opera. It began its run on CBS on September 3, 1951, and concluded on NBC, 35 years later, on December 26, 1986. Set in the fictional town of Henderson in an unspecified state, the show focu ...

'' and '' Another World'', and received an

Emmy award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for her outstanding performance as

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Abigail Adams Abigail Adams ( ''née'' Smith; November 22, [ O.S. November 11] 1744 – October 28, 1818) was the wife and closest advisor of John Adams, as well as the mother of John Quincy Adams. She was a founder of the United States, an ...

in PBS's 13-part epic miniseries ''

The Adams Chronicles ''The Adams Chronicles'' is a thirteen-episode miniseries by PBS that aired in 1976 to commemorate the American Bicentennial. Synopsis The series chronicles the story of the Adams political family over a 150-year span, including John Adams (dra ...

'' (1976). On film, she has co-starred or played secondary femme roles in ''Blade'' (1973), '' Slap Shot'' (1977), ''Girlfriends'' (1978), and ''Rich Kids'' (1979), and she also played John Belushi's wife in the dark, oddball comedy '' Neighbors'' (1981). Walker also narrated the 2004 PBS reality series, "Colonial House," based on the format of experiential history. With the late William Alfred, she co-founded The Athens Street Company. In 1997, she was Rothschild Artist in Residence at

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and he ...

. Her six-part documentary series ''The Millennium Journal'' has been shown on the PBS cable channel, Metro Arts. Over the years, she has become a strong force outside of acting. She has helmed many of the

92nd Street Y 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY) is a cultural and community center located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City, at the corner of East 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Founded in 1874 as the Young Men's Hebrew Association, the ...

's classical theater productions, directing and/or adapting such plays as Euripides' "Hekabe" (2004); Sophocles' "Elektra" (2002); Euripides' "Medea" (2001); "The Bacchae of Euripides" (2000); and her own adaptation of Fagles' "The Iliad" (2006). She lives in both New York City and Tesuque, New Mexico. In 2008, Walker published a novel, ''A Stopover in Venice'' (Knopf, ).

Personal life

Walker's relationship with writer

Douglas Kenney Douglas Clark Francis Kenney (December 10, 1946 – August 27, 1980) was an American comedy writer of magazine, novels, radio, TV and film who co-founded the magazine National Lampoon (magazine), ''National Lampoon'' in 1970. Kenney edited the ma ...

lasted until his death in 1980 at the age of 33. She was married to singer

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, havi ...

from 1985 to 1996.

In popular culture

Walker was portrayed in the film ''

Burton & Taylor ''Burton & Taylor'' is a BBC Four TV film directed by Richard Laxton, and based on the legendary acting duo and former husband and wife, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, during their preparation for a 1983 theatrical production of the play, ' ...

'' by

Sarah Hadland Sarah Hadland is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Stevie Sutton in the BBC One BAFTA-nominated comedy television series '' Miranda'' (2009–2015) and Trish in ''The Job Lot'' (2013–2015). Hadland appeared as the Ocean S ...

, and by

Emmy Rossum Emmanuelle Grey Rossum (born September 12, 1986) is an American actress, director, and singer. She is known for her portrayal of List of Shameless (American TV series) characters#Fiona Gallagher, Fiona Gallagher in the television series ''Shame ...

in the film ''

A Futile and Stupid Gesture ''A Futile and Stupid Gesture: How Doug Kenney and National Lampoon Changed Comedy Forever'' is an American book by Josh Karp that was published in 2006. It is a history of ''National Lampoon'' magazine and one of its three founders, Doug Kenne ...

''.

Filmography

Film

Television

Broadway

* '' The Good Doctor'' (1973–1974) * ''Mourning Pictures'' (1974) * ''Kid Champion'' (1975) as Jill McDill * ''

A Touch of the Poet ''A Touch of the Poet'' is a play by Eugene O'Neill completed in 1942 but not performed until 1958, after his death. It and its sequel, ''More Stately Mansions'', were intended to be part of a nine- play cycle entitled ''A Tale of Possessors Sel ...

'' (1977–1978) as Sara Melody * ''

Private Lives ''Private Lives'' is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It concerns a divorced couple who, while honeymooning with their new spouses, discover that they are staying in adjacent rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetuall ...

'' (1983) as Amanda Prynne and, in other shows, as Sybil Chase * '' Wild Honey'' (1986–1987) as Anna Petrovna

References

External links

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Kathryn Walker
Aveleyman) {{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Kathryn Living people 21st-century American novelists Actresses from Pennsylvania American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American women novelists Harvard University alumni Actresses from Philadelphia Wells College alumni 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Fulbright alumni