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

Biography

Walker was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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 ...

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 ...

in Aurora, New York, and was a Fulbright Scholar 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 fo ...

'' and '' Another World'', and received an Emmy award for her outstanding performance as First Lady

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. 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'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'' in 1970. Kenney edited the magazine and wrote much of its ...

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, 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 Fiona Gallagher in the television series '' Shameless'' (2011–2019). Since the mid-2010s, she has also directed ...

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'' (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 perpetu ...

'' (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