Linda Dano (born Linda Rae Wildermuth) is an American actress. She is well-known for her roles in daytime drama, in particular

Rae Cummings Rae Cummings is a fictional character on the ABC daytime soap opera ''One Life to Live''. Linda Dano played the role from 1978 to 1980, from June 28 to November 1999, and from May 2000 to March 12, 2004. Casting and awards Gretel Rae Cummings was ...

on ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as a web series on Hulu and iTunes ...

'' and Felicia Gallant on '' Another World''. Dano was nominated for a

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

five times, winning once in 1993 for her work on ''Another World''. Dano also co-hosted the talk show ''Attitudes'' on Lifetime, and had a long-running clothing and home-furnishings line with QVC, first partnering with the home shopping channel in 1993 and ultimately working with them for over 20 years.

Personal life

Dano was born Linda Rae Wildermuth in

Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

, to Evelyn (Delgado) and Ted Wildermuth. Dano was married to actor Frank Attardi for over 20 years until his death in 2004. She has two stepchildren, three stepgrandchildren, a niece, and a nephew.

Career

In the mid- to late 1970s, Dano appeared in such television police and detective dramas as ''Ironside'', ''Police Woman'', ''

Harry O ''Harry O'', sometimes spelled ''Harry-O'', is an American Detective fiction, private detective series that aired for two seasons on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from 1974 to 1976. The series starred David Janssen, and Jerry Thorpe was exec ...

'', '' Petrocelli'', ''

The Rockford Files ''The Rockford Files'' is an American detective drama television series starring James Garner that aired on the NBC network from September 13, 1974 to January 10, 1980, and remains in syndication. Garner portrays Los Angeles private investiga ...

'' (in three different roles), ''

Starsky & Hutch ''Starsky & Hutch'' is an American action television series, which consisted of a 72-minute pilot movie (originally aired as a ''Movie of the Week'' entry) and 92 episodes of 50 minutes each. The show was created by William Blinn (inspired by th ...

'', ''

Charlie's Angels ''Charlie's Angels'' is an American crime drama television series that aired on ABC from September 22, 1976, to June 24, 1981, producing five seasons and 115 episodes. The series was created by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts and was produced by ...

'', and ''

CHiPS ''CHiPs'' is an American crime drama television series created by Rick Rosner and originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to May 1, 1983. It follows the lives of two motorcycle officers of the California Highway Patrol (CHP). The seri ...

'', as well as in ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing the two short-lived situa ...

'', ''

Barney Miller ''Barney Miller'' is an American sitcom television series set in a New York City Police Department police station on East 6th St in Greenwich Village. The series was broadcast on ABC Network from January 23, 1975, to May 20, 1982. It was cre ...

'', and ''

The Six Million Dollar Man ''The Six Million Dollar Man'' is an American science fiction and action television series, running from 1973 to 1978, about a former astronaut, USAF Colonel Steve Austin, portrayed by Lee Majors. After a NASA test flight accident, Austin ...

'' (in two different roles). Dano was cast in the short-lived 1975 NBC comedy series '' The Montefuscos'', which was cancelled after three episodes were broadcast and ultimately ran for seven. She had small roles in the movies ''The Last Survivors'' (1975), ''The Nurse Killer'' (1975), '' The Night That Panicked America'' (1975), and '' The Shadow of Chikara'' (1977).

Daytime series

After years of being on contract to

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

alongside such actors as

Tom Selleck Thomas William Selleck (; born January 29, 1945) is an American actor. His breakout role was playing private investigator Thomas Magnum in the television series ''Magnum, P.I.'' (1980–1988), for which he received five Emmy Award nominations ...

, Dano joined the ABC soap opera ''

'' in the role of Gretel Cummings from 1978 to 1980. From 1981 to 1982, she played Cynthia Haines on ''

As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other s ...

''. Dano next portrayed romance novelist Felicia Gallant on ''Another World'' from 1982 until the show's cancellation on June 25, 1999, her performance winning her the

for

Lead Actress A leading actor, leading actress, or simply lead (), plays the role of the protagonist of a film, television show or play. The word ''lead'' may also refer to the largest role in the piece, and ''leading actor'' may refer to a person who typica ...

in 1993. She was also nominated for Leading Actress Emmys in 1994 and 1996, and for

Supporting Actress A supporting actor is an actor who performs a role in a play or film below that of the leading actor(s), and above that of a bit part. In recognition of important nature of this work, the theater and film industries give separate awards to the ...

in 1992. On June 28, 1999, Dano returned to ''One Life to Live'' as Gretel, now calling herself "Rae" Cummings. The character also appeared on the three other ABC soap operas at the time — ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2013, via Hulu, Hulu Plus, and ...

'', ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the longest-running American soap opera in production, and the second in American history after '' ...

'', and '' Port Charles'' — in a

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Albums and songs * ''Cross Over'' (Dan Peek album) * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'' (Intrigue album) * ''Crossover'' (Hitomi Shimatani album) * ''Crossover'' (Yoshino ...

storyline, which was the first time a daytime character had ever appeared on four series. In 2003, Dano was nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Supporting Actress for the role, and left ''One Life to Live'' on March 13, 2004. In 2005, Dano appeared briefly as Lena Kendall on CBS's ''

Guiding Light ''Guiding Light'' (known as ''The Guiding Light'' before 1975) is an American radio and television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the third longest-running drama in television in American history. ''Guiding Light'' a ...

''. Dano was impersonated on NBC's ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves ...

'' in the late 1980s by

Nora Dunn Nora Dunn (born April 29, 1952) is an American actress and comedian. She was a cast member on the NBC sketch variety TV series '' Saturday Night Live'' from 1985 to 1990, Dr. Reynolds in ''The Nanny'' (1998-1999), and Muriel in '' Home Economic ...

. In early 2021, Dano stepped into the role briefly of

Vivian Alamain Vivian Alamain is a fictional character from ''Days of Our Lives'', an American soap opera on the NBC network. Created by head writers Richard J. Allen and Beth Milstein, and introduced by executive producers Ken Corday and Al Rabin, the role is ...

on NBC's ''

Days of Our Lives ''Days of Our Lives'' (also stylized as ''Days of our Lives''; simply referred to as ''Days'' or ''DOOL'') is an American television soap opera that streams on the streaming service Peacock. The soap, which aired on the American television net ...

''.

Other genres

Lifetime Television Lifetime is an American basic cable channel that is part of Lifetime Entertainment Services, a subsidiary of A&E Networks, which is jointly owned by Hearst Communications and The Walt Disney Company. It features programming that is geared toward ...

dedicated an episode of its ''

Intimate Portrait ''Intimate Portrait'' is a biographical documentary television series on the Lifetime cable network hosted by Meredith Vieira Meredith Louise Vieira (born December 30, 1953) is an American broadcast journalist and television personality. S ...

'' celebrity biography series to Dano in 2000. From 1987 until 1992, she co-hosted the Lifetime talk show ''Attitudes'' and has both been a guest and guest-host on '' The View''. Dano hosted an ''Another World'' reunion special on SOAPnet in 2003 for which she was later nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Special. Dano has written a style and fashion column for ''

Soap Opera Digest ''Soap Opera Digest'' is a weekly magazine covering American daytime soap operas. It features onscreen and offscreen news about the series, interviews with and articles about performers, storyline summaries and analysis, and related promotional in ...

'' on and off for years, and has had her own merchandise lines on QVC, with Dano having celebrated her 20th anniversary affiliated with the home shopping network in February 2013.Ex-Soap Opera Actress Linda Dano Returns Home Collection to QVC
/ref> In 1999, she won the Accessories Council Excellence Award for outstanding contributions to consumer awareness. During and since her run in daytime, Dano has guest-starred on television series such as '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' (1997), ''

Desperate Housewives ''Desperate Housewives'' is an American comedy-drama soap opera television series created by Marc Cherry and produced by ABC Studios and Cherry Productions. It aired for eight seasons on ABC from October 3, 2004, until May 13, 2012, for a t ...

'' (2005), and '' What I Like About You'' (2006), as well as the 2007 film ''

Reservation Road ''Reservation Road'' is a 2007 American crime drama film directed by Terry George and based on the book of the same title by John Burnham Schwartz, who, along with George, adapted the novel for the screenplay. The film, starring Joaquin Phoenix a ...

''. In 2005, she appeared as the title character in ''

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

'' at the

Bucks County Playhouse THE BUCKS COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE The Bucks County Playhouse is located in New Hope, Pennsylvania. When the ''Hope Mills'' burned in 1790, the grist mills were rebuilt as the ''New Hope Mills,'' by Benjamin Parry. The town was renamed for the mills. ...

. In 2021, Dano starred in a Hallmark movie production, ''A Little Daytime Drama''.

Books

Romance novels

During her run on ''Another World'', Dano co-wrote at least one romance novel published under the name of her character Felicia Gallant. * Gallant, Felicia, with Rebecca Flanders (1984). ''Dreamweaver''. Harlequin. . . Donna Ball was a co-author.

Style guides

*Dano, Linda, with Anne Kyle (1997). ''Looking Great: Fashion Authority and Television Star Linda Dano Shares Her Style and Beauty Secrets to Help You Look Your Best''. G.P. Putnam's Sons. . . *Dano, Linda, with Anne Kyle (1998). ''Living Great: Style Expert and Television Star Linda Dano Shows You How to Bring Style Home With Her Easy, Affordable Decorating Ideas and Techniques''. Putnam. . .

Causes

For several years, Dano has worked with organizations to tackle medical conditions such as depression and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As ...

. Her father's life was taken by the effects of Alzheimer's, and she battled depression later after the double loss of her husband and her mother, Evelyn, a week-and-a-half afterward, with her mother showing signs of dementia before her death. Dano is active in such groups as HeartShare, the National Osteoporosis Foundation, the National Alzheimer's Association, and Support Partners, among others. Dano is also a patron of the Catholic Guardian Society of New York.

HeartShare Human Services of New York HeartShare Human Services of New York, originally founded in 1914 as the Catholic Guardian Society of the Archdiocese of New York (sometimes referred to as the Catholic Guardian Society of Brooklyn and Queens) is a nonprofit human services, human-se ...

bestows an annual "Linda Dano Award".

References

External links

* *
Exclusive Interview with Linda Dano
* (under her own name) : Note. The U.S. library covers Taylor Brady as a real name, citing ''Contemporary Authors'', rather than a pseudonym of Donna Ball, or Ball and Shannon Harper. It also treats all books published under the name Rebecca Flanders as possibly collaborations of Brady and Dano. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dano, Linda Living people 20th-century American actresses American soap opera actresses Daytime Emmy Award winners Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series winners American non-fiction writers American romantic fiction writers 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people)