Annette O'Toole (born Annette Toole; April 1, 1952) is an American actress, singer, and songwriter. She has received nominations for an
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...
, a
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are awards presented for excellence in both international film and television. It is an annual award ceremony held since 1944 to honor artists and professionals and their work. The ceremony is normally held every Janua ...
, and a
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards, or Primetime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Owned and operated by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), the P ...
.
She is known for portraying Lisa Bridges in the television series ''
Nash Bridges'', adult
Beverly Marsh in the
1990 television mini-series adaptation of
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's epic horror novel ''
It'',
Lana Lang in ''
Superman III'', Kathy in the romantic-comedy film ''
Cross My Heart,'' and
Martha Kent
Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent (often referred to as "Pa" and "Ma" Kent, respectively) are fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are the adoptive parents of Superman, and live in the rural town of Smallville (co ...
(the adoptive mother of
Clark Kent
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
) on the television series ''
Smallville
''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...
''.
Early life
O'Toole was born in Houston, the daughter of Dorothy Geraldine (née Niland) and William West Toole Jr. Her mother taught dance, which O'Toole herself began learning at the age of three.
She started taking acting lessons after her family moved to Los Angeles when she was 13.
Career
Film and television
O'Toole's first television appearance was in 1967 on ''
The Danny Kaye Show'',
followed over the next few years with guest appearances in shows such as ''
My Three Sons
''My Three Sons'' is an American television sitcom that aired from September 29, 1960, to April 13, 1972. The series was filmed in black-and-white and broadcast on ABC during its first five seasons, before moving to CBS for the remaining seve ...
'', ''
The Virginian'', ''
Gunsmoke
''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centered on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central charact ...
'', ''
Hawaii Five-O'', and ''
The Partridge Family
''The Partridge Family'' is an American musical sitcom created by Bernard Slade, which was broadcast in the United States from September 1970 to March 1974 on American Broadcasting Company, ABC. After the final first-run telecast on ABC in March ...
''.
Her first major film role was as a jaded beauty pageant contestant in the 1975 satire ''
''Smile''''; she got the role after doing an impression of a "dead cockroach" at the audition.
She also appeared as the tutor and girlfriend of
Robby Benson
Robby Benson (born Robin David Segal; January 21, 1956) is an American actor, director, and musician. He rose to prominence as a teen idol in the late 1970s, appearing in the films ''Ode to Billy Joe (film), Ode to Billy Joe'' (1976), ''One on ...
's character in the college basketball story ''
''One on One'''' in 1977. She co-starred opposite
Gary Busey in the 1980 film ''
Foolin' Around''. In 1981, she starred in the
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
onstage production of ''
Vanities'', as well as in the TV movie ''Stand By Your Man'', which detailed the life of country music legend
Tammy Wynette
Tammy Wynette (born Virginia Wynette Pugh; May 5, 1942 – April 6, 1998) was an American country music singer and songwriter, considered among the genre's most influential and successful artists. Along with Loretta Lynn, Wynette helped bring a ...
.
Later on in 1982, she appeared briefly as
Nick Nolte's girlfriend in ''
48 Hrs.'' That same year, she played Alice Perrin in ''
Cat People'', and then in 1983 she played
Lana Lang (love interest to
Clark Kent
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
/
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
), and single mother of Ricky in ''
Superman III''.
In 1985, she co-starred with
Barry Manilow
Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...
in the CBS television movie ''
Copacabana'' playing Lola La Mar to Manilow's Tony Starr. Also in 1985, she had a starring role as Ms. Edmunds in the original ''
Bridge to Terabithia'', and appeared in the TV adaptation of ''
Strong Medicine
''Strong Medicine'' is an American medical drama with a focus on feminist politics, health issues and class conflict that aired on the Lifetime network from 2000 to 2006. It was created and produced in part by Whoopi Goldberg, who made cam ...
'' the following year. In 1987's ''
Cross My Heart'', a romantic comedy, O'Toole had a leading role opposite
Martin Short
Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian and American comedian, actor, and writer. Short is known as an energetic comedian who gained prominence for his roles in sketch comedy. He has also acted in numerous films and television ...
.
In 1990, O'Toole had roles in two
ABC television mini-series. She played the adult
Beverly Marsh in the
television mini-series adaptation of
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author. Dubbed the "King of Horror", he is widely known for his horror novels and has also explored other genres, among them Thriller (genre), suspense, crime fiction, crime, scienc ...
's epic horror novel ''
It.'' She also portrayed
Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy in ''
The Kennedys of Massachusetts'', a role that earned her an
Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress. She next starred in the 1992
NBC mini-series ''
Jewels'', based on the
Danielle Steel
Danielle Fernandes Dominique Schuelein-Steel (born August 14, 1947) is an American writer, best known for her romance novels. She is the bestselling living author and one of the best-selling fiction authors of all time, with over 800 milli ...
novel of the same name.
In 1993, O'Toole starred in ''
Desperate Justice'' as Ellen Wells. In 1995, she starred as
Cheryl Keeton in the 1995
Lifetime television film based on
Ann Rule's
true crime
True crime is a genre of non-fiction work in which an author examines a crime, including detailing the actions of people associated with and affected by the crime, and investigating the perpetrator's Motive (law), motives. True crime works often ...
novel ''Dead by Sunset''. She had a recurring role on the television show ''
Nash Bridges'' (1996) and starred in her own series ''
The Huntress'' (2000) as a female
bounty hunter. In 1997 O'Toole starred in the TV movie ''
Keeping the Promise''.
In 2001, 18 years after portraying Lana Lang in ''Superman III'', O'Toole returned to the
''Superman'' mythos in the role of
Martha Kent
Jonathan Kent and Martha Kent (often referred to as "Pa" and "Ma" Kent, respectively) are fictional characters in American comic books published by DC Comics. They are the adoptive parents of Superman, and live in the rural town of Smallville (co ...
, Superman's adoptive mother, in the television series ''
Smallville
''Smallville'' is an American superhero fiction, superhero television series developed by writer-producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar, based on the DC Comics character Superman created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The series was produce ...
''. She remained part of the show's main cast, though at times in the background, until the end of
its sixth season. She made guest appearances in the final two seasons, reprising her role, while also portraying
The Red Queen.
In 2010, O'Toole played the role of Veronica, a middle-aged woman with a severe case of Alzheimer's, in the television series ''
Lie to Me''. In 2013 she appeared in ''
Grey's Anatomy
''Grey's Anatomy'' is an American medical drama television series focusing on the personal and professional lives of surgical internship (medicine), interns, residency (medicine), residents, and attending physician, attendings at the fictional ...
'' as a school teacher who finds out, after surgery, that she will die from cancer.
O'Toole portrayed Susan Emerson in six episodes of the first two seasons of ''
Halt and Catch Fire''. In 2016, O'Toole returned to the Stephen King realm as boarding house owner Edna Price in "The Kill Floor" episode of the King miniseries ''
11.22.63.'' She and former ''Smallville'' co-star
John Glover reunited for the 2016 horror film ''We Go On''.
In 2019, O'Toole filled the role of Hope McCrea in the Netflix series ''
Virgin River
The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U.S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about long.Calculated with Google Maps and Google Earth It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the ...
.'' She still currently plays the role, with season six being released in December 2024.
Musical career
O'Toole can date the beginning of her songwriting career to events during a car ride after the
September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
; as her husband
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician. Over his career he has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
...
describes it, "On September 11, 2001, Annette found herself without an airline to carry her back down to Los Angeles from Vancouver, where she films ''Smallville''. So she drove a rental car down. The two of us drove it back up together, and on the long drive up there, somewhere between Portland and Seattle, she told me she had a tune in her head."
The "tune in her head" became "Potato's in the Paddy Wagon", one of three songs the couple wrote for ''
A Mighty Wind'',
including the
Oscar-nominated song "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow".
O'Toole sang "What Could Be Better?"—a song she and her husband co-wrote – for the 2004
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...
children's album ''A World of Happiness''.
In 2005, the couple did a
cabaret
Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, casino, hotel, restaurant, or nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or drinking, ...
act for "
Feinstein's at the Regency" in New York City.
In 2007, O'Toole appeared as a backing singer for her husband's fictional band
Spinal Tap at the London leg of the
Live Earth
Live Earth was an event developed to increase Environmentalism, environmental awareness through entertainment.
Background
Founded by producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore.
Live Earth 2007
The 1st series ...
concerts. She has also performed on the band's 2009 ''Unwigged and Unplugged'' tour, and contributed lyrics to "Short and Sweet" on the 2009 Spinal Tap album ''
Back from the Dead''.
In 2011 she starred in CAP21's production of the new musical ''Southern Comfort'', based on the Sundance award-winning documentary, by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis.
Personal life
Actor Bruce Kirby and O'Toole were in a relationship together in the 1970s
O'Toole married actor Bill Geisslinger on April 8, 1983; they divorced in 1993.
[1983 Annette O'Toole Interview](_blank)
from ''Starlog
''Starlog'' was an American monthly science fiction magazine that was created in 1976 and focused primarily on ''Star Trek'' at its inception. Kerry O'Quinn and Norman Jacobs were its creators and it was published by Starlog Group, Inc. in Aug ...
72'' via supermancinema.co.uk The couple had two daughters.
O'Toole met fellow actor
Michael McKean
Michael John McKean (; born October 17, 1947) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, composer, singer, and musician. Over his career he has received a Grammy Award as well as nominations for an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award.
...
while working together on the 1998 television movie ''Final Justice''. The two began bonding over McKean reading the book ''
Dead by Sunset'', for which O'Toole had starred in the miniseries adaption. They married on March 20, 1999, becoming the stepmother to his two sons from a previous marriage.
She and McKean share a musical career.
Filmography
Films
Television
Theatre
Plays
Performances
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Otoole, Annette
1952 births
Living people
20th-century American actresses
20th-century American singers
20th-century American women singers
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American singers
21st-century American women singers
Actresses from Houston
American female dancers
American film actresses
American musical theatre actresses
American television actresses
Dancers from Texas
Songwriters from Texas