Rise to Fame
A giggling, bikini-painted sketch comedian on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In became a film star before anyone saw it coming. On the show from 1968-1970, she played the bubbly blonde who kept breaking character and forgetting her lines, and the producers were actively encouraging it. That authentic chaos made her. She parlayed 64 episodes into Cactus Flower (1969), walking away with the Best Supporting Actress Oscar in her first major film role. Not bad for someone who'd been go-go dancing for a living two years earlier.
In the Spotlight
At 80, she moves through public life on her own terms. The 2025 Oscars red carpet appearance with Kurt Russell was the rare kind of sighting, a reminder that she still commands attention when she chooses to show up. Her real output these days runs through the MindUP Foundation, a social-emotional learning curriculum she founded in 2003 that has trained over 200,000 teachers across 48 countries. The bubbly blonde from Laugh-In quietly became one of the more serious figures in children's education.
Side Notes
She comes from American colonial royalty, technically. Edward Rutledge, the youngest signer of the Declaration of Independence, is a direct ancestor. She was dancing professionally at 10, earning $1.50 a performance in a Nutcracker production, which tracks for someone who ran her own ballet school at 19. She also claims to have had an alien encounter in West Covina, California. 'They touched my face,' she's said. Take that as you will.