Career
Born in New York City, but raised on Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Muldaur started acting in high school and continued on through college, graduating from Sweet Briar College in Virginia in 1960. She studied acting under Stella Adler and made her name on the New York stage. She was at one point a board member of the Screen Actors Guild and was the first woman to serve as president of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (1983–1985).
Muldaur's television roles include L.A. Law's Rosalind Shays, and Dr. Katherine Pulaski in the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation. She also appeared in the Original Star Trek episodes "Return to Tomorrow" (as Science Officer Dr. Ann Mulhall), and in "Is There in Truth No Beauty?" as Dr. Miranda Jones. She provided the voice of Dr. Leslie Thompkins in Batman: The Animated Series. She starred in movies such as The Other, One More Train to Rob, McQ and The Lawyer.
Muldaur worked with future co-star Richard Dysart at New York's Circle in the Square in the mid-1960s. She guest starred on the Gunsmoke episode, "Fandango" (1967), with James Arness. An excerpt of that episode's dialogue was sampled on the Pink Floyd album The Wall, after "Hey You" and before the brief song "Is there anybody out there?" Muldaur also appeared in the Hawaii Five-O episode "Time and Memories" as a former love interest of Steve McGarrett (Jack Lord).
In 1979, she starred on the made-for-television film version on NBC of The Miracle Worker in which she played the role of Katie Keller, the mother of the Helen Keller in which she played opposite Melissa Gilbert, Charles Siebert, and Patty Duke Astin.
Muldaur also had a recurring role on the McCloud television series, and she played the part of conservationist Joy Adamson in the short-lived television drama Born Free about Elsa the Lioness. In 1968 she appeared as a friendly alien in The Invaders episode "The Life Seekers". In the second season of the television series Kung Fu in 1973, opposite David Carradine, she guest-starred in the episode titled "The Elixir" playing a travelling show-woman who yearned for freedom from men — topical at the time — and starred in the pilot episode of Charlie's Angels. She also appeared on The Tony Randall Show and guest-starred on The Incredible Hulk, playing the part of Helen Banner, David Banner's sister, in the third season episode, "Homecoming". She played a nun in the fifth season episode "Sanctuary". She played Dr. Alice Foley in the television drama A Year in the Life with Sarah Jessica Parker and praised the show as an example of how television was becoming more realistic about women. She also made a guest appearance in an episode of the television series "The Rockford Files". In 1975; during the series first season, episode 21; Muldauer played "Mrs. Banister", a woman who has an affair with a former cell mate of the series' title character. In 1991, she played Lauren Geoffries, the main guest-star client of Perry Mason and lifelong friend of Della Reese in the NBC television movie Perry Mason and the Case of the Fatal Fashion. Valerie Harper, Scott Baio and Ally Walker also appeared.
Read more about this topic: Diana Muldaur
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