Morgan Brittany - Career As Morgan Brittany

Career As Morgan Brittany

After her career as a child actress, 18-year-old Morgan Brittany appeared with Gene Kelly in his Las Vegas show, Gene Kelly's Wonderful World of Girls. Brittany then moved to New York City where she modeled for The Ford Modeling Agency. She appeared in many TV commercials and print ads (including a three-year stint as "The Ultra Brite Toothpaste Girl"), and was spokesmodel for brands such as L'Oreal, Ford, Levi's and Camay. In 1974, she was hired by the Japanese cosmetics company Kanebo to be the "face" of their product "Ireine", and so moved to Tokyo for two years. In 1976, she returned to the U.S and restarted her acting career.

In 1976, Brittany impersonated Vivien Leigh in the biopic Gable and Lombard, the first of two occasions on which she would do so. That was followed by "movies of the week" and episodic television series, such as The Initiation of Sarah with Kay Lenz, The Amazing Howard Hughes with Tommy Lee Jones, and LBJ: The Early Years with Randy Quaid.

In November 1980, Brittany appeared in an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard titled "The Hazzardville Horror" as heiress to a haunted house. During the shooting, she met her future husband, stuntman Jack Gill, for the first time.

She briefly appeared as Vivien Leigh in the climax of the made-for-TV movie, Moviola: The Scarlett O'Hara War in 1980, which marked the second of her two impersonations of Leigh. (Both impersonations were possible because Brittany bore a remarkable physical resemblance to Leigh.) This caught the attention of the producers of Dallas, who were searching for an actress to play the sister of Pamela Ewing, Katherine Wentworth.

Brittany debuted on Dallas in the 1981-1982 season. Her recurring role continued for several seasons. In 1985, she returned for a cameo in that season's finale. In a 1987 episode, Brittany made a final brief return to the show, in which Katherine visited Pam in the hospital after a car accident.

In 1984, Brittany starred in her own short-lived ABC drama series, Glitter, as Kate Simpson, a reporter for an entertainment magazine.

Brittany and Bruce Jenner hosted the sports show Star Games. She then hosted over 100 episodes of the magazine show Photoplay, produced by Jack Haley, Jr. She has guest starred on other prime time series, including Married... with Children (as Marilyn Beamis in the 1989 episode "Life's a Beach"), The Love Boat (seven times), Murder, She Wrote and Melrose Place. She appeared with Bob Hope on two of his NBC television specials.

During the 1990s, Brittany created a line of Victorian porcelain dolls for the Home Shopping Club. The "Morgan Brittany Collectable Doll" collection was successful and sold for a few years on the network.

In 2002, Brittany had film roles in The Biggest Fan and Mothers and Daughters, and made a guest appearance on the television series Son of the Beach, playing Kimberlee's mother. She was in the 2007 film, Americanizing Shelley and the 2010 docudrama, 1 a Minute. The documentary, produced by Namrata Singh Gujral, featured cancer survivors Olivia Newton-John, Diahann Carroll, Melissa Etheridge, Mumtaz and Jaclyn Smith. She was a frequent guest on the Fox News show, Hannity, as a member of "The Great American Panel."

Singing is one of Brittany's lesser-known talents, which she got to showcase when she acted out the title role in the 30th anniversary tour of Mame in 1997. She followed that with tours of The Sound of Music (as Maria) and Crazy For You. She likewise appeared in the 2011 documentary film When Happy Met Froggie.