Kathleen Beller - Career

Career

Beller started her career by appearing in several commercials. She debuted on television on 1971, taking over the role of Liza Walton Sentell in the daytime soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, which was originated by Denise Nickerson. She appeared on the show until 1974, when she quit to move from New York City to Los Angeles. After arriving, Don Most arranged for her to get an agent.

Her film debut was a small role in 1974's The Godfather Part II, portraying an actress in a play that the young Vito Corleone and Genco Abbandando attended. Later on she was remembered more for her television work, appearing in TV movies and guest starring in television shows, notably the soap Dynasty. She played Betsy in 1978's The Betsy, starring Laurence Olivier, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall. With this role Beller hoped to end her television career and start her film career, as she commented in an October 1977 interview:

"For a TV actress, getting that first feature film is a major step. So this is very important in my life. But, funnily, getting this part in The Betsy was actually the easiest part I ever got. I did one reading, one lunch to discuss the part with the director (Daniel Petrie) and that was that. I had the part. From now on, if I do any TV at all it will only be good TV. It's interesting how one feature film — and The Betsy isn't even released yet — can make such a difference in a career. On the strength of just being in The Betsy, I am finding it so much easier. Now I go in to read for a movie part, and they know me, the door is at least partly open."

Despite the optimism, the film was panned and Beller soon was forgotten. She blamed this on the contents of her role, complaining it could have been played by anyone.

She soon returned to television work, appearing in TV movies such as Mary White (1977) and Are You in the House Alone? (1978). Beller recalled the exhausting casting procedure of Mary White, which lasted daily for three weeks. Meanwhile, Beller continued a career on the big screen. Following a supporting role in the 1978 musical comedy Movie Movie, she was cast as a cancer victim opposite Marsha Mason in the drama film Promises in the Dark (1979), that brought her a Golden Globe nomination. She spent three months researching the role, and although she later recalled it one of her favorite roles, the film was a commercial failure. After filming she chose a "happy, upbeat part" as her next project.

Regardless, in 1981 she co-starred with Mariette Hartley in the psychological thriller, No Place to Hide, which sparked her first adult role. Her character was initially going to be a teenager, but Beller insisted on playing someone more mature. This demand convinced her that she would not be cast, but the film's director allowed her character to be a woman in her early twenties. In an interview to promote the film, Beller admitted that although she was 25 years old at the time, she still had trouble convincing people that she is older than sixteen. The following year she played the female lead in the fantasy film, The Sword and the Sorcerer (1982). Despite the commercial success Beller was dissatisfied by the film.

Beller is perhaps best remembered for her role from 1982 to 1984 as Kirby Anders Colby in the television drama, Dynasty. During her stay on the show she was "flooded by fans" attention until she suddenly cut her hair short. Beller blamed her departure from the show on the new writers who were hired in 1984. She explained that they had "lost interest in her character and that when her contract ended, they decided not to renew it". Beller herself said that " come back if they wanted ". She reprised the role for Dynasty: The Reunion in 1991.

After her run on the show she starred again in a made-for-TV thriller, Deadly Messages (1985), which according to the actress herself differed from her earlier thrillers by " itself too seriously". In an interview she explained her tendency to portray victims in films is encouraged by her "the color and size of big brown eyes", "the way roles" and "the episodic roles did while was growing up". Her casting in the film was an unusual one: according to the actress, she received a call from her agent about a script, read it immediately, and drove to the studio an hour later, expecting a meeting. When she arrived, however, she was asked if she could start working right away. She took the role because of "the whirlwind casting", and the fact that she had not worked for seven months, since a guest spot on Glitter.

Beller also played Mary Caitlin Callahan on the short-lived school drama, The Bronx Zoo.