Julia Duffy

Julia Margaret Duffy, born Julia Margaret Hinds on June 27, 1951, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, is an American actress best known for her long-running role on the television sitcom Newhart. The youngest of four daughters born to Joseph Hinds and Mary Duffy, she lost her father when she was seven years old. Her mother later remarried and worked as a real estate agent. Duffy began performing as an adolescent at Minneapolis's Old Log Theatre, and at age 18 appeared in a local production of The Girl in the Freudian Slip. In 1970 she relocated to New York City and enrolled at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, supporting herself as a waitress and hatcheck girl before graduating in 1972.

Duffy launched her professional career in television, taking minor roles in soap operas including Love of Life and One Life to Live before being cast as Penny Davis on the daytime series The Doctors, a role she held from 1973 to 1977. In 1978 she made her Broadway debut in a revival of the play Once in a Lifetime. She subsequently appeared in supporting roles in the films Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker and Cutter's Way, both released in 1981, and in a first-season episode of Cheers in 1982, having previously been considered for the role of Diane Chambers. In 1983 she played Princess Ariel Baaldorf in the CBS medieval adventure spoof Wizards and Warriors, which ran for one season.

Also in 1982, Duffy guest-starred on Newhart as Stephanie Vanderkellen, a self-obsessed heiress and the haughty cousin of the Stratford Inn's maid Leslie. At the start of the show's second season she joined the main cast, taking over as the inn's maid for the remainder of the series, which ran until 1990. The role earned her seven Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, spanning 1984 through 1990, along with a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or Television Film, three Viewers for Quality Television awards, and five American Comedy Awards nominations. During the show's run, Duffy was pregnant twice; the first time the production concealed her pregnancy through wardrobe and staging choices, while the second time the pregnancy was incorporated into the storyline, with Stephanie becoming a mother in the eighth season.

Following Newhart's conclusion, Duffy joined the cast of the sitcom Baby Talk in 1991 alongside George Clooney, playing the original Maggie Campbell. After Clooney left the troubled production, Duffy requested and received a release from her contract and was replaced by Mary Page Keller. She then joined the cast of Designing Women, playing Allison Sugarbaker, a previously unseen cousin of the characters played by Delta Burke and Dixie Carter, during the show's sixth season from 1991 to 1992. That season proved to be the highest-rated in the series' history, in part due to the additions of Duffy and Jan Hooks to the cast. Duffy was ultimately released from her contract due to differing views on her character's direction and was succeeded by Judith Ivey. From 1993 to 1995 she played Barb Ballantine on the comedy series The Mommies, and later portrayed Lindsay Mercer on The Drew Carey Show. She also took on a recurring role as English teacher Linda Hayfer on the Nickelodeon series Drake & Josh.

In the 2000s Duffy appeared in the comedy films Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd and Intolerable Cruelty, both released in 2003, as well as guest roles on Reba. In 2009 she co-starred with Kelly McGillis in a stage production of The Little Foxes at the Pasadena Playhouse and later appeared there again in The Heiress alongside Richard Chamberlain. During the 2010s she held recurring roles on Showtime's Shameless from 2011 to 2013 and HBO's Looking from 2014 to 2015, and appeared in a supporting role opposite Kristen Stewart in the 2014 drama film Camp X-Ray. She received an IRNE Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her work in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner at the Huntington Theatre in Boston, directed by David Esbjornson. In December 2016 she co-starred with Mare Winningham and Mark Blum in an Off-Broadway production of Rancho Viejo at Playwrights Horizons, directed by Daniel Aukin. She also starred in the ensemble comedy The Outsider at Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey, directed by Esbjornson, alongside Lenny Wolpe, Kelley Curran, and Manoel Felciano. In 2018 she published the book Bad Auditions through Smith and Kraus.

Duffy married actor Jerry Lacy, known for his work on Dark Shadows and Love of Life, in 1984. The couple had two children: a daughter, Kerry, born in 1986, and a son, Daniel, born in August 1989. Daniel died by suicide in April 2019.