Linda Purl

Linda Purl is an American actress born on September 2, 1955, in Greenwich, Connecticut, to Raymond Charles Arthur Purl, a chemical-industry executive, and Marshelline Purl. She has one sister, Mara. Their grandmother, Beatrice Saville, was a founder of the Actors' Equity Association. When Purl was five years old, her family relocated to Japan, where her father took a position with Nippon Unicar. She trained in acting at the Toho Geino Academy and performed at the Imperial Theatre in Tokyo, taking on the roles of Louis in The King and I, Bet in Oliver!, and Helen Keller in The Miracle Worker. Toho also cast her in several films during this period. She returned to the United States at age fifteen.

Purl's screen career began in the early 1970s. She appeared in a small role in Jory (1973) before landing her first major film part in Jonathan Demme's 1975 comedy Crazy Mama. Her subsequent film credits include W.C. Fields and Me (1976), Young Pioneers' Christmas (1976), Leo and Loree (1980), the 1982 horror film Visiting Hours, The High Country (1984), Viper (1988), Natural Causes (1994), Mighty Joe Young (1998), The Perfect Tenant (2000), and Fear of the Dark (2003).

Her television work began with the daytime drama The Secret Storm (1973–1974). In 1974, she appeared on The Waltons as Alicia in the season-three episode "The Spoilers," and returned to the series in 1977 to play Vanessa in the season-five episode "The Heartbreaker," a role in which she also sang. She guest-starred in the 1975 Hawaii Five-O episode "The Hostage" as a teenage babysitter held captive by a mentally ill veteran. In 1976, she portrayed Alice Roosevelt Longworth in the ABC miniseries Eleanor and Franklin. Purl played two distinct roles on Happy Days: Gloria, Richie's occasional girlfriend, in season two (1974), and Ashley Pfister, Fonzie's steady girlfriend, eight seasons later (1982–1983). In 1978, she appeared as newlywed Molly Beaton in the ABC Western series The Young Pioneers, set in the Dakota Territory of the 1870s and based on the novels of Rose Wilder Lane. She starred alongside Shaun Cassidy in the 1979 television film Like Normal People and also appeared that year in Women at West Point. In 1981, she starred in Manions of America, and in 1984 played Nydia, the blind flower girl, in the miniseries The Last Days of Pompeii. She voiced Delilah in a 1985 direct-to-video episode of The Greatest Adventure: Stories from the Bible. Purl made three separate guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote, in episodes broadcast in 1985, 1988, and 1993. In 1986, she played Eve Harper in the television film Pleasures and then took on the recurring role of Charlene Matlock, Ben Matlock's lawyer daughter, in the first season of Matlock (1986–1987), starring Andy Griffith. She played secret agent Kate Del'Amico in the series Under Cover and Brett Robin in Robin's Hoods (1994–1995). In 2002, she was cast as Sarah Novelli in First Monday. Beginning with the season-six episode "Niagara" in 2009, Purl appeared on NBC's The Office as Helene Beesly, Pam Beesly's mother, serving as a romantic interest for Steve Carell's character across multiple episodes. In May 2010, she guest-starred on Desperate Housewives. In 2011, she appeared on Showtime's Homeland as Elizabeth Gaines, and in 2012 played Barbara Pelt in two episodes of HBO's True Blood. In 2017, she appeared in the Designated Survivor episode "The Ninth Seat" as a former college supervisor of President Kirkman's who assists in appointing Supreme Court nominees. Purl also appears in a recurring role on The Bold and the Beautiful alongside Patrick Duffy.

Purl's Broadway career spanned from 1998 to 2001. She starred in Getting and Spending and also appeared in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Beyond Broadway, she has performed in international touring productions, including Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners, in which she was part of the original cast. In November 2007, she appeared at the Théâtre Princesse Grace in Monte Carlo as part of Marc Sinden's British Theatre Season. In 2008, she opened at the Cleveland Play House in a production of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie, playing Amanda.

Following her departure from Matlock, Purl pursued a career as a jazz vocalist, recording multiple albums. Her releases include Out of This World – Live, and in August 2023 she released her fourth full-length album, This Could Be the Start, a collaboration with music director Tedd Firth, on Reaching Records.

In her personal life, Purl has been married four times. Her first marriage, to Desi Arnaz Jr., son of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, took place on January 13, 1979, and ended in divorce finalized in 1980. On November 5, 1988, she married screenwriter William Broyles Jr., whom she later divorced. On July 23, 1993, she married British screenwriter and producer Alexander Cary, Master of Falkland, with whom she has a son; they subsequently divorced. Her fourth marriage, to James Vinson Adams on July 15, 2006, ended in divorce in 2011. Since 2020, Purl has been in a relationship with actor Patrick Duffy.