Susan Sullivan

Susan Sullivan is an American actress born on November 18, 1942, in New York City, the daughter of Helen (née Rockett) and Brendan Sullivan, an advertising executive. She grew up in Freeport, Nassau County, on Long Island, where she graduated from Freeport High School in 1960. Sullivan earned a Bachelor of Arts in drama from Hofstra University in 1964.

Sullivan began her professional acting career on Broadway in 1968, appearing in both Jimmy Shine and Avanti! Her work in Jimmy Shine placed her opposite Dustin Hoffman. Following her Broadway work, she signed a contract with Universal Studios in 1969 and began guest-starring on television series while also pursuing roles in daytime drama.

Her daytime television career began with a role on A World Apart in 1970. She then took over from Judith Barcroft to play Lenore Moore Curtin Delaney on the NBC soap opera Another World, a role she held from 1971 to 1976. During this period she also appeared in additional television projects, including a role as Ann, Charlton Heston's girlfriend, a character written specifically for the television adaptation of Midway in 1976. The following year she portrayed Dr. Elaina Marks opposite Bill Bixby in the pilot for The Incredible Hulk, and in 1978 she played Poker Alice alongside James Garner in The New Maverick. She also appeared in an episode of Barnaby Jones that aired on January 26, 1978, and served as a panelist on Match Game during a week in February 1978, appearing on both the CBS broadcast and the syndicated version.

Sullivan played Dr. Julie Farr in the television production Having Babies from 1978 to 1979, a project that was adapted into two television films and later a short-lived weekly series titled Julie Farr, M.D. Her performance earned her a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. She also played Maggie Porter in the television drama Rich Man, Poor Man Book II. In 1980, Sullivan joined the ABC sitcom It's a Living as Lois Adams, the head waitress.

Her most prominent television role came in 1981 when she was cast as Maggie Gioberti in the CBS primetime soap opera Falcon Crest, replacing Samantha Eggar, who had appeared in the pilot. Sullivan remained with the series from 1981 through the first two episodes of its ninth season in 1989, by which point she had appeared in 207 of the 227 episodes produced. Her performance on the series earned three Soap Opera Digest award nominations. Her character was written out when Maggie drowned.

After Falcon Crest, Sullivan appeared on The George Carlin Show and co-starred on the political drama The Monroes in the mid-1990s. In 1997 she played the mother of Cameron Diaz's character in the film My Best Friend's Wedding. That same year she joined the ABC sitcom Dharma & Greg as Kitty Montgomery, a country-club matriarch, a role she played from 1997 to 2002. The series reunited her with actor Mitchell Ryan, with whom she had previously worked on Having Babies. Her work on Dharma & Greg earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Supporting Actress. Sullivan also voiced Queen Hippolyta on the animated series Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, appeared in four episodes of Hope and Faith as therapist Nancy Lombard, and had roles on Brothers & Sisters, Joan of Arcadia, Two and a Half Men, Dead Like Me, The Kominsky Method, and Last Man Standing.

From 2009 to 2016, Sullivan co-starred on Castle alongside Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic, and Molly Quinn, playing Martha Rodgers, a character whose acting history — including references to soap opera appearances — paralleled elements of Sullivan's own career. In 2023, Sullivan was diagnosed with lung cancer and underwent surgery to have it removed.