Veronica Hamel

Veronica Hamel is an American actress and model born on November 20, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where her father worked as a carpenter and her mother was a housewife. She earned a degree from Temple University before taking a job as a secretary at a company that produced ironing board covers. Her path into entertainment began when Eileen Ford discovered her and launched her modeling career.

Hamel's modeling work included print advertisements for Virginia Slims and Pall Mall Gold cigarettes. She appeared in what became the final cigarette commercial broadcast on American television, a Virginia Slims spot that aired at 11:59 pm on January 1, 1971, during The Tonight Show. Her first film credit came that same year in Klute, in which she played a model. Subsequent film roles included parts in the disaster pictures Beyond the Poseidon Adventure and When Time Ran Out.

Television work began for Hamel in 1975. She was considered for the role of Kelly Garrett on Charlie's Angels but reportedly declined, with producer Aaron Spelling ultimately casting Jaclyn Smith. Her most prominent screen role came with the long-running police drama Hill Street Blues, which ran from 1981 to 1987. She portrayed Joyce Davenport, a public defender and the romantic partner of police captain Frank Furillo, earning five Emmy Award nominations for the performance.

In 1988, the same year she appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Rumors, Hamel was cast in a leading role in Alan Alda's film A New Life, playing his doctor and love interest. In 1990 she played Elizabeth, the wife of Charles Grodin's character, in Taking Care of Business. Later television credits included the legal drama Philly in 2002, created by Hill Street Blues producer Steven Bochco, a recurring role on the NBC series Third Watch in the late 2000s, and the role of Margo Shephard, Jack's mother, on the ABC series Lost. Hamel was also named to Us magazine's Best Dressed list in 1983.