Christine Belford
Encyclopedia
Christine Belford is an American television and film actor.
As a young child and teenager on Long Island, NY, she was active in equestrian trials, winning many horsemanship awards.
After graduating high school in 1966, she attended Hofstra University
, initially interested in a career in psychiatry. But, the classwork she did with Joseph Leon, the head of the drama department there, inspired her to become an actress.
After college, around June 1970, she moved to New York City and did some modeling work there, but no acting. For both personal and professional reasons, she moved to Los Angeles around the end of 1970. There, at the suggestion of friend Carrie Snodgress
, she auditioned at Universal Pictures
, doing a scene from The Country Girl
for talent head Monique James — Christine then received a seven-year acting contract from Universal Pictures.
TV series Banacek
.
Her first appearance on television was as a un-named extra on the last show of the one-season Vince Edwards
series Matt Lincoln
, in the episode entitled Christopher, broadcast on the ABC network January 14, 1971. Her first appearance on television in a named role was as 'Gretchen Greer' in the political-thriller TV-movie Vanished, first broadcast March 8, 1971 on the NBC network.
She had recurring roles in many TV series:
She also appeared in many television shows of the 1970s, 1980's, and 1990's, including The Sixth Sense
, Alias Smith and Jones
, Ironside
, Mannix
, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
, The Six Million Dollar Man
, Cannon
, Police Story, Harry O, Tales of the Unexpected
, Quincy M.E., Battlestar Galactica, The White Shadow
, The Paper Chase
, Barnaby Jones
, CHiPS
, Magnum, P.I.
, The Incredible Hulk, Cagney and Lacey, Hart to Hart
, The Greatest American Hero
, Fantasy Island
, The Golden Girls
, Family Ties
, My Two Dads
, L.A. Law
, Empty Nest
, Freddy's Nightmares
, Diagnosis Murder
, Who's the Boss, Night Court
, Blossom
, Step by Step, and Murder, She Wrote
.
She appeared in many TV movies in the same period:
Her last appearance on television was in the horse-racing TV movie Ruffian
, starring Sam Shepard
and broadcast on the ABC network June 9, 2007.
She tried something completely different in 1983, when she co-hosted, in Los Angeles, with Steve Edwards
, Cathy Kronkite, and Ruth Batchelor, an unsuccessful pilot for a daytime-magazine series, Personal & Confidential, over five days, August 1–5, 1983.
film Pocket Money
(1972), the George Peppard
film The Groundstar Conspiracy
(1972), and the straight-to-video 1986 film The Ladies Club, where she played a doctor who aided a rape-victim vigilante group by castrating the rapists captured by the women.
Early life
Christine Belford was born January 14, 1949 in Amityville, New York. As a child, she lived in the "Amityville Horror" house (pre-horror), for about 5 years, from 1960-1965 — the estate of the original owners of the house had sold it to her parents; after her parents' divorce, the house was sold to Ronald DeFeo, the father of the man who committed the murders that supposedly led to the horrific aspects of the house.As a young child and teenager on Long Island, NY, she was active in equestrian trials, winning many horsemanship awards.
After graduating high school in 1966, she attended Hofstra University
Hofstra University
Hofstra University is a private, nonsectarian institution of higher learning located in the Village of Hempstead, New York, United States, about east of New York City: less than an hour away by train or car...
, initially interested in a career in psychiatry. But, the classwork she did with Joseph Leon, the head of the drama department there, inspired her to become an actress.
After college, around June 1970, she moved to New York City and did some modeling work there, but no acting. For both personal and professional reasons, she moved to Los Angeles around the end of 1970. There, at the suggestion of friend Carrie Snodgress
Carrie Snodgress
Caroline "Carrie" Snodgress was an American actress.-Biography:Snodgress was born in Park Ridge, Illinois. She attended Maine Township High School East in Park Ridge then Northern Illinois University before leaving to pursue acting. Snodgress trained for the stage at the Goodman Theatre, in Chicago...
, she auditioned at Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
, doing a scene from The Country Girl
The Country Girl
The Country Girl may refer to:* The Country Girl , a 1915 silent film, based on an 18th-century play by David Garrick* The Country Girl , a 1954 film based on a play by Clifford Odets, starring Bing Crosby and Grace Kelly...
for talent head Monique James — Christine then received a seven-year acting contract from Universal Pictures.
Television career
Christine Belford is best-known for her portrayal of exasperated insurance investigator Carlie Kirkland during the second season (1973–74) of the George PeppardGeorge Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
TV series Banacek
Banacek
Banacek is a short-lived, light-hearted detective TV series starring George Peppard on NBC from 1972 to 1974. It alternated in its timeslot with several other shows but was the only one to last beyond its first season...
.
Her first appearance on television was as a un-named extra on the last show of the one-season Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards
Vince Edwards was an American actor, director, and singer, best known for the roles of TV doctor "Ben Casey", and Maj. Cliff Bricker in the 1968 war film The Devil's Brigade.-Early life:...
series Matt Lincoln
Matt Lincoln
Matt Lincoln was a television medical drama which was aired by ABC as part of its 1970-71 lineup.Matt Lincoln starred Vince Edwards as Dr. Matt Lincoln, a psychiatrist who had founded a telephone hotline for troubled teenagers...
, in the episode entitled Christopher, broadcast on the ABC network January 14, 1971. Her first appearance on television in a named role was as 'Gretchen Greer' in the political-thriller TV-movie Vanished, first broadcast March 8, 1971 on the NBC network.
She had recurring roles in many TV series:
- Aunt Emily in Married: The First Year (1979)
- Jackie Willow, wife of Jack Willow (Richard MasurRichard MasurRichard Masur is an American actor who has appeared in more than 80 movies during his career. From 1995-1999, he served two terms as president of the Screen Actors Guild . Masur sits on the Corporate Board of the Motion Picture & Television Fund.-Biography:Masur was born in New York City to a...
), in the short-lived corporate comedy Empire (1984) - Maggie Randall, the modern-day police deputy in the cowboys/time-travel series OutlawsOutlaws (1986 TV series)Outlaws is a short-lived action-adventure American television series which aired Saturday nights on CBS. The original series began as a 2-hour pilot movie, and was followed by eleven one-hour episodes.- Origins :...
(1987) - Sandy, the daughter of Doctor Welby, in several episodes of Marcus Welby M.D. (1972)
- Baroness Paula Von GuntherBaroness Paula Von GuntherThe Baroness Paula von Gunther is a fictional character, a DC Comics villain that battled Wonder Woman as her first recurring arch-nemesis and, eventually, her closest ally.Baroness Paula von Gunther originally debuted in Sensation Comics #4....
in the Wonder WomanWonder Woman (TV series)Wonder Woman is an American television series based on the DC Comics comic book superhero of the same name. Starring Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman/Diana Prince and Lyle Waggoner as Steve Trevor, the show originally aired from 1975 to 1979....
TV series (1976) - Evelyn Stratton, the rarely-seen mother of Ricky Stratton (Ricky Schroeder), on Silver SpoonsSilver SpoonsSilver Spoons is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from September 25, 1982 to May 11, 1986 and in first-run syndication from September 15, 1986 to March 4, 1987...
(1984–87) - Nurse Susan Farragut on DynastyDynasty (TV series)Dynasty is an American prime time television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 12, 1981 to May 11, 1989. It was created by Richard & Esther Shapiro and produced by Aaron Spelling, and revolved around the Carringtons, a wealthy oil family living in Denver, Colorado...
(1982) - Samantha Sanders, mother to Steve Sanders (played by Ian ZieringIan ZieringIan Andrew Ziering is an American actor best known for playing Steve Sanders on the television series Beverly Hills, 90210.-Personal life:...
), in the original Beverly Hills 90210 (1992–98)
She also appeared in many television shows of the 1970s, 1980's, and 1990's, including The Sixth Sense
The Sixth Sense (TV series)
The Sixth Sense is an American paranormal thriller television series featuring Gary Collins and Catherine Ferrar. Based on the 1971 television movie Sweet, Sweet Rachel, the series was broadcast by the American Broadcasting Company from January 1972 through December 1972.-Synopsis:Collins is...
, Alias Smith and Jones
Alias Smith and Jones
Alias Smith and Jones is an American Western series that originally aired on ABC from 1971 to 1973. It stars Pete Duel as Hannibal Heyes and Ben Murphy as Jedediah "Kid" Curry, a pair of Western cousin outlaws trying to reform...
, Ironside
Ironside (TV series)
Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...
, Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
, Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law is an American legal drama, jointly created by David Victor and former law professor Jerry McNeely, that starred actor Arthur Hill. The series was broadcast on ABC from 1971 to 1974...
, The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Six Million Dollar Man is an American television series about a former astronaut with bionic implants working for the OSI...
, Cannon
Cannon (TV series)
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....
, Police Story, Harry O, Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected
Tales of the Unexpected may refer to:*Tales of the Unexpected , a 1950s-1960s comic book*Tales of the Unexpected , a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl...
, Quincy M.E., Battlestar Galactica, The White Shadow
The White Shadow
The White Shadow is an American drama television series that ran on the CBS network from November 27, 1978, to March 16, 1981.-Overview:...
, The Paper Chase
The Paper Chase (TV series)
The Paper Chase is a television series based on a 1970 novel by John Jay Osborn, Jr., as well as a 1973 film based on the novel. It follows the lives of law student James T. Hart and his classmates at Harvard Law School.-Production:...
, Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones
Barnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. A spin-off from Cannon, the show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement...
, CHiPS
CHiPs
CHiPs is an American television drama series produced by MGM Studios that originally aired on NBC from September 15, 1977, to July 17, 1983. CHiPs followed the lives of two motorcycle police officers of the California Highway Patrol...
, Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I.
Magnum, P.I. is an American television series starring Tom Selleck as Thomas Magnum, a private investigator living on Oahu, Hawaii. The series ran from 1980 to 1988 in first-run broadcast on the American CBS television network....
, The Incredible Hulk, Cagney and Lacey, Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart
Hart to Hart is an American television series, starring Robert Wagner and Stefanie Powers as Jonathan and Jennifer Hart, a wealthy couple who also moonlighted as amateur detectives. The series was created by writer Sidney Sheldon and produced by Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg...
, The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero
The Greatest American Hero is an American comedy-drama television series that aired for three seasons from 1981 to 1983 on ABC. Created by producer Stephen J. Cannell, it premiered as a two-hour movie pilot on March 18, 1981...
, Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island
Fantasy Island is the title of two separate but related American fantasy television series, both originally airing on the ABC television network.-Original series:...
, The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
, Family Ties
Family Ties
Family Ties is an American sitcom that aired on NBC for seven seasons, from 1982 to 1989. The sitcom reflected the move in the United States from the cultural liberalism of the 1960s and 1970s to the conservatism of the 1980s. This was particularly expressed through the relationship between young...
, My Two Dads
My Two Dads
My Two Dads is an American sitcom that starred Staci Keanan, Paul Reiser and Greg Evigan. It aired on NBC from 1987 to 1990 and was produced by Michael Jacobs Productions in association with TriStar Television and distributed by TeleVentures.-Show synopsis:The show begins when Marcy Bradford , the...
, L.A. Law
L.A. Law
L.A. Law is a US television legal drama that ran on NBC from September 15, 1986 to May 19, 1994. L.A. Law reflected the social and cultural ideologies of the 1980s and early 1990s and many of the cases featured on the show dealt with hot topic issues such as abortion, racism, gay rights,...
, Empty Nest
Empty Nest
Empty Nest is an American sitcom that originally aired on NBC from 1988 to 1995. The series was created as a spin-off of The Golden Girls by creator and producer Susan Harris. For its first three seasons, Empty Nest was one of the year's top 10 most-watched programs...
, Freddy's Nightmares
Freddy's Nightmares
Freddy's Nightmares is an American horror anthology series, which aired in syndication from October 1988 until March 1990. A spin-off from the Nightmare on Elm Street series, each story was introduced by Freddy Krueger...
, Diagnosis Murder
Diagnosis Murder
Diagnosis: Murder is a mystery/medical/crime drama television series starring Dick Van Dyke as Dr. Mark Sloan, a medical doctor who solves crimes with the help of his son, a homicide detective played by his real-life son Barry Van Dyke. The series began as a spin-off of Jake and the Fatman...
, Who's the Boss, Night Court
Night Court
Night Court is an American television situation comedy that aired on NBC from January 4, 1984, to May 20, 1992. The setting was the night shift of a Manhattan court, presided over by the young, unorthodox Judge Harold T. "Harry" Stone...
, Blossom
Blossom (TV series)
Blossom is an American sitcom broadcast on NBC from January 3, 1991 to May 22, 1995. The series stars Mayim Bialik as Blossom Russo, a teenage girl living with her father and two brothers. It was created by Don Reo.- Synopsis :...
, Step by Step, and Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
.
She appeared in many TV movies in the same period:
- as 'Adrienne / Marcella Pascal', with James FarentinoJames FarentinoJames Farentino is an American actor. He has appeared in almost one hundred roles, among them in The Final Countdown, Jesus of Nazareth, and Dynasty.-Career:...
, in 1972's Cool MillionCool MillionCool Million was a detective drama aired in the United States by NBC as an element in its "wheel series" The NBC Wednesday Mystery Movie during its 1972-73 schedule.... - as 'Lil', in the 1976 Freddie PrinzeFreddie PrinzeFreddie Prinze was an American actor and stand-up comedian. He was known as the star of Chico and the Man. He is the father of actor Freddie Prinze, Jr.-Early life:...
comedy The Million Dollar Rip-Off - as 'Agnes Cusack', in the 1978 Desi Arnaz Jr. thriller To Kill a Cop
- starring as 'Carla Winters', in her own 1978 private-eye movie, Colorado C.I.
- as 'Sgt. Liz Spencer', with Mike ConnorsMike ConnorsMike Connors is an American actor best known for playing detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope.-Early life:Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in...
and David BirneyDavid BirneyDavid Edwin Birney is an American actor/director whose career has performances in both contemporary and classical roles in theatre, film and television. He has three children, a daughter Kate, and twins, Peter and Mollie....
, in 1979's police thriller High Midnight - as 'Eliza', in 1980's Kenny Rogers as The Gambler
- as 'Meg Penner', in the 1982 racial drama The Neighborhood
- as 'Rosemary Barton', in the 1983 Agatha Christie mystery-thriller Sparkling CyanideSparkling CyanideSparkling Cyanide is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie and first published in the US by Dodd, Mead and Company in February 1945 under the title of Remembered Death and in UK by the Collins Crime Club in the December of the same year under Christie's original title...
- as 'Margo Slater', in the 1986 Sharon Stone police comedy/thriller Mr. and Mrs. Ryan
- as "Randy Emerson", in the 1991 Susan LucciSusan LucciSusan Victoria Lucci is an American actress and entrepreneur, best known for portraying Erica Kane on the daytime drama All My Children. The character is considered an icon, and Lucci has been called "Daytime's Leading Lady" by TV Guide, with New York Times and Los Angeles Times citing her as the...
drama The Woman Who Sinned
Her last appearance on television was in the horse-racing TV movie Ruffian
Ruffian (film)
Ruffian is an American made-for-television movie that tells the story of the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame Champion thoroughbred filly Ruffian who went undefeated until her death after breaking down in a nationally televised match race at Belmont Park on July 6, 1975 against the Kentucky Derby winner,...
, starring Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
and broadcast on the ABC network June 9, 2007.
She tried something completely different in 1983, when she co-hosted, in Los Angeles, with Steve Edwards
Steve Edwards (talk show host)
Steve Edwards is an American television personality on Los Angeles, California, morning shows, including AM Los Angeles, Two on The Town, and Good Day L.A....
, Cathy Kronkite, and Ruth Batchelor, an unsuccessful pilot for a daytime-magazine series, Personal & Confidential, over five days, August 1–5, 1983.
Film career
Christine Belford's feature-length films include John Carpenter's/Stephen King's Christine (1983), the Paul NewmanPaul Newman
Paul Leonard Newman was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver and auto racing enthusiast...
film Pocket Money
Pocket Money
Pocket Money is a 1972 film directed by Stuart Rosenberg, from a screenplay written by Terrence Malick and based on the novel Jim Kane by Joseph P. Brown...
(1972), the George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
film The Groundstar Conspiracy
The Groundstar Conspiracy
The Groundstar Conspiracy is a 1972 film directed by Lamont Johnson. It stars George Peppard and Michael Sarrazin. The script was very freely adapted from L. P. Davies' 1968 novel, The Alien...
(1972), and the straight-to-video 1986 film The Ladies Club, where she played a doctor who aided a rape-victim vigilante group by castrating the rapists captured by the women.