Lynda Day George
Encyclopedia
For other entertainers with similar names, see Linda George (disambiguation)
.
Lynda Day George (b. December 11, 1944, San Marcos, Texas
) is an American
television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was a cast member on Mission: Impossible
(1971–1973), as well as being the wife of actor Christopher George
.
, Flipper
, The Green Hornet, Mannix
, The Fugitive
, The Virginian
and Bonanza
. She had her first major role in a short-lived 1970 television series, The Silent Force, and later starred in the television pilot for Cannon
in 1971. That same year, she was cast as Lisa Casey in the critically acclaimed series Mission: Impossible
, a role for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972 and an Emmy Award
in 1973. During the show's last season, she missed 7 episodes because of her maternity leave, hence, she was temporarily replaced by Barbara Anderson
.
She first met actor Christopher George
when they starred together in the 1966 independent film
The Gentle Rain. While working together again in the 1970 John Wayne
film Chisum
, they fell in love and were married on May 15, 1970.
Thereafter, she became Lynda Day George and co-starred in multiple television films with her husband over the next 10 years including House on Greenapple Road (1970), Mayday at 40,000 Feet (1976) and Cruise Into Terror (1978). They also worked together in episodes of The F.B.I. (1970), Mission: Impossible
(1971), McCloud (1975), Love Boat
(1977) and Vega$
(1978). They guest-starred in television's Wonder Woman
in 1976, with Lynda playing villain Fausta Grables, Nazi Wonder Woman.
She continued her television work throughout the 1970s with guest roles on Police Story, Kung Fu
, Marcus Welby, M.D.
and Barnaby Jones
. She played supporting roles in Rich Man, Poor Man
and Roots
.
Her movie career is noted for several horror cult films in which she co-starred with husband Christopher including Day of the Animals
(1977), Pieces
(1982) and Mortuary
(1983). She also co-starred with John Saxon
in the 1980 horror film
Beyond Evil
.
Christopher George
died unexpectedly of a heart attack on November 28, 1983 at the age of 52. She worked only sporadically after that, in guest roles on Fantasy Island
(1984), Murder She Wrote (1985), Hardcastle and McCormick
(1985) and Blacke's Magic
(1986). She was also a regular guest on religious television programs. In one of her final performances, Lynda reprised the role of Lisa Casey on an episode of the revived Mission: Impossible
television series in 1989.
She officially retired from acting in the late 1980s.
Linda George (disambiguation)
Linda George may refer to:* Linda George , Australian pop singer popular in the 1970s* Linda George, Assyrian pop singer popular in the 1980s–2000s* Lynda Day George, American television actress popular in the 1960s and 1970s...
.
Lynda Day George (b. December 11, 1944, San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos, Texas
San Marcos is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, and is the seat of Hays County. Located within the metropolitan area, the city is located on the Interstate 35 corridor—between Austin and San Antonio....
) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television and film actress whose career spanned three decades from the 1960s to the 1980s. She was a cast member on Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
(1971–1973), as well as being the wife of actor Christopher George
Christopher George
Christopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
.
Biography
Originally known as Lynda Day, her career began with guest roles on many television series of the 1960s including Route 66Route 66 (TV series)
Route 66 is an American TV series in which two young men traveled across America. The show ran weekly on CBS from 1960 to 1964. It starred Martin Milner as Tod Stiles and, for two and a half seasons, George Maharis as Buz Murdock. Maharis was ill for much of the third season, during which time Tod...
, Flipper
Flipper (1964 TV series)
Flipper, from Ivan Tors Films in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, is an American television program first broadcast on NBC from September 19, 1964, until April 15, 1967. Flipper, a bottlenose dolphin, is the companion animal of Porter Ricks, Chief Warden at fictional Coral Key Park...
, The Green Hornet, 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...
, The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
and Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
. She had her first major role in a short-lived 1970 television series, The Silent Force, and later starred in the television pilot for 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....
in 1971. That same year, she was cast as Lisa Casey in the critically acclaimed series Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
, a role for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1972 and an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1973. During the show's last season, she missed 7 episodes because of her maternity leave, hence, she was temporarily replaced by Barbara Anderson
Barbara Anderson (actress)
-External links:...
.
She first met actor Christopher George
Christopher George
Christopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
when they starred together in the 1966 independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
The Gentle Rain. While working together again in the 1970 John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
film Chisum
Chisum
Chisum is a 1970 Warner Bros. Technicolor western motion picture starring John Wayne, Forrest Tucker, Christopher George, Ben Johnson, Glenn Corbett, Geoffrey Deuel, Andrew Prine, Bruce Cabot, Patric Knowles, and Richard Jaeckel....
, they fell in love and were married on May 15, 1970.
Thereafter, she became Lynda Day George and co-starred in multiple television films with her husband over the next 10 years including House on Greenapple Road (1970), Mayday at 40,000 Feet (1976) and Cruise Into Terror (1978). They also worked together in episodes of The F.B.I. (1970), Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
(1971), McCloud (1975), Love Boat
Love Boat
The Overseas Compatriot Youth Formosa Study Tour to Taiwan, informally known as the Love Boat, is currently a four-week summer program for about 400–600 college-aged Overseas Chinese. In Chinese, it is also colloquially referred to as mei-jia-ying - America and Canada Camp, a reference to where...
(1977) and Vega$
Vega$
Vega$ is an American detective television drama series that aired on ABC between 1978 and 1981. It was produced by Aaron Spelling. The series, was filmed in its entirety in Las Vegas, Nevada, which is believed to be the first television series produced entirely in Las Vegas...
(1978). They guest-starred in television's Wonder Woman
Wonder 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....
in 1976, with Lynda playing villain Fausta Grables, Nazi Wonder Woman.
She continued her television work throughout the 1970s with guest roles on Police Story, Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
, Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
and 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...
. She played supporting roles in Rich Man, Poor Man
Rich Man, Poor Man
Rich Man, Poor Man is a novel written by Irwin Shaw in 1969. It is the last of the novels of Shaw's middle period before he began to concentrate, in his last works such as Evening In Byzantium, Nightwork, Bread Upon The Waters, and Acceptable Losses, on the inevitability of impending death...
and Roots
Roots (TV miniseries)
Roots is a 1977 American television miniseries based on Alex Haley's fictional novel Roots: The Saga of an American Family. Roots received 36 Emmy Award nominations, winning nine. It also won a Golden Globe and a Peabody Award. It received unprecedented Nielsen ratings with the finale still...
.
Her movie career is noted for several horror cult films in which she co-starred with husband Christopher including Day of the Animals
Day of the Animals
The Day of the Animals is a 1977 American horror film thriller directed by William Girdler and based on a story written by Edward L. Montoro...
(1977), Pieces
Pieces (film)
Pieces is a 1983 cult classic slasher horror film and "drive-in favorite".-Plot:...
(1982) and Mortuary
Mortuary (1983 film)
Mortuary was a 1983 slasher film/horror movie which starred Bill Paxton, Mary Beth McDonough, David Wallace, Lynda Day George, with Michael Berryman and Christopher George in one of his final roles...
(1983). She also co-starred with John Saxon
John Saxon (actor)
John Saxon is an American actor who has worked on over 200 projects during the span of sixty years. Saxon is most known for his work in horror films such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Black Christmas, both of which feature Saxon as a policeman in search of the killer...
in the 1980 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Beyond Evil
Beyond Evil
Beyond Evil is a 1980 horror film directed by Herb Freed and starring John Saxon.-Plot:When an architect and his bride move into their dream home—a colonial mansion—they find that their new digs have a rich history ... of bloody violence...
.
Christopher George
Christopher George
Christopher John George was an American television and film actor who was perhaps best known for his starring role in the 1966-1968 TV series The Rat Patrol. He was nominated for a Golden Globe in 1967 as Best TV Star for his performance in the series...
died unexpectedly of a heart attack on November 28, 1983 at the age of 52. She worked only sporadically after that, in guest roles on 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:...
(1984), Murder She Wrote (1985), Hardcastle and McCormick
Hardcastle and McCormick
Hardcastle and McCormick is a 1980s action/drama television series from Stephen J. Cannell Productions, shown on ABC from 1983–1986, starring Brian Keith as Judge Milton C. Hardcastle and Daniel Hugh Kelly as ex-con and race car driver Mark "Skid" McCormick.The show's premise involves the...
(1985) and Blacke's Magic
Blacke's Magic
Blacke's Magic was a short-lived American TV show about a magician, Alexander Blacke , who, with some help from his con-man father, Leonard , solves mysteries that get in the way of his performances. It ran for one season in 1986 for 13 episodes and featured crimes that tested logic against...
(1986). She was also a regular guest on religious television programs. In one of her final performances, Lynda reprised the role of Lisa Casey on an episode of the revived Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
television series in 1989.
She officially retired from acting in the late 1980s.