Michael Learned is an American actress, best known for her role as Olivia Walton in the
long-running CBS drama series, The Waltons.
She has won record four Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series;
three for The Waltons, and one for Nurse.
Early life Learned was born in Washington, D.C., the
daughter and oldest child of Elizabeth Duane "Betti" and Bruce Learned, a diplomat.
Her maternal grandfather was an attaché for the United States Embassy in Rome.
She lived on a Connecticut farm with her five sisters for the first ten years of her life.
Learned said that her parents never explained why she got her masculine given name although
she mentioned that other people she conferred with didn't believe her when she said "Michael"
was her real name.
When she was 11, Learned moved to Austria, where her father worked for the U.S. State
Department.
At this time, she attended Arts Educational School, Tring now Tring Park School for the
Performing Arts in Tring, Hertfordshire, England.
During this time, she discovered the theater and decided to make acting her life's work.
Career Television
She was billed as "Miss Michael Learned" on The Waltons because she was relatively unknown
at the time, and producers did not want confusion among viewers about her gender.
By the sixth season, as the show continued its success and after the departure of co-star
Richard Thomas, producers' fear of gender confusion had alleviated and the "Miss" was
dropped from Learned's billing.
She was nominated for six Emmy Awards and won three for her role of Olivia Walton.
In 1979, her contract was not renewed; some sources indicate that she opted not to re-sign
with the show to avoid typecasting as an "Olivia Walton" character.
Her character's abrupt disappearance was explained by Olivia developing tuberculosis and entering
a sanatorium in Arizona.
She made occasional guest appearances until the show's cancellation and later appeared
in four of the six Waltons reunion movies made during the 1980s and 1990s.
For her portrayal of Olivia Walton, Learned was nominated for four Golden Globe Awards.
During her run as Olivia Walton, Learned and The Waltons co-star, Will Geer, appeared together
in the 1974 made-for-TV movie, Hurricane.
Learned starred as Nurse Mary Benjamin in the hospital drama Nurse, which ran on CBS
during the 1981–82 season.
Though the series was well received critically, it was not a ratings success and lasted only
two seasons.
Learned was nominated for two Emmy Awards for "Outstanding Lead Actress" and won yet
another Emmy for this role in 1982.
She later had a starring roles in the unsuccessful 1988 drama Hothouse, and 1989 sitcom Living
Dolls and reprised her Waltons role for a number of TV movies and reunions in the 1990s.
In 2005, Learned played Judge Helen Turner on the ABC soap operas All My Children and
One Life to Live as part of the "baby switch" storyline on both shows.
In The Secret World of Alex Mack's second season, she guest starred as a ghost who regretted
the decisions of her long-estranged granddaughter, revealed at the end to be the show's main
villain, Danielle Atron.
She also guest-starred in Scrubs as Mrs. Wilk in five episodes from the show's fifth season.
She also played Shirley Smith on ABC's General Hospital.
In the fall of 2011, Learned played Katherine Chancellor on the CBS daytime soap opera,
The Young and the Restless, filling in for Jeanne Cooper, who was on extended medical
leave from the series.
Theatre In the late 1960s, Learned and her husband
appeared in various roles with the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco.
She has appeared in many stage productions on Broadway, Off Broadway, and elsewhere,
including the 2006–2007 national touring production of On Golden Pond.
In the fall of 2008 she starred in Innovation Theatre Works' production of Driving Miss
Daisy, playing the title role of Daisy Werthen opposite Willis Burks II as Hoke and Dirk
Blocker as Daisy's son Boolie.
Personal life Learned has been married four times.
Her first husband was Canadian-American actor Peter Donat, whom she married in 1956, when
she was 17 years old.
The marriage was dissolved in 1972.
She had three children by the marriage; Caleb, Christopher and Lucas.
Her second marriage, to Glenn Chadwick, lasted from 1975–1977, and ended in divorce.
In 1979, she married actor/screenwriter William Parker.
That marriage ended and in 1988 she married lawyer John Doherty; they reside in California.
In a 2002 article she wrote for Daily Word, a publication of the Unity Church, Learned
states that at the time she was cast in The Waltons, she had "hit rock bottom".
It was then, at age 32, that Learned realized she was an alcoholic.
Taking herself to ex-husband Peter Donat's cabin on the California coast, Learned states
she decided to "get sober" and that her time there was the beginning of a spiritual journey.
Learned further stated in the article that she has been sober since 1977.
Filmography References
External links Michael Learned at the Internet Movie Database
Michael Learned at the Internet Broadway Database Michael Learned at the Internet Off-Broadway
Database