Fatal Attraction

Background:

Academy Award-nominated actress Anne Archer, the daughter of actors Marjorie Lord and John Archer, garnered rave reviews for her portrayal of Beth Gallagher, the the sexy and sympathetic of a man (played by Michael Douglas) who has a weekend affair with a woman (played by Glenn Close), in the smash hit thriller film "Fatal Attraction" (1987).

Making her film debut in the western movie starring James Coburn, "The Honkers" (1972), Archer has starred in such films as "Lifeguard" (1976), "Hero at Large" (1980), "Raise the Titanic" (1980), "Waltz Across Texas" (1982), "Patriot Games" (1992), "Short Cuts" (1993), "Clear and Present Danger" (1994), "Rules of Engagement" (2000), "The Art of War" (2000), "The Iris Effect" (2004), "November" (2004), "Man of the House" (2005), and "End Game" (2006).

Next, she will star in the upcoming films "Felon," "Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey" (voice), "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," "Antique," and "Freedom for Joe."

On television, Archer played Carol Sanders on ABC sitcom based on the hit 1969 comedy-drama film "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice" (1973) and portrayed Cassandra Wilder (1985) on the CBS primetime soap opera "Falcon Crest." She also had recurring roles on "Boston Public," "The L Word," "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia," and "Ghost Whisperer." She will play cosmetics mogul Laurel Limoges in the upcoming drama series "Privileged," which is slated to premiere on The CW Television Network in the 2008 fall television season.

The 5' 7" Miss Golden Globe 1971, who once did a TV commercial spot for Broncho Chevrolet, a car dealership in Odessa, Texas, was chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#62) in 1995. She has been married twice and is a proud parent of two sons.

Actors Brood

Childhood and Family:

Daughter to actress Marjorie Lord (born in 1918; co-starred on "Make Room for Daddy/The Danny Thomas Show") and actor John Archer (born in 1915; starred in “White Heat” (1960), Anne Archer was born on August 24, 1947 in Los Angeles, California, where she studied theater arts at Claremont Men's College. She has one brother named Gregg Archer.

After her parents divorced, Anne's father remarried and gave her two half siblings, John and Lisa Archer. Her father died of lung cancer on December 5, 1999 at age 84.

From August 16, 1969 to March 1977, Anne was married to William Davis, with whom she has one son, Thomas W Davis (born on August 18, 1972). On December 10, 1978, she married her second and present husband, Terry Jastrow, and has one son with him, Jeffrey Tucker Jastrow (born on October 18, 1984). In 1982, Anne and Jastrow wrote, produced, and starred in the pleasant if unspectacular modern romance "Waltz Across Texas."

A longtime member of the Church of Scientology, Anne now serves as the International Spokesperson for Applied Scholastics International, a front group for the controversial Church of Scientology that provides training in "study technology" developed by the cult's founder, L. Ron Hubbard. Her son, Tom Davis, is head of the religion's Celebrity Center. Anne also has been an activist supporter of Planned Parenthood and a supporter of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights.

“Sitting in our homes each evening we are bombarded by an avalanche of bad news… news that thrusts upon us this terrible plight that has reduced our schools to battlegrounds. Yet, I have personally seen ex-gang members reading with a thirst for knowledge, and a burning desire to catch up on the education they had missed. What can cause such a miraculous reversal? L. Ron Hubbard's Study Technology. Organizations such as the World Literacy Crusade and the Hollywood Education and Literacy Project are bringing about such miracles daily, hourly. The miracles from Study Technology become commonplace to the person who is versed in it. I have seen it for myself, helping youth from inner city areas as well as my own children. I have seen phenomenal results especially in teaching my younger son how to read. He went from hating it to all of a sudden understanding and having tremendous interest in what he was doing." Anne Archer.

Patriot Games

Career:

Born to a family of actors, Anne Archer followed in her parents' footsteps and honed her craft at Claremont Men's College, during which she appeared as Ramona in the 1969 version of "Ramona," the official California state outdoor play in Hemet.

In her early 20s, she began appearing on television. She was spotted as a guest in an episode of CBS drama series "Storefront Lawyers," CBS crime drama "Hawaii Five-O," ABC crime drama "The F.B.I.," ABC police drama "The Mod Squad," NBC drama starring Raymond Burr, "Ironside," ABC western show starring Pete Duel and Ben Murphy, "Alias Smith and Jones," ABC comedy/anthology series "Love, American Style," ABC paranormal thriller series starring Gary Collins and Catherine Ferrar, "The Sixth Sense," and CBS detective show starring Mike Connors, "Mannix."

After being selected Miss Golden Globe 1971, Archer entered the big screen and made her earlier film appearances in director Steve Ihnat's western movie starring James Coburn, "The Honkers" (1972), and in Paul Bogart's adaptation of Louis L'Amour's novel, "Cancel My Reservation" (1972), starring Bob Hope.

In 1973, Archer got her first lead role on television when she was cast as Carol Sanders, opposite Robert Urich's Bob Sanders, David Speilberg's Ted Henderson, and Anita Gillette's Alice Henderson, on ABC sitcom based on the hit 1969 comedy-drama film directed by Paul Mazursky, "Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice."

After appearing in writer/director Charles Eastman's boxing drama film "The All-American Boy" (1973), in which she co-starred with Jon Voight, Archer starred in a string of made-for-television movies. She appeared in the Golden Globe-winning, novel-based crime drama "The Blue Knight" (1973; starring William Holden), the remake of "The Mark of Zorro" (1974; starring Frank Langella), the unsold TV series pilot "The Log of the Black Pearl" (1975; starring Kiel Martin), the mystery crime drama "A Matter of Wife... and Death" (1976), the dramatic "The Dark Side of Innocence" (1976; with Joanna Pettet, John Anderson, and Kim Hunter), and the novel-based drama "The Pirate" (1978), in which she played the female lead. She also co-starred with Jane Seymour in the miniseries based on the novel by Norman Bogner, "Seventh Avenue" (1977).

Meanwhile, Archer guest-starred on NBC dramatic TV program loosely adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s best-selling series of children's book, "Little House on the Prairie," NBC cop drama starring Dennis Weaver, "McCloud," CBS action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert, "Switch," NBC legal drama starring Barry Newman, "Petrocelli," and ABC crime drama starring David Janssen, "Harry O."

As for her big screen works, Archer could be seen in Richard T. Heffron's action drama film "Trackdown" (1976; with James Mitchum, Karen Lamm, Erik Estrada, and Cathy Lee Crosby) and in Daniel Petrie's romantic drama feature "Lifeguard" (1976), in which she starred as Sam Elliott's high-school sweetheart Cathy.

She also played the female lead in Ted Post's action adventure film starring Chuck Norris, "Good Guys Wear Black" (1978), and in the dramatic movie "Paradise Alley" (1978), which was written, directed, and starred by Sylvester Stallone.

Additionally, Archer auditioned for the role of Lois Lane in “Superman” (1978), but lost to Margot Kidder. Footage of her screen testing for the role of Lois Lane is later included in the special DVD release of “Superman” (1978).

In the early '80s, Archer made her New York (off-Broadway) stage debut in "A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking." Afterwards, she returned to the big screen and starred with John Ritter, playing his girlfriend Jolene, in Martin Davidson's comedy "Hero at Large." She then appeared with Jason Robards, Richard Jordan, and David Selby in Jerry Jameson's big screen version of an 1976 adventure novel by Clive Cussler, "Raise the Titanic," in which she portrayed marine archaeologist Dana Archibald, the unhappy wife of David Selby's Dr. Gene Seagram, and opposite Ryan O'Neal in the caper film by Ernest Day, "Green Ice," which was inspired by Gerald A. Browne's novel.

She also starred as starred with Terry Jastrow in Ernest Day's independent drama film "Waltz Across Texas" (1982), with Roger Moore in Bryan Forbes's take on Sidney Sheldon's novel, "The Naked Face" (1984), and alongside Mike Connors in Tony Lo Bianco's drama/thriller "Too Scared to Scream" (1985), in which she played an undercover cop.

Meanwhile, she starred as Annie Benjamin, a divorced mother of three children who married Frank Converse's Kevin Nichols, in the short-lived family drama series "The Family Tree" (1983), and acted opposite Sharon Gless and Dee Wallace in the true story-based TV movie "The Sky's No Limit" (1984).

The mid '80s saw Archer played cool businesswoman Cassandra Wilder, the daughter of Celeste Holm's Anna Rossini and and mother of Alexander Ross De Angelis' Michael Channing, on the CBS primetime soap opera "Falcon Crest."

She subsequently spent the rest of the decade acting in the TV movies "A Different Affair" (1987) and the true story-based "Leap of Faith" (1988), in which she starred as a cancer victim. She also starred opposite Brian Dennehy in Joan Darling's independent comedy movie "The Check Is in the Mail..." (1986).

"Fatal Attraction" (1987), a smash hit thriller film directed by Adrian Lyne and adapted by James Dearden and Nicholas Meyer from an earlier short film by Dearden for British TV entitled "Diversion," proved to be Archer's breakthrough job. Her portrayal of Beth Gallagher, the sexy and sympathetic wife of a man (played by Michael Douglas) who has a weekend affair with a woman (played by Glenn Close) who refuses to allow it to end and who becomes obsessed with him, earned her Best Actress in a Supporting Role nomination at the Academy Awards. She also received nominations at the AFTA Awards for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and at the Golden Globes for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture.

Following her big break, Archer played Dr. Cathy Ryan, the wife of Harrison Ford's CIA gent character Jack Ryan, in Phillip Noyce's film adaptation of Tom Clancy's novel, "Patriot Games" (1992). She would reprise the role in the 1994 film, "Clear and Present Danger."

Meanwhile, Archer acted in Robert Altman's "Short Cuts" (1993), which won her a Golden Globe Award and a Volpi Cup at Venice Film Festival, both for Best Ensemble Cast. Unfortunately, after winning those awards, Archer was nominated a Razzie Award in the following year for Worst Supporting Actress for her work in the film “Body of Evidence” (1993).

Hitting the new millennium, Archer acted in the L.A. stage production "The Poison Tree" and played the wife of an American ambassador in William Friedkin's military, political, and legal drama movie starring Samuel L. Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, "Rules of Engagement." In the next year, she received rave reviews for playing a role originated by Kathleen Turner in “The Vagina Monologues” at Canon Theatre,

Beverly Hills, California (May; 2001), and replaced Amanda Donohoe in the role of Mrs. Robinson in the London stage version of "The Graduate" (June; 2001).

In 2004, Archer co-starred with Joe Mantegna in "Uncle Nino," a film about a family who have lost their way by brought closer by a visiting relative, and starred as Courteney Cox's mother in the drama "November."

She most recently appeared in the films "Man of the House" (2005; starring Tommy Lee Jones, Cedric the Entertainer, and Christina Milian), "Cut Off" (2006; with Malcolm McDowell and Faye Dunaway), and "End Game" (2006; starring Cuba Gooding Jr., Angie Harmon, and James Woods).

Archer also starred in the TV movies "Judicial Indiscretion" (2007) and "Family Practice" (2008) and now plays Beth Gordon on the CBS supernatural drama/thriller series starring Jennifer Love Hewitt, "Ghost Whisperer."

Next, Archer will star in the upcoming films "Felon," a drama written and directed by Ric Roman Waugh starring Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff, "Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey," an animated sci-fi film in which she will provide her voice alongside s Christian Slater, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, and Sarah Michelle Gellar, and "The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past," a Mark Waters' romantic comedy film that is a new take on Charles Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" and stars Matthew McConaughey and Jennifer Garner.

She will also team up with Kristen Bell, Rachael Leigh Cook, Kevin Zegers, and William H. Macy in writer/director Renji Philip's drama film "Antique" and with Lee Burns and David Paladino in Stephen Bridgewater's "Freedom for Joe."

Additionally, TV viewers will catch her in the upcoming drama series "Privileged," which is slated to premiere on The CW Television Network in the 2008 fall television season. In the show that stars former Reba star Joanna Garcia, and is based on the Alloy Entertainment book "How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls" by best-selling author Zoey Dean, Archer will portray cosmetics mogul Laurel Limoges.

Awards:

• Golden Globe: Best Ensemble Cast, "Short Cuts," 1994

• Venice Film Festival: Volpi Cup - Best Ensemble Cast, "Short Cuts," 1993