Biography

Growing up in Hollywood and striving to be perfect greatly impacted my sense of self-esteem and body issues.

[on her memoir] People kept saying, "You have to put all your stories together" So with their encouragement I started sitting down and typing . . . The theme continued to be lessons learned from my families, including the Walton family. I never want anyone to feel the way I did when I was growing up, so hopefully people read this and can apply the lessons to their own lives.

My mother read "The Exorcist" in one night. You think reading my book was scary in one night? No, I woke up the next morning and my mom was frozen to the chair. Her eyes glazed over and said, "You are not doing this movie", and being Catholic also made it worse. I had never worked before and that was my second audition.

[comparing The Waltons (1972) to Little House on the Prairie (1974)] We were about three years before "Little House". At the time there were no family shows like it. "The Waltons" kind of paved the way for others to come on the air. We were a large family living in the Depression and "Little House" was a small family living on a prairie. There are some similarities. They both have morals and lessons that they teach in their story lines. Having three generations living under the same roof is a little bit different. Their storekeeper had a kooky wife and so did ours. We both have similar fan bases also.

[on reports that Ellen Corby didn't like working long hours on The Waltons (1972) She loved working on the set and taught us all many things. Mostly about "matching" at the dinner table.