Mary Kay Place

Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, director, and screen writer. She is known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress Comedy Series. Her numerous film appearances include Private Benjamin , The Big Chill , Captain Ron and Francis Ford Coppolas 1997 drama, The Rainmaker. Place also recorded one studio album for Columbia Records in the Haggers persona, which included the Top Ten country music hit Baby Boy.

Place was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the daughter of Gwendolyn Lucille and Bradley Eugene Place. She graduated from Nathan Hale High School and the University of Tulsa, where her father was an art professor she was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and received a speech degree. Place moved to Hollywood with aspirations of becoming an actress and writer. She was hired for The Tim Conway Comedy Hour in the 1970s as a production assistant to both Conway and producer Norman Lear. Conway gave her her first oncamera break, while Lear saw to it that Place received her first writing credit on his subsequent All in the Family. On the episode, she sang If Communism Comes Knocking on Your Door, Dont Answer It. She appeared in the third season episode of MASH titled Springtime, for which she also received writing credits.

Source: Wikipedia