Who Am I? March 2025

I was born in a suburb of the “Motor City.” My dad was an attorney who was active in democratic politics. His parents where Polish-Russian Jews. My mom was a magistrate. My folks sent me to Hillel Day School and I later attended a K-12 prep school where an English teacher gave me encouragement to become an actress. That school offered its students an intense studio-based experience administered by artists-in-residence. I loved horses and once even thought about being a trainer.

I moved to the ‘Big Apple’ where I took courses at N.Y.U. and acting classes at the Stella Adler Conservatory; however, I returned to MI to earn my B.A. After graduation, I returned to N.Y.C. to seek my fortune either as fashion photographer or as an actress depending on which doors opened to me first.

I was “discovered” by an agent during one of my acting classes and after numerous auditions, I landed a TV advertising contract which qualified me to join the Screen Actors Guild.

Most of you probably know me from my TV roles though by the mid-1990’s I had also won parts in feature films. Some of my co-stars were Christopher Walken, Cameron Diaz, Nicolas Cage, Mia Farrow, Ron Perlman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Charlie Sheen, Tracy Ullman, Tom Selleck, Matt Dillon and Reese Witherspoon.

I do have some N.J. bona fides. The film I supposedly filmed at Greenleaf High in Indiana was actually filmed at Pompton Lakes High School. Bob Newhart played the principal of that high school. In another film, the protagonist’s secretary, Donna Murphy, meets with him outside a bar to discourage his relationship with my film character. That scene was shot at Slater’s Mill in Riverdale, N.J.

I have been a frequent guest during New York’s Fashion Week and I have lent my image to major fashion designers. I love to follow fashion trends and new hairstyles. I’ve probably had more hairstyles than Hillary Clinton! I’ve appeared in magazine layouts for Vanity Fair, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, Glamour and Seventeen.

I’m quoting as saying,” I’m flat-chested, I’m short, I’m brunette. I have droopy eyes, and so, people have a hard time casting me as beauty.” Also, “I don’t have the pressure of being a word famous bombshell that had detonated.”

In the “twenty-tens” I began to have puzzling symptoms – neck pain, foggy memory, and a case of the “dropsies” aka “butterfingers, “severe vertigo, loss of feeling in my legs, anxiety and depression. Finally, it turned out that I was diagnosed in 2018 with multiple sclerosis which the Mayo Clinic describes as “an incurable disease that attacks the immune system’s protective sheath that covers the nerve fibers and causes communication problems between your brain and the rest of your body.” I underwent aggressive chemotherapy and “HSCT” (hematopoietic stem cell transplantation) and I am happy to report that I am currently in remission. Sometimes, I now walk with a cane; however, for a brief spell, I felt well enough to participate in “Dancing With the Stars” until I was obliged to depart because my body couldn’t stand the strain.

I try to do charity work whenever possible – causes such as A.I.D.s, M.S., skin cancer awareness, and the Lange Foundation which is dedicated to saving homeless and abandoned animals. I’m pretty sure you know me by now. That’s me in the photo below.

(1a) Who Am I? (1b)What is the name of that K-12 prep school I attended? (1c)My love of horses was enhanced by a riding camp that I attended. What was the name of that camp? (2a)What acting class was I in when I was “discovered?” (2b)What film referenced above was partially filmed at Pompton Lakes H.S.? 2c)What film referenced above was filmed partially filmed in Riverdale, N.J.? (3)I appeared as a guest in many different TV series; however, in 3 particular TV series I was one of the main characters. (3a)In one, I played a doctor/therapist based on a Jack Nicholson film with the same title. What was name of that se- ies? (3b)In another TV series, I played a boy-crazy dreamer with 3 other oddball high school friends in N.Y.C. What was the name of that TV series? (3c)The third TV series was a mother-daughter sitcom that was adapted from an Australian TV series. What was it called? (4a)What was my relationship to ‘Dweezil’ and ‘Moon Unit’? (4b) I married my first husband at the home of “Princess Leila.” What is “Leila’s” earthly name? (4c)Which month and year did I appear on the cover of Vanity Fair? (5)Finally, in 1985 I neglected to sign the yearbook of a fellow classmate at the Hillel Day School. That same classmate later grew up to be a reporter and he brought me his yearbook to sign decades after I left the school. What is his name?