Open main menu
Home
Random
Recent changes
Special pages
Community portal
Preferences
About Wikipedia
Disclaimers
Incubator escapee wiki
Search
User menu
Talk
Dark mode
Contributions
Create account
Log in
Editing
Michael Learned
(section)
Warning:
You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you
log in
or
create an account
, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.
Anti-spam check. Do
not
fill this in!
==Career== ===Television and film=== [[File:Michael Learned, 1973.jpg|thumb|Learned in 1973]] Her first substantial role in either [[Cinema of the United States|film]] / [[motion pictures]] or [[American television|television]] was as the character [[The Waltons|Olivia Walton]], the mother and wife of [[John Walton, Sr.]] on ''[[The Waltons]]'' drama / nostalgia television series , which ran for nine seasons from 1972 to 1981. For the first five seasons of the show she was billed as "Miss Michael Learned" because she was relatively unknown at the time and producers wished to avoid confusion among viewers about her gender, that her "Michael" was a woman's name). By the sixth season, as the show continued its success after the departure of co-star [[Richard Thomas (actor)|Richard Thomas]] (born 1951), these fears of confusion about her sex had been alleviated and the "Miss" was dropped from Learned's billing in the credits. She was nominated for six [[Primetime Emmy Award|Emmy Awards]] as Lead Actress in a Drama, winning three times. After the end of the sixth season, she agreed to appear for one more season on the condition that she would not have to work the full nine months schedule. After the seventh season she left the show.<ref>{{cite news|title=Walton family will lose hard-working old Olivia|date=10 November 1978|work=Hutchinson News| publisher=[[Heritage Microfilm, Inc.#NewspaperARCHIVE]]}}</ref> Her character's abrupt disappearance in Season 7 was explained by Olivia developing [[tuberculosis]] and entering a [[sanatorium]] in hot and dry [[Arizona]]. She returned briefly in Season 8 and later appeared in four of the six subsequent ''Waltons'' sequel / reunion [[television film|made-for-TV]] films and specials made, with three during 1982 and during the [[1990s]] (1993, 1995 and 1997). For her portrayal of Olivia Walton, Learned was also nominated for four [[Golden Globe Award]]s. During her run as Olivia Walton, Learned and ''The Waltons'' co-star, [[Will Geer]], also appeared together in the 1974 made-for-TV movie ''Hurricane''. Learned made her big screen debut in 1980, playing the supporting role in the drama film ''[[Touched by Love]]''. She later appeared in ''[[Power (1986 film)|Power]]'' (1986) and ''[[Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story]]'' (1993), and well as number of made-for-television movies. Learned starred as Nurse Mary Benjamin in the hospital drama ''[[Nurse (American TV series)|Nurse]]'', which ran on the [[CBS|CBS-TV]] network for six episodes in the spring 1981 and then for the following 1981–1982 seasons. Though the series was well received critically, it was not a big ratings success and lasted only two partial seasons. Nevertheless, Learned was nominated for two [[Emmy]] Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress and won yet another Emmy for this role in 1982. She later had starring roles in the unsuccessful 1988 series drama ''[[Hothouse (TV series)|Hothouse]]'' and the 1989 sitcom ''[[Living Dolls]]'' and reprised her ''Waltons'' role for a number of television movies and reunions in the 1990s. In 2005, Learned played Judge Helen Turner on the [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC-TV]] network's daytime [[soap opera]]s ''[[All My Children]]'' and ''[[One Life to Live]]'' as part of the "baby switch" storyline on both shows. In the second season of ''[[The Secret World of Alex Mack]]'', 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 ([[Louan Gideon]]). She guest-starred in ''[[Scrubs (TV series)|Scrubs]]'' as Mrs. Wilk in five episodes from the show's fifth season. She played Shirley Smith on ABC's other long-running soap opera''[[General Hospital]]'' in 2010. In late 2011, Learned played [[Katherine Chancellor]] on the CBS daytime soap opera, ''[[The Young and the Restless]]'', filling in for longtime actress [[Jeanne Cooper]], who was on extended medical leave from the series.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://soapcentral.com/yr/news/2011/1022-cooper_learned.php|title=Jeanne Cooper taking medical leave from Y&R|first=Dan J.|last=Kroll|work=[[List of soap opera media outlets|Soapcentral]]|date=October 21, 2011|access-date=January 20, 2014}}</ref> Several decades later in 2022, Learned made her return to television with starring role in the [[Netflix]] limited series, ''[[Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story]]'' playing Catherine Dahmer, [[Jeffrey Dahmer]]'s grandmother.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://deadline.com/2021/03/michael-learned-monster-the-jeffrey-dahmer-story-cast-grandmother-1234725498/|title=Michael Learned Joins Cast Of Netflix’s ‘Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story’ From Ryan Murphy And Ian Brennan|first1=Patrick|last1=Hipes|date=March 31, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/netflix-dahmer-star-michael-learned-peoples-obsession-serial-killers|title=Netflix’s ‘Dahmer’ star Michael Learned on people’s obsession with serial killers: ‘I question our country’|first=Stephanie|last=Nolasco|date=October 6, 2022|website=Fox News}}</ref> ===Theatre=== In the late 1960s, Learned and her husband [[Peter Donat]] appeared in various roles with the [[American Conservatory Theater]] in [[San Francisco, California]]. She has appeared in many stage productions on [[Broadway theatre|Broadway]] in [[off Broadway]], in [[New York City]] and elsewhere, including the 2006–2007 national touring production of the play ''[[On Golden Pond (play)|On Golden Pond]]''. In the fall of 2008, she starred in the [[Innovation Theatre Works]]' production of ''[[Driving Miss Daisy]]'', playing the title role of retired [[Atlanta, Georgia]] school teacher Daisy Werthen, opposite [[Willis Burks II]] as Hoke and [[Dirk Blocker]] as Daisy's son Boolie. She reprised the role opposite Lance E. Nichols as Hoke at the [[Judson Theatre Company]] in March 2013.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://judsontheatre.com/driving-miss-daisy/ | title=Driving Miss Daisy }}</ref>
Edit summary
(Briefly describe your changes)
By publishing changes, you agree to the
Terms of Use
, and you irrevocably agree to release your contribution under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 License
and the
GFDL
. You agree that a hyperlink or URL is sufficient attribution under the Creative Commons license.
Cancel
Editing help
(opens in new window)