March 24, 2023

Here's the Scoop...

Today's featured celebrity is actress Linda Kelsey! You may remember her as Billie Newman on the CBS drama television series Lou Grant (1977-1982). She was great and that show was wonderful!

Let's find out what she's doing these days!

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Be Well,
Steve

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Linda Kelsey

Learn More About Linda Kelsey, see Then & Now pictures, and find out What She's Been Up To on Celebrity Nooz

BIRTH DATE: July 28, 1946 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

BIRTH NAME: Linda Jean Kelsey

CLAIM TO FAME: Linda Kelsey is an American actress best known for her role as Billie Newman on the CBS drama television series Lou Grant (1977-1982), which earned her three Golden Globe Award nominations and five Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

FAMILY LIFE: Kelsey married actor William Grivna in 1971; they divorced in 1973. In 1979, she married carpenter turned computer programmer Glenn Strand; they have two children.

INFO: Born to her parents Mary Elizabeth Gray and Clive Gale Kelsey.

In 1968, Kelsey graduated from the University of Minnesota.

Soon after graduating, she began a fellowship at the renowned Guthrie Theater Company in Minneapolis.

TRIVIA: Kelsey's professional career began with stage appearances in her home of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Played a car-crash victim in the very first episode of Emergency! (1972).

Her first recognizable role came with an appearance on an episode of The Mary Tyler Moore Show as a rival to Sue Ann Nivens (played by Betty White), where she met Ed Asner, with whom she later worked on the spin-off show Lou Grant.

Her big break came when producers of the television series Lou Grant decided that the actress playing the female reporter on the show was too young and perky. After three episodes, they recast the part with Kelsey in the role of Billie Newman, the crusading reporter for the fictional Los Angeles Tribune, which also co-starred Asner. Kelsey won five consecutive Emmy Award nominations (1978 through 1982) for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, losing four times to her Lou Grant co-star Nancy Marchand and once to Kristy McNichol in Family.

She was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (three nominations from 1979 to 1981) for Lou Grant.

She also made several appearances on the various iterations of the Pyramid (game show), including assisting a contestant in winning $100,000 on May 5, 1987.

Six years after Lou Grant went off the air, Kelsey played the lead in the sitcom Day by Day (1988) as a woman who runs a daycare center out of her home. The show ran for two seasons.

Kelsey was also nominated for a CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Comedy Series (1993) for Sessions.

In 2004, Kelsey returned to her native Twin Cities area, where she has continued her career in regional theater productions.

In 2009, she revisited her television past, playing Sue Ann Nivens for a week in a Minneapolis theatre company's restaging of The Mary Tyler Moore Show scripts, including the episode in which she originally appeared.

WHERE ARE THEY NOW: Kelsey is still performing. These days, she's on stage much more than she's on the screen, but hopefully we will see her back on the small screen soon. It would be wonderful to see her again.

CREDITS:

2010 The Egg Timer (Short)...Ruth

2009 Into Temptation...Corrine Buerlein

1997 Orleans (TV Series)
- When the Saints Go Marching in (1997)

1996 Touched by an Angel (TV Series)...Harriet
- Something Blue (1996) ... Harriet

1985-1996 Murder, She Wrote (TV Series)...Ellen Levering / Mary Stamm / Diana Simms
- Track of a Soldier (1996) ... Ellen Levering
- Jessica Behind Bars (1985) ... Mary Stamm
- Capitol Offense (1985) ... Diana Simms

1996 The Babysitter's Seduction (TV Movie)...Alice Winston

1995 If Someone Had Known (TV Movie)...Ellen Liner

1995 ER (TV Series)...Grace Holsten
- Feb 5, '95 (1995) ... Grace Holsten

1994 Matlock (TV Series)...Ellen Barrett
- The Accused (1994) ... Ellen Barrett

1993 A Family Torn Apart (TV Movie)...Maureen Hannigan

1993 A Place to Be Loved (TV Movie)...Liz Russ

1991 Sessions (TV Mini Series)...Carol

1991 White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd (TV Movie)...Anne 'Mac' McMahon

1990 Father Dowling Mysteries (TV Series)...Sybil Aspell
- The Vanishing Victim Mystery (1990) ... Sybil Aspell

1989 Midnight Caller (TV Series)...Joanne Reming
- End of Innocence (1989) ... Joanne Reming

1989 The Ray Bradbury Theater (TV Series)...Lydia Hadley
- The Veldt (1989) ... Lydia Hadley

1988-1989 Day by Day (TV Series)...Kate Harper
All 33 Episodes

1988 CBS Schoolbreak Special (TV Series)...Susan Palmer
- Home Sweet Homeless (1988) ... Susan Palmer

1987 The Twilight Zone (TV Series)...Valerie Richman (segment "The Girl I Married")
- Song of the Younger World/The Girl I Married (1987) ... Valerie Richman (segment "The Girl I Married")

1987 Baby Girl Scott (TV Movie)...Jean Gelson

1987 Nutcracker: Money, Madness & Murder (TV Mini Series)...Elaine
- Episode #1.3 (1987) ... Elaine
- Episode #1.2 (1987) ... Elaine
- Episode #1.1 (1987) ... Elaine

1986 Blacke's Magic (TV Series)...Evan
- Forced Landing (1986) ... Evan

1985 St. Elsewhere (TV Series)...Cape Resident
- Haunted (1985) ... Cape Resident

1984 His Mistress (TV Movie)...Katherine Beck

1984 Attack on Fear (TV Movie)...Cathy Mitchell

1977-1982 Lou Grant (TV Series)...Billie Newman
111 Episodes

1980 A Perfect Match (TV Movie)...Miranda McLloyd

1978 Having Babies (TV Series)...Bess Parker
- Old Friends (1978) ... Bess Parker

1977 Gibbsville (TV Series)
- All I've Tried to Be (1977)

1977 Westside Medical (TV Series)
- Tears for a Two Dollar Wine (1977)

1977 The Streets of San Francisco (TV Series)...Susan Harper
- 'Let's Pretend We're Strangers' (1977) ... Susan Harper

1977 Something for Joey (TV Movie)...Joyce Cappelletti, Narrator

1977 Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (TV Movie)...Lucy Mercer

1977 Quincy M.E. (TV Series)...Sue Courtland
- ...The Thigh Bone's Connected to the Knee Bone... (1977) ... Sue Courtland

1977 Tales of the Unexpected (TV Series)...Gerry
- The Mask of Adonis (1977) ... Gerry

1974-1976 Barnaby Jones (TV Series)...Linda Glover / Cathy Lou Hopkins
- Voice in the Night (1976) ... Linda Glover
- Dark Homecoming (1974) ... Cathy Lou Hopkins

1976 Most Wanted (TV Series)...Beth Gordon
- The Slaver (1976) ... Beth Gordon

1976 M*A*S*H (TV Series)...Lt. Mickey Baker
- The Nurses (1976) ... Lt. Mickey Baker

1976 Captains and the Kings (TV Mini Series)...Peg
- Chapter I (1976) ... Peg (uncredited)

1976 The Last of Mrs. Lincoln (TV Movie)...Mary Harlan

1976 Spencer's Pilots (TV Series)...Cynthia McGrew
- Pilot (1976) ... Cynthia McGrew

1976 Bert D'Angelo/Superstar (TV Series)...Addy
- A Noise in the Streets (1976) ... Addy

1975-1976 Doc (TV Series)...Gwen
- A Quiet Anniversary (1976) ... Gwen
- Pilot (1975) ... Gwen

1976 Eleanor and Franklin (TV Mini Series)...Lucy Mercer
- Episode #1.2 (1976) ... Lucy Mercer
- Episode #1.1 (1976) ... Lucy Mercer

1976 Starsky and Hutch (TV Series)...Ellie Cole
- The Hostages (1976) ... Ellie Cole

1975 Harry O (TV Series)...Karen Dorland
- Mayday (1975) ... Karen Dorland

1975 The Texas Wheelers (TV Series)...Mavis
- The Rebel (1975) ... Mavis

1974 The Rockford Files (TV Series)...Louise Henderson
- The Dexter Crisis (1974) ... Louise Henderson

1974 The Mary Tyler Moore Show (TV Series)...Gloria Munson
- A New Sue Ann (1974) ... Gloria Munson

1974 The Midnight Man...Betty Childress

1974 Sorority Kill (TV Movie)...Bonnie

1972-1973 Emergency! (TV Series)...Pam Burke / Victim
- Frequency (1973) ... Pam Burke
- The Wedsworth-Townsend Act (1972) ... Victim (uncredited)

1973 The Picture of Dorian Gray (TV Movie)...Beatrice Hallward

To see Then & Now pictures of Linda Kelsey, visit: Celebrity Nooz