Morgan Brittany

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Morgan Brittany
Born Suzanne Cupito
(1951-12-05) December 5, 1951 (age 73)
Hollywood, California, U.S.
Occupation Actress
Years active 1957–present
Spouse(s) Jack Gill (1981–present) (2 children)
Children Katie Gill (b. 1985)
Cody Gill (b. 1988)

Morgan Brittany (born Suzanne Cupito, December 5, 1951[1]) is an American actress, best known for her role as Katherine Wentworth, the scheming younger half-sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes, in the prime time soap opera Dallas.

Career

Early child career

Cupito began her career as a child in a 1957 television special called Playhouse 90. She followed that up with her first of three Twilight Zone episodes, "Nightmare as a Child", as the little girl at the end of the episode, Sissy Johnson in the fourth season episode, "Valley of the Shadow", and Susan in the fifth season episode, "Caesar and Me". She was featured in the 1962 film Gypsy, as Baby June.[2] She appeared uncredited in the birthday party scene and the scene at the school house in the 1963 film The Birds. In 1963, she played the role of Winter Night in the episode "Incident of the Hostages" on CBS's Rawhide. In 1964, she starred as a blind girl called Minerva Gordon in a two-part episode of The Outer Limits entitled "The Inheritors" with actor Robert Duvall, and appeared in the western film Stage to Thunder Rock. Cupito appeared in the final episode of the TV western series Branded in 1966, playing the role of an orphaned girl named "Kellie" in an episode of the same name. She was part of the ensemble cast in the 1968 film, Yours, Mine and Ours, which starred Lucille Ball and Henry Fonda. Cupito was also in the season 8, episode 1 of The Andy Griffith Show titled "Opie's First Love" as Mary Alice.

Adult career

At age 18, Cupito changed her name to Morgan Brittany and then appeared with Gene Kelly in his Las Vegas show, Gene Kelly's Wonderful World of Girls, as a dancer. She then moved to New York City where she modeled for The Ford Modeling Agency, and appeared in several TV commercials and print ads (including a three-year stint as "The Ultra Brite Toothpaste Girl"), and was spokesmodel for brands such as L'Oreal, Ford, Levi's and Camay. In 1974, she was hired by the Japanese cosmetics company Kanebo to be the "face" of their product "Ireine", and so moved to Tokyo for a couple of years.[citation needed] In 1976, she returned to the U.S. and restarted her acting career.

In 1976, Brittany portrayed Vivien Leigh in the biopic Gable and Lombard, the first of three occasions on which she would play the famous actress.[2] That was followed by TV movies and television shows, such as The Amazing Howard Hughes (1977) with Tommy Lee Jones, The Initiation of Sarah (1978) with Kay Lenz and Shelley Winters, Death Car on the Freeway (1979) with Shelley Hack, The Dream Merchants (1980) with Mark Harmon, and LBJ: The Early Years (1987) with Randy Quaid. She also starred in a pilot Stunt Seven (aka The Fantastic Seven) in 1979 with Christopher Lloyd, Patrick MacNee, and Elke Sommer.[1] In 1980, while filming an episode of The Dukes of Hazzard, Brittany met her future husband, stuntman Jack Gill.[3]

She appeared again as Vivien Leigh in the climax of the 1980 made-for-TV movie, The Scarlett O'Hara War, which marked the second of her three portrayals of the famous actress.[4] This caught the attention of the producers of Dallas, who were searching for an actress to play Katherine Wentworth, the sister of Pamela Ewing and Cliff Barnes.[3] Brittany debuted on Dallas in the 1981-82 season and her role as Katherine continued, on and off, until 1984. In 1985, she returned for a cameo in that season's finale where her character killed Bobby Ewing by running him over with a car, killing herself in the process. Brittany made a brief, final appearance on the show in 1987, after it had been revealed that Bobby's and Katherine's deaths had been a dream.

In 1984, Brittany co-starred in the short-lived ABC drama series, Glitter, in which she played Kate Simpson, a reporter for an entertainment magazine. This was one of several collaborations with producer Aaron Spelling throughout her career. Her first show with him was an appearance in Burke's Law, in 1964 when Brittany was a child. Later, as an adult, she appeared in episodes of The Love Boat, Hotel, Fantasy Island, Melrose Place, and the 1990s revival of Burke's Law. She also starred in one of Spelling's TV movies, The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch with Joan Collins.

Brittany and Bruce Jenner hosted the sports show Star Games. She then hosted over 100 episodes of the magazine show Photoplay, produced by Jack Haley, Jr. She has guest starred on other shows, including Married... with Children, Murder, She Wrote, and The Nanny. In film, Brittany starred in the 1989 cult classic Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat with David Carradine, John Ireland, and Bruce Campbell.

Recent years

In the 1990s, Brittany appeared in the independent films, including Riders in the Storm (1995), Legend of the Spirit Dog (1997), The Protector (1998), The Biggest Fan (2002), Mothers and Daughters (2006), and Americanizing Shelley (2007). She also appeared in the 2010 docudrama, 1 a Minute,[5] and made a guest appearance on the television series Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, and Son of the Beach.

Currently, Brittany is a conservative political commentator and author. She writes a weekly column for WorldNetDaily [6] and Townhall Finance.[7] Her first book along with co-authors Ann-Marie Murrell and Dr. Gina Loudon entitled What Women Really Want was released September 2, 2014.[8] She is a recurring guest on Hannity (FOX News), The Rick Amato Show (One America) and has appeared on The Kudlow Report (CNBC). Brittany is a co-owner and anchor for PolitiChicks, an online news site with a conservative perspective. [9]

She now spends much of her time supporting Republican political candidates and is involved in raising funds for military/veterans organizations.

Personal life

Brittany married stuntman Jack Gill in 1981. They are the parents of actress Katie Gill and musician/stuntman Cody Gill.[1]

During the 1980s, Brittany was a national ambassador for the March of Dimes. She traveled the United States raising funds and bringing awareness to the prevention of birth defects. She participated in the Congressional "Walk" in Washington, D.C., with such members of the House of Representatives as its then Speaker, Representative Thomas Phillip "Tip" O'Neill Jr., a Massachusetts Democrat. Her time with the March of Dimes lasted two decades, and during her involvement she was invited to the White House in 1986 with Ronald Reagan and again with Bill Clinton. Brittany splits her time between Southern California and Atlanta, Georgia.[citation needed]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 [1][dead link]
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ PolitiChicks: Morgan Bittany

External links

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