Mariette Hartley

Good-humored, intelligent lead, mostly on TV. Hartley's film career got off to an auspicious start with a leading role in Sam Peckinpah's second film, the elegiac "Ride the High Country" (1962). By the early 1970s, however, she was appearing in such routine fare as "The Return of Count Yorga" (1971) and "The Magnificent Seven Ride" (1972). The small screen had taken up much of the slack in the meantime, offering Hartley roles on the soap opera "Peyton Place" and the sitcom "The Hero," opposite Richard Mulligan.

Since the mid-70s, Hartley's career has encompassed a wide range of TV-movies, including a tepid remake of "The African Queen" (1977), "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't" (1979) and the bisexual romance "My Two Loves" (1986). She won an Emmy for a guest role on "The Incredible Hulk" and brought her sunny, mature charm to hosting duties on "Today" and "The Morning Show." A Myrna Loy for TV guest spots, a Suzanne Pleshette who never had a long-running sitcom to call home, Hartley is probably best remembered by many for a wryly amusing series of Polaroid TV commercials in which she appeared opposite James Garner. A role in "Encino Man" (1992) marked one of several returns to the big screen.