Pam Dawber

Although Pam Dawber harbored hopes of a career as a musical comedy star, she found her niche on television. Born and raised in Michigan, the tall, vivacious beauty began her career as a model and appeared in several print and broadcast advertisements. After making her stage debut in the lead in the Goodspeed Opera House revival of "Sweet Adeline" (1977), Dawber landed her first feature role as the former girlfriend of the groom who makes a memorable entrance astride a horse in Robert Altman's "A Wedding" (1977). She then landed a leading role in a busted ABC pilot "Sister Terri" but the network suits were impressed enough to offer her the star-making role of Mindy to Robin Williams' quirky alien in the hit sitcom "Mork and Mindy" (1978-82). Dawber had the difficult task of playing straight woman to Williams and his zany improvisations, but she brought a certain charm to the role. Once the characters were married, however, the magic seemed to dissipate (amid rumors of dissension between the stars) and ABC pulled the plug on the show.

Dawber returned to the weekly grind as co-star of the genial "My Sister, Sam" (CBS, 1986-88), playing a commercial photographer whose teenaged sister comes to live with her. She also managed to appear in several TV-movies of varying quality. Among the more notable was the pleasantly charming caper "The Girl, The Gold Watch & Everything" (syndicated, 1980), the biopic "Quiet Victory: The Charlie Wedemeyer Story" (CBS, 1988), as the supportive wife of a football coach struggling with ALS, and the acclaimed look at child abuse, "Do You Know the Muffin Man?" (CBS, 1989). After a long absence, she returned to the big screen in the underrated satire of TV, "Stay Tuned" (1992). More recently, Dawber teamed with Katey Sagal as women searching for their abducted children in "Trail of Tears" (NBC, 1995) and she co-starred in and co-produced the short-lived sitcom "Life...And Stuff" (CBS, 1997).