Thomas serves as National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was founded by her father Danny Thomas in 1962. She created the Thanks & Giving campaign in 2004 to support the hospital.
Thomas and her father, Danny, were cast as Laurie and Ed Dubro in a 1961 episode, "Honor Bright", of CBS' Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre.
That Girl
Thomas in That Girl (1968)Thomas (center) with co-star Ted Bessell (left) and guest star Mary Frann (right), in a 1968 photo from That Girl
Thomas starred in an ABC pilot called Two's Company in 1965. Although it did not sell, it caught the attention of a network programming executive. He met with Thomas, and expressed interest in casting her in her own series. With their encouragement, Thomas came up with her own idea for a show about a young woman who leaves home, moves to New York City, and struggles to become an actress. The network was initially hesitant, fearing audiences would find a series centering on a single female uninteresting or unrealistic.
The concept eventually evolved into the sitcom entitled That Girl, in which Thomas played Ann Marie, a beautiful, up-and-coming actress with a writer boyfriend, played by Ted Bessell. The series told the daily struggles of Ann holding different temporary jobs while pursuing her dream of a career on Broadway. That Girl was one of the first television shows to focus on a working, single woman who did not live with her parents, and it paved the way for many shows to come. Thomas was only the fourth woman to produce her own series, following Gertrude Berg, Lucille Ball, and Betty White. That Girl aired from 1966 to 1971, producing 136 episodes, and was a solid performer in the Nielsen ratings.
In 1971, Thomas chose to end the series after five years. Both ABC and the show's sponsor, Clairol, wanted the series finale to be a wedding between the two central characters, but Thomas rebuffed them, saying that she felt it was the wrong message to send to her female audience, because it would give the impression that the only happy ending is marriage. That Girl has since become popular in syndication.
Clairol was our sponsor and they wanted to end the show with a wedding. I said, "I just can't do that to these women and girls who followed Ann Marie's adventure. I can't now say that the only happy ending is a wedding, because I don't believe it." There was a big ruckus about it, but I wouldn't do it. The last show, Ann Marie took Donald to a women's lib meeting, which made nobody happy but me. I loved it.[9]
Thomas at the 41st Primetime Emmy Awards, September 17, 1989
After That Girl, eager to expand her horizons, Thomas attended the Actors Studio,[10] where she studied with Lee Strasberg until his death in 1982, and subsequently with his disciple Sandra Seacat. When she won her Best Dramatic Actress Emmy in 1986 for the television film Nobody’s Child, she thanked both individuals.
In 1973, Thomas joined Gloria Steinem, Patricia Carbine, and Letty Cottin Pogrebin as the founders of the Ms. Foundation for Women, the first women's fund in the US. The organization was created to deliver funding and other resources to organizations that were presenting liberal women's voices in communities nationwide.
In 1976, Thomas made a guest appearance on the NBCsituation comedyThe Practice as a stubborn patient of her father Danny Thomas' character Dr. Jules Bedford, and the chemistry of father and daughter acting together made for touching hospital-room scenes.
From 1996 to 2002, Thomas had a reoccurring role on the hit TV show, Friends.[12] She played Rachel Green's mother, Sandra Green, in three episodes.[13] The role was poignant because of parallels to That Girl. Both shows were comedies about being young and single in New York City. Like Ann Marie three decades earlier, Rachel Green had left the suburbs for independence as a single woman in Manhattan. However, Thomas's first appearance on Friends was in Season 2 when her character goes looking for her daughter, who had run off to Manhattan after ditching her fiancé, Barry, at the altar.[14] Sandra confesses to Rachel that she is leaving her husband, expresses interest in being one of the girls, marijuana and what is new in sex.[15] Sandra envies her daughter's lifestyle, which she missed out on due to taking a more traditional path.[16] When Rachel becomes upset at her mom's frankness, Sandra explains that she thought Rachel of all people would understand because "you didn't marry your Barry, honey, but I married mine."[17] In 2019, Thomas described her on-screen daughter, Rachel, as the "That Girl" of the late 90s and early 2000s. Thomas compared the on-air standards 30 years apart, noting that in That Girl, Donald could not even spend the night at Ann's apartment, but on Friends, they were much more open about sex.[18] Thomas also spoke of the great respect the Friends cast showed her when they worked together; they were familiar with her work and yielded to her comedic expertise.[19]
Thomas' Broadway theatre credits include Thieves (1974), Social Security (1986), and The Shadow Box (1994), and in 2011, she starred as Doreen in Elaine May's comedy George Is Dead in Relatively Speaking during a set of three one-act plays (The New York Times called Thomas' performance "sublime").[21] The other two plays were written by Woody Allen and Ethan Coen.
Thomas has published seven best-selling books (three of them #1 best-sellers): Free to Be...You and Me;Free to Be...A Family;The Right Words at the Right Time; The Right Words at the Right Time, Volume 2: Your Turn; Marlo Thomas and Friends: Thanks & Giving All Year Long (the CD version of which won the 2006 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for Children); her 2009 memoir, Growing Up Laughing; and It Ain't Over...Till It's Over: Reinventing Your Life and Realizing Your Dreams Anytime, At Any Age.
In 1979, the Supersisters trading card set was produced and distributed; one of the cards featured Thomas' name and picture.[23]
In 1996, she was awarded the Women in FilmLucy Award in recognition of her excellence and innovation in her creative works that have enhanced the perception of women through the medium of television.[24]
On November 20, 2014, the Marlo Thomas Center for Global Education and Collaboration was opened as part of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.[25]Hillary Clinton presided over the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
Thomas was in a long relationship with playwright Herb Gardner.[3]
In 1977, Thomas was a guest on Donahue,[26] the television talk show, when she and host Phil Donahue fell in "love at first sight".[27] They were married on May 21, 1980, and Donahue moved with some of his sons and his daughter from Chicago to New York City to live with Thomas and to produce his talk show there.[28] Thomas is the stepmother to Donahue's four sons and daughter from his first marriage. Concerning her relationship with her stepchildren, Thomas told AARP Magazine in May 2011:
From the very first day, I decided that I was not going to try to be a 'mother' to Phil's children in the traditional sense—they already had a mom—but, instead, to be their friend. I'm proud to say that the friendships I established with them are as strong today as they were 30 years ago—even stronger.[5]
^Thomas, Marlo (September 21, 2012). "Marlo Thomas Meeting Phil on The Donahue Show". YouTube. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved December 5, 2018. I met Phil on the Donahue Show in 1977 - instant chemistry!
^Lilly, William (April 5, 2017). Zane Grey Theater S05E17 Honor Bright. William Lilly (Anthology series). Event occurs at 2:52. Archived from the original on November 4, 2021. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
External links
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