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Blonde, with perfect California girl cuteness and an attractive air of self-possession, actress Heather Locklear made an indelible mark on television, her unforgettable roles in the Aaron Spelling dramas “Dynasty” (ABC) and “Melrose Place” (Fox) among the most notable entries in a prolific decades-spanning career. Perky, but with an undercurrent of peremptoriness, Locklear hit the big time soon after she left her freshman studies at UCLA to pursue an acting career. Before long, the neophyte had secured guest spots on such series as “CHiPs” (NBC) and “Eight Is Enough” (ABC) and supporting roles in the unremarkable TV-movies “Twirl” (NBC) and “Return of the Beverly Hillbillies” (CBS). In late 1981, Locklear joined the cast of the primetime soap “Dynasty”, playing Sammy Jo Dean, the seemingly innocent niece of Krystle Carrington, in town for a brief visit. The visit turned into eight seasons on the series, and Sammy Jo proved a force to reckon with, allowing Locklear to treat audiences to some of the more enjoyable scenes of two-faced opportunism in primetime television.

While playing this deliciously deceitful manipulator on ABC’s “Dynasty”, Locklear demonstrated her adaptability and established her place as a veritable TV fixture with a concurrent role on the network’s police drama “T.J. Hooker” (ABC 1982-1985, CBS 1985-1986). The actress co-starred alongside William Shatner, and brought fresh-faced enthusiasm and girl-next-door sexiness to the role of Officer Stacy Sheridan for five seasons. These two ABC roles offered Locklear unparalleled visibility while showcasing her versatility, and television audiences developed a fondness for and familiarity with the actress that would make her continually marketable, helping to cut down on the long-term career lulls that can follow series work. By all accounts and appearances the archetypal nice girl, Locklear married bad boy rocker Tommy Lee in 1985, a move that embodied the ideals of that decade’s excess and cast just enough mystery on the actress to make her all the more interesting and attractive to an audience.

Following the demise of “Dynasty”, Locklear found herself in the unique and not altogether pleasant position of being a somewhat legendary veteran of television, while still roundly considered a young ingénue. Haunted by the specter of “Dynasty” and its melodramatic reputation, the actress managed to land a spate of TV-movie work, including “Rock ‘n’ Roll Mom” (1988) and “Rich Men, Single Women” (1990), as well as a starring role in the short-lived sitcom “Going Places” (1990-1991), all on ABC. Still, her most memorable credit from this time period was her reprise of Sammy Jo in the long-awaited two-parter “Dynasty: The Reunion” (1991). Work in unremarkable TV-movies followed, before Locklear staged a most triumphant comeback, joining the cast of Fox’s “Melrose Place” from 1993 to 1999. Her character Amanda Woodward was slightly older and infinitely wiser than the assembled group of twenty-somethings populating the series, and injected some much needed life in to the flailing program. The tart-tongued and unstoppable Amanda didn’t shy away from destruction, and with skirts as short as her temper, managed to seduce nearly every man on the show, while engrossing a loyal audience. Locklear’s calculating and uncompromising antics as Amanda jazzed up the series, while her work on the program reestablished her reputation and energized her career. In 1995, she starred in the ABC miniseries “Texas Justice” and skillfully handled the challenging role of a woman suffering with multiple personality disorder in the following year’s “Shattered Mind” (NBC). By now she had not only traded in her hard partying Motley Crüe drummer husband (they divorced in 1992) for the more stable Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi guitarist and former Cher flame), but she had also begun to emerge in interviews and appearances as an intelligent and genuine person with an evolved self-mocking sense of humor.

While she was always a popular actress, public opinion and critical acclaim had never previously reached the heights it scaled in the late 90s, and when “Melrose Place” bid adieu at season’s end in 1999, it wasn’t long before Locklear was cast in the ensemble of the New York-set political sitcom “Spin City” (ABC), playing Caitlin Moore, the driven campaign manager spearheading the mayor’s bid for the US Senate. Again part of a quirky ensemble, but this time working in comedy, the actress made the most of her talents and quickly insinuated herself into viewers’ good graces.

While her work on television has certainly been prolific and has adeptly embraced both the sublime and the ridiculous, Locklear has had less luck on the big screen, following up a brief supporting role in 1984’s “Firestarter” with a most inauspicious lead acting debut in the sci-fi clunker “Return of the Swamp Thing” (1989). Not surprisingly, feature roles were few and far between for the actress following that debacle, and her next film endeavor, the thriller “Illusions” paired her with former “Dynasty” co-star Emma Samms and bypassed theaters in 1992 for direct-to-video release. The following year she had a memorable turn with a cameo playing herself in the comedy sequel “Wayne’s World 2″. A supporting role in “The First Wives Club” (1996) ended up a silent uncredited cameo after editing. Locklear fared slightly better with the screen time afforded her in the adventure comedy “Money Talks” (1997).

In 1999, Locklear joined the cast of “Spin City”, portraying Communications Director Caitlin Moore. When Michael J. Fox retired from the sitcom, Locklear continued her wise-cracking innuendos but focusing them on Fox’s replacement Charlie Sheen. In 2002, Locklear decided to end her run with the sitcom that earned her two Golden Globe Nominations, Before making her way back to the big screen, she guest starred in three episodes of the NBC hit comedy “Scrubs” as a gorgeous drug sales rep who raises Dr. Cox’s temperature, after which it was off to New York where she co-starred in the feature film dramedy “Uptown Girls” (2003), directed by Boaz Yakin, in which she played precocious Dakota Fanning’s upwardly mobile but neglectful mother; Locklear played the lusty casino entertainer Dusty Tails in the live-action/animated hybrid “Looney Tunes: Back In Action” (2003) before returning to television on the one-hour drama “LAX” (NBC, 2004-2005) as runway chief Harley Random.

After “LAX” aired its last episode in April 2005, Locklear was next seen in the Hilary Duff romantic comedy vehicle, “The Perfect Man” (2005), playing her hapless mom who moves the family to a different city after breaking up with her latest boyfriend while on the search for the perfect guy. Duff tries to play matchmaker by creating an imaginary secret admirer, but the ruse, of course, becomes increasingly difficult to mask. The movie was rocked by a spate of bad reviews, leaving one critic on the verge of vomiting from its sugary sweetness.

• Also Credited As:
  Heather D. Locklear
• Born:
  on 09/25/1961 in Los Angeles, California
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Daughter: Ava Elizabeth Sambora. born on October 4, 1997
• Father: Bill Locklear. works in administration at UCLA
• Mother: Diane Locklear. Disney production executive
• Sister: Colleen M Locklear. born in January 1960
• Sister: Lori D Locklear. born in 1956

Significant Others

• Companion: David Spade. rumored to be dating as of April 2006
• Companion: Scott Baio. dated in the 1970s
• Husband: Richie Sambora. born on July 11, 1959; plays guitar for the rock band Bon Jovi; married in Paris on December 17, 1994
• Husband: Tommy Lee. married in 1985; divorced in 1992; later married and was divorced from actress Pamela Anderson
• Husband: Tommy Lee. married in 1985; divorced in 1992; later married and was divorced from actress Pamela Anderson
• Companion: Scott Baio. dated in the 1970s

Education

• University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, psychology

Milestones

• 1980 Had a one line speaking role on an episode of “CHiPs” (NBC)
• 1981 Starred in the ABC primetime soap “Dynasty” as Sammi Jo Dean Carrington
• 1981 Gave supporting performances in the TV-movies “Twirl” (NBC) and “Return of the Beverly Hillbillies” (CBS)
• 1984 Co-starred in the TV-movie “City Killer” (NBC)
• 1984 Feature film debut with a supporting role in “Firestarter”
• 1988 Appeared in the Disney Sunday Movie “Rock ‘n’ Roll Mom” (ABC)
• 1989 Had female lead in the sci-fi sequel “Return of the Swamp Thing”
• 1990 Starred in the ABC TV-movies “Jury Duty: The Comedy” and “Rich Men, Single Women”
• 1991 Reprised the role of Sammy Jo Carrington in the two part “Dynasty: The Reunion” (ABC)
• 1992 Starred alongside former “Dynasty” co-star Emma Samms in the direct-to-video release “Illusions”
• 1992 Starred in the TV-movies “Highway Heartbreaker” (CBS) and “Body Language” (USA Network)
• 1993 Had a cameo as herself in the popular sequel “Wayne’s World 2″
• 1995 Starred in the ABC miniseries “Texas Justice”
• 1996 Had an uncredited silent cameo in the comedy “The First Wives Club”
• 1996 Took on the challenging role of a woman with multiple personality disorder in the NBC TV-movie “Shattered Mind”
• 1997 Co-starred as Charlie Sheen’s finace in the Sheen/Chris Tucker action-comedy buddy vehicle “Money Talks”, directed by Brett Ratner
• 1997 Starred with Stephen Rea in the HBO movie “Double Tap”
• 1999 Joined the cast of the ABC sitcom “Spin City” as Caitlin Moore, the driven campaign manager for the mayor’s 2000 US Senate race
• 2002 Co-starred in the big screen comedy “Molly Gunn”
• 2002 Decided to end her run with the ABC sitcom “Spin City”
• 2003 Played the mother to Dakota Fanning’s character in “Uptown Girls”
• 2004 Starred in the short-lived airport drama “LAX” (NBC)
• 2005 Played Hilary Duff’s mother in “The Perfect Man,” which centers on a teenager whose quest is to find the perfect partner for her single mom
• Concurrent with her stint on “Dynasty”, played Officer Stacy Sheridan on the ABC crime drama series “T.J. Hooker”
• Had an early TV credit, guest starring on “Eight Is Enough” (ABC)
• Played role of Amanda Woodward on Fox’s primetime soap “Melrose Place”, additionally taking co-producer duties for the series final season
• Starred in the ABC sitcom, “Going Places”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 6:17 pm and is filed under Biographies, Heather Locklear. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.