Meg Foster


Margaret Foster is an American actress who had roles in the TV miniseries version of The Scarlet Letter and the films Ticket to Heaven, The Osterman Weekend, and They Live among many other projects.

Early years

Foster was born in Reading, Pennsylvania to David and Nancy Foster, and grew up in Rowayton, Connecticut with four siblings: sisters Gray, Jan, and Nina, and brother Ian. She studied acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in New York.

Career

In 1968, Foster acted in a Cornell Summer Theater production of John Brown's Body. Later in 1968, she was in the off-Broadway production of The Empire Builders.
When Loretta Swit was unable to reprise her television-film role of Detective Christine Cagney when the film was adapted into the Cagney & Lacey TV series, Foster took on the role for the short first season, before she was replaced by Sharon Gless. Entertainment columnist Dick Kleiner wrote in August 1982 about Foster's being dropped from the show: "It isn't a pretty story, no matter who you talk to. Meg was so hurt and distraught that she still isn't talking. But she told friends that she felt as though she had been hit by a truck." Kleiner's story implied that Foster's dismissal from the show had cost her other opportunities. "Until that news spread," he wrote, "she was an in-demand actress."
Foster worked throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. She guest-starred in numerous TV shows including two episodes of Hawaii Five-O, The Six Million Dollar Man season two episode "Straight on 'til Morning", Three for the Road, and the ' season four episode "The Muse |The Muse".
Other TV shows include Bonanza, The Twilight Zone, Here Come the Brides, Storefront Lawyers, Barnaby Jones, Murder, She Wrote, Miami Vice, The Cosby Show, Quantum Leap, ER, and
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She also appeared in a number of memorable movie roles throughout the 1980s, beginning with a small but memorable role as showgirl in a traveling carnival in Carny, starring Jodie Foster, Gary Busey, and Robbie Robertson; the villainous Evil-Lyn in the big-screen version of Masters of the Universe and Holly in the John Carpenter film They Live alongside "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.
She was nominated for a 1982 Genie Award for Best Performance by a Foreign Actress for the film Ticket to Heaven. Since the 1990s, Foster has acted mainly in stage productions, including King Lear and Barabbas.
Foster's striking pale-blue eyes were dubbed "the eyes of 1979" by Mademoiselle magazine. In a newspaper interview that same year, she stated that her eyes, at least in her opinion, were not “so distinctive". However, on some occasions film and television producers did have Foster wear contact lenses to lessen what they viewed as the distractive effects of her eyes during screen performances.

Personal life

Foster is divorced from Canadian actor Stephen McHattie. She has a son, Christopher.

Filmography

Films

Television films

Television series