Stepfanie Kramer is an American actress, writer, and singer/songwriter. She played detective Sgt. Dee Dee McCall on the NBC series Hunter. She was nominated for an Emmy in Special Class Programming and won Outstanding Performance by a Lead Actress from First Americans in the Arts Awards in 1995, 2002, and 2003. Kramer has written and directed for television, and is also a singer.
Biography
Kramer was born and raised in Los Angeles. She is part Native American from her mother's side. Her father was a classical violinist and her mother is an artist.
Professional life
Kramer's professional acting career started in the late 1970s, while she was still in school. Kramer graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts/West, where she has later taught as a guest instructor. Kramer starred in the NBC sitcom We Got It Made in 1983. Her big break came in 1984, when she landed a starring role in Hunter, a creation of television mogul Stephen J. Cannell. After a rough start, the show was broadcast for seven consecutive seasons. Kramer starred in six of them, appearing in 130 episodes. In an interview with Jay Leno in 1989, Kramer admitted that she had not believed the show would be as long-lived as it was. In 1986, Kramer stated she was working on a rock album with composer Mike Post, who had penned music for Hunter. She announced that she might put out an album the following year. No album was forthcoming, though, and in 1990, Kramer announced her departure from Hunter. The press said it was to concentrate on her music career. Shortly after leaving Hunter, she began recording an album in England with producer Nils Lofgren. The album was never released. In 1992, Kramer married. Two years later, she gave birth to a daughter. She continued to write music and star in made-for-TV movies and indie films. She is a trained mezzo-soprano, and during her TV career, she used her musical abilities on several episodes of Hunter, as well as on Bob Hope television specials. Kramer's first album came out on October 12, 1999. One Dream contains 10 adult contemporary songs. Most are original songs. The Great American Song Book, her second album, came out early in 2008. On it, Kramer covers 14 classic songs recorded live in a one-woman show which she performs in various national venues. In 2008, she represented the U.S. at the International Music Festival in Queretero, Mexico. After her departure from Hunter, she appeared in several TV shows and movies. Her most notable movie projects include Coins in a Fountain, Twin Sisters, Beyond Suspicion, “Deceived by Trust” The Dogwalker, and . She reprised her role as Dee Dee McCall in the two Hunter television movies. NBC attempted to bring the television show back, but the 2003 revival was canceled after only three episodes. Kramer teamed with writer/producer David Chisolm to write feature films, as well as writing feature films and television projects with writer/producer Chip Hayes. Kramer completed a book reading of the New York musical A Twist of Fate. She was a special guest in the Los Angeles stage production of Menopause- The Musical. She made a guest appearance on Pure Flix's internet series called The Encounter. She played Dee Sanders, a lawyer going up against Michael "Maximum Mike" Porter, a tough judge played by Michael Ironside. She portrayed the matriarch Kate Meade in the CW Series The Secret Circle. In 2019 appeared as Susan in feature film "Crossing" for Off Shore Productions, and portrayed Dorothy Calvin in Hallmark film "A Merry Christmas Match" in 2020. In 2015 she was honored as an "Icon of Television" at the 55th International Television Festival in Monte Carlo.
