Mary Lynn Carlin (née Reynolds; born January 31, 1938) is an American retired actress. For her debut role in the 1968 John Cassavetes film Faces, she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the first nonprofessional performer to receive an Oscar nomination. She was later nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Milos Forman’s Taking Off (1971).
Life and career Lynn Carlin was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of socialite Muriel Elizabeth (née Ansley) and 'Larry Reynolds' (Laurence Kramer).Muriel Reynolds LA Times obituary accessed 1-2-2016 Her father was a Hollywood business manager, and her mother worked in radio. She grew up in Laguna Beach.
Carlin made her stage debut in The Women at the Laguna Beach Playhouse.
Carlin, Robert Altmans secretary-turned-actress, earned her only Academy Award nomination in 1968 for her first feature role as John Marley's suicidal wife Maria in John Cassavetes' Faces (1968). She is the first nonprofessional to be nominated for an Academy Award. She subsequently played wives and mothers before retiring in 1987. She next appeared in ...tick...tick...tick... (1970) as George Kennedy's ambitious, henpecking wife and returned to offbeat roles as Buck Henry's wife, searching for her missing daughter amid the hippies and drug culture of 1970s New York in Miloš Forman's Taking Off (1971). The same year, she appeared in Blake Edwards' western Wild Rovers. In 1972, she was re-teamed with John Marley, again as his wife, in Bob Clark's horror film Deathdream, and her other film roles include the British drama film Baxter! (1973) as the mother of Scott Jacoby, the 1979 comedy French Postcards, and the 1982 horror film Superstition.
Carlin played the parent of growing teen Lance Kerwin in the TV-movie James at 15 (1977) and its subsequent spin-off James at 16. In 1977, she was cast in several episodes of The Waltons as a nurse who marries the county sheriff. She appeared in the 1976 miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man Book II, and she had a recurring role on the short-lived television series Strike Force (1981–1982). She appeared in several other TV movies, including Silent Night, Lonely Night. In 1972, Carlin appeared in an episode of Gunsmoke titled "Milligan" as the wife of Harry Morgan's character.
In 1971, she played the mother of teenage father Desi Arnaz Jr. in Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones. The same year, she played Peter Falk's wife in A Step Out of Line. In 1974, Carlin appeared in both Terror on the 40th Floor and The Morning After. She played the wife of Sam Houston in the biopic The Honorable Sam Houston in 1975. The following year, she played Eve Plumb's mother in Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway.
In her last television movie, Carlin played the mother of three young men manipulated into breaking their father (Robert Mitchum) out of jail in A Killer in the Family (1983). Her last acting role was a guest appearance on Murder, She Wrote in 1987 as the wife of the episode's murder victim, played by Cornel Wilde.
Personal life Carlin was married to Peter Hall from 1958 until their divorce in 1960. Her second marriage was to Edward Carlin, with whom she had two children. This union (1963–74) also ended in divorce. Her oldest child is podcaster/journalist Dan Carlin. She was married to John Wolfe from 1983 until his death in 1999.
Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes1968FacesMaria Forst1970...tick... tick... tick...Julia Little1971Taking OffLynn Tyne1971Wild RoversSada Billings1973Baxter!Mrs. Baxter1974Dead of NightChristine Brooks1975Iron and HorseMeridel YorkShort1979French PostcardsMrs. Weber1980Battle Beyond the StarsNell (voice)1982SuperstitionMelinda Leahy
Television Year Title Role Notes1969Marcus Welby, M.D.Helen StewartSeason 1 Episode 2: "The Foal"1969Silent Night, Lonely NightJennifer SparrowTV Movie1969–1972Medical CenterRuth Dwyer / Louise Nolan2 episodes1970Sister Marie TheresaSeason 1 Episode 5: "A Thing Not of God"1971A Step Out of LineLinda ConnorsTV Movie1971Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo JonesChristine JonesABC Movie of the Week1971Meredith LindonSeason 3 Episode 6: "The Glass Cage"1971CannonHelen KernSeason 1 Episode 13: "The Nowhere Man"1972GunsmokeJanet MilliganSeason 18 Episode 9: "Milligan"1972Love, American StyleRuthSeason 4 Episode 11: "segment: Love and the Swinging Philosophy"1972Emergency!Mrs. PattersonSeason 2 Episode 10: "Dinner Date"1972Young Dr. KildareLaura HendersonEpisode: "The Stranger"1973IronsideMary Jane SmithSeason 7 Episode 1: "Confessions: From a Lady of the Night"1973Hawaii Five-OMaxine TaylorSeason 6 Episode 11: "The Finishing Touch"1974Fran LesterABC Movie of the Week1974Sarah AbelmanABC Movie of the Week1974Terror on the 40th FloorLee ParkerTV Movie1974PetrocelliAudrey NorthSeason 1 Episode 4: "Edge of Evil"1974MannixNancy TraherneSeason 8 Episode 6: "Death Has No Face"1974Lucas TannerAnn LeffertsSeason 1 Episode 9: "Look the Other Way"1974Paper MoonSue JeanSeason 1 Episode 11: "Who Is M. P. Sellers?"1974–1980InsightJean / Helen Madden / Marge / Betty / Janet / Betty6 episodes1975Margaret HoustonTV Movie1975Nancy RoyceTV Movie1975–1977Eula Mae / Sara Griffith Bridges5 episodes1976City of AngelsCora ManningSeason 1 Episode 5: "A Lonely Way to Die"1976BarbaraTV Movie1976Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage RunawayDawn's MotherTV Movie1976Rich Man, Poor Man Book IISarah HuntSeason 1 Episode 7: "Chapter VII"1976SerpicoViveca JanesSeason 1 Episode 15: "A Secret Place"1977Bravo TwoMrs. MorganTV Movie1977GibbsvilleSeason 1 Episode 13: "The Grand Gesture"1977–1978James at 15Meg HunterSeries regular1978Norma FiskSeason 3 Episode 15: "The Martians Are Coming, the Martians Are Coming"1979Not Until TodayMae HendersonTV Movie1979Elizabeth CollinsSeason 3 Episode 3: "Brain Child"1979Barnaby JonesMary BainesSeason 8 Episode 5: "Design for Madness"1979California FeverMrs. NewmanSeason 1 Episode 6: "Portrait of Laurie"1979Charlie's AngelsWarden IngramSeason 4 Episode 6: "Caged Angel"1979Mrs. ColumboShereeSeason 2 Episode 3: "Off the Record"1980Tenspeed and Brown ShoeAlice RynkoffSeason 1 Episode 13: "The Treasure of Sierra Madre Street"1980Lou GrantCatherine MarksSeason 4 Episode 2: "Harassment"1980–1985Trapper John, M.D.Rose Tiegs / Claire Dearborne3 episodes1981Girl on the Edge of TownSelma MantleyTV Movie1981Strike ForceLorraine Klein2 episodes1981DarkroomMrs. ShiresSeason 1 Episode 11: "Catnip"1982Molly EdwardTV Movie1982Forbidden LoveElla WagnerTV Movie1983A Killer in the FamilyDorothy TisonTV Movie1987Murder, She WroteNicoleSeason 4 Episode 5: "The Way to Dusty Death"2021ConsequencesChurchgoerSeason 2 Episode 3: "Leap of Faith"
Awards and nominations Year Award Category Nominated work Result 1969 3rd National Society of Film Critics Awards Best Actress Faces 41st Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress 1972 25th British Academy Film Awards Best Actress in a Leading Role Taking Off
References
External links https://catalog.afi.com/Person/102856-Lynn-Carlin tcm.com