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IMDbPro

Marlo Thomas(I)

  • Actress
  • Producer
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,0001430
Marlo Thomas
It follows Summer's life as her mother Vivian and daughter Chloe move in with her. Vivian sets up a miniature Christmas village. As Chloe begins setting up the figurines, real-life events seem to mimic the scenes she creates.
Play trailer0:35
A Magical Christmas Village (2022)
9 Videos
99+ Photos
Many well known and highly identifiable actresses have tried and failed to make the arduous crossover from fizzy TV sitcom star to mature, dramatic artist. Usually it was their hardcore fans who refused to accept them in any other light. Sally Field and Elizabeth Montgomery come first to mind as two strong actresses, with even stronger TV comedy character personas to contend with, who managed to make the none-too-easy leap to serious dramatic stardom after the fact. And then there's THAT girl ... lovely, glowing brunette Marlo Thomas ... another prime example.

Born in Detroit, Michigan on November 21, 1937, Marlo was christened Margaret Julia Thomas. Raised within the mad Beverly Hills whirl of the entertainment business as the daughter of show business legend Danny Thomas, she was initially dissuaded from an acting career and began a half-hearted adult life as a school teacher.

Quickly switching to acting, however, Marlo began with early TV appearances in the late 1950's on such series as "Dobie Gillis," "77 Sunset Strip," "Thriller" and "Zane Grey Theatre" (an appearance with her father). Her first break came when she was cast as Joey Bishop's sister and aspiring actress on the sitcom The Bob Newhart Show (1961) for one season, and she continued to build up her small screen resumé with assorted guest shots on "Bonanza," "My Favorite Martian," "McHale's Navy," "The Donna Reed Show" and "Ben Casey."

Following her delightful work on the London stage as Corey in "Barefoot in the Park" in 1965, Marlo appeared in a failed TV pilot. The pilot was seen by ABC, and they had her tested for another sitcom lead and passed with flying colors. This one stuck did not fail. Audiences adored "That Girl" with the romantic entanglements and struggling ambition of Ann Marie, a single, independent and very trendy young lady in the real world as an actress wannabe. Marlo became an instant household name (as did co-star Ted Bessell) and earned a Golden Globe ("Best TV Star") and four Emmy nominations during the five-year run of the groundbreaking show.

Cancelling the show on her own terms in 1971, the smoky-voiced actress was faced with a huge task of breaking a stereotype as a perky, fresh-faced, wide-eyed innocent. Capitalizing on her TV fame, she immediately pursued serious film roles. Playing the title dramatic role of Jenny (1970) opposite Alan Alda, she portrayed an unwed, naïve, pregnant girl who marries a filmmaker for convenience sake and earned a Golden Globe nom for "Most Promising Newcomer" in the process. Still, the box office take was mild and the public needed more convincing. When she made her Broadway debut successfully in the Herb Gardner play "Thieves" opposite Richard Mulligan in 1975, she made another stab at films by recreating her stage role. The reviews for Thieves (1977) co-starring Charles Grodin this time (who directed her in the Broadway version) were underwhelming. She would meet talk show icon Phil Donahue on his daytime TV program while a guest promoting the Thieves (1977) movie. They wed in 1980.

During this time Marlo broadened her focus and combined her deep love for children and education with her show business career. She took home bookend Emmy Awards for producing the "Outstanding Children's Specials" Free to Be... You & Me (1974) and, later, Free to Be... a Family (1988). She would also win a Grammy for her children's album "Marlo Thomas & Friends." As for TV, she earned wonderful reviews starring in the ABC holiday mini-movie comedy It Happened One Christmas (1977) playing a troubled female version of James Stewart's protagonist in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) but it was her dramatic work in the TV movies The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984) Consenting Adult (1985) (Golden Globe nomination), Nobody's Child (1986) (Emmy Award, Golden Globe nomination), and Held Hostage: The Sis and Jerry Levin Story (1991), Ultimate Betrayal (1994) and Reunion (1994) that forever erased her pristine stereotype image and saw her as a dramatic force to be reckoned with.

Marlo's subsequent return visits to Broadway with the plays "Social Security" (1986) and "The Shadow Box" (1994) added to her list of successes and continued with demanding theater roles such as Beatrice in "The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigold" (1990), Martha in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" (1992) and Ouisa in "Sex Degrees of Separation" (1992).

Marlo remained actively involved on TV in everything from classic comedy (as Jennifer Aniston's mom in Friends (1994) to adult drama as a lawyer/mentor in the highly-rated crime drama Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), with other TV guest appearances including "Roseanne," "Ally McBeal," "Ugly Betty," "The New Normal" and an additional recurring role on Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017).

Sporadic filming into the millennium included the "Odd Couple"-styled comedy In the Spirit (1990) co-starring Elaine May and featuring May's daughter Jeannie Berlin who also co-wrote, and featured roles in the romantic comedy The Real Blonde (1997), the drama Starstruck (1998), the social comedy Playing Mona Lisa (2000), the Miley Cyrus romantic dramedy LOL (2012), the witty comedy The Female Brain (2017) and the action comedy Ocean's Eight (2018) headed by Sandra Bullock.

Younger brother/producer Tony Thomas and actress/sister Terre Thomas also involved themselves in show business careers. On a more personal level, Marlo is an accomplished author, humanitarian and social activist. She has also continued the tradition of her late father as National Outreach Director for St. Jude's Children Hospital for cancer research.
BornNovember 21, 1937
  • More at IMDbPro
    • Contact info
    • Agent info
    • Resume
BornNovember 21, 1937
IMDbProStarmeter
Top 5,0001430
  • View contact info at IMDbPro
  • Won 3 Primetime Emmys

Photos139

Marlo Thomas and Warren Berlinger in That Girl (1966)
Alan Alda and Marlo Thomas in Jenny (1970)
Marlo Thomas and Jerry Van Dyke in That Girl (1966)
Kris Kristofferson and Marlo Thomas in The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984)
Marlo Thomas and Ted Bessell in That Girl (1966)
Tuesday Weld, Marlo Thomas, and Dwayne Hickman in The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis (1959)
Jennifer Aniston and Marlo Thomas in Friends (1994)
Marlo Thomas and Christopher Shea in That Girl (1966)
Marlo Thomas, Ted Bessell, and Arthur Julian in That Girl (1966)
Marlo Thomas in That Girl (1966)
Marlo Thomas and Sid Caesar in That Girl (1966)
Marlo Thomas and Byron Morrow in That Girl (1966)

Known for

Marlo Thomas in That Girl (1966)
That Girl
7.2
TV Series
  • Ann Marie
Miley Cyrus in LOL (2012)
LOL
4.3
  • Gran
  • 2012
Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer in Friends (1994)
Friends
8.9
TV Series
  • Sandra Green
Sandra Bullock, Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, and Awkwafina in Ocean's Eight (2018)
Ocean's Eight
6.3
  • Rene
  • 2018

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actress

  • Marlo Thomas, Alison Sweeney, and Maesa Nicholson in A Magical Christmas Village (2022)
    A Magical Christmas Village
  • The Rocketeer (2019)
    The Rocketeer
    • (voice)
  • Sandra Bullock, Helena Bonham Carter, Cate Blanchett, Anne Hathaway, Sarah Paulson, Mindy Kaling, Rihanna, and Awkwafina in Ocean's Eight (2018)
    Ocean's Eight
  • Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later (2017)
    Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later
  • James Marsden, Sofía Vergara, Lucy Punch, Deon Cole, Whitney Cummings, Blake Griffin, and Cecily Strong in The Female Brain (2017)
    The Female Brain
  • Cardboard Boxer (2016)
    Cardboard Boxer
    • (uncredited)
  • Ballers (2015)
    Ballers
  • Happily Never After (2012)
    Happily Never After
  • Ellen Barkin, Justin Bartha, Andrew Rannells, Georgia King, NeNe Leakes, and Bebe Wood in The New Normal (2012)
    The New Normal
  • Miley Cyrus in LOL (2012)
    LOL
  • America Ferrera in Ugly Betty (2006)
    Ugly Betty
  • Mariska Hargitay in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999)
    Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
  • Marlo Thomas and Vondie Curtis-Hall in Deceit (2004)
    Deceit
  • Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer in Friends (1994)
    Friends
  • Marlo Thomas and Ellen Muth in Two Against Time (2002)
    Two Against Time

Producer

  • Marlo Thomas and Vondie Curtis-Hall in Deceit (2004)
    Deceit
  • Our Heroes, Ourselves
  • Marlo Thomas and Ellen Muth in Two Against Time (2002)
    Two Against Time
  • Leelee Sobieski, Peter Strauss, Marlo Thomas, Courtney Chase, and Matthew Kelly in Reunion (1994)
    Reunion
  • Taken Away (1989)
    Taken Away
  • Free to Be... a Family (1988)
    Free to Be... a Family
  • Leap of Faith (1988)
    Leap of Faith
  • CBS Summer Playhouse (1987)
    CBS Summer Playhouse
  • The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck (1984)
    The Lost Honor of Kathryn Beck
  • Orson Welles, Cloris Leachman, Marlo Thomas, and Wayne Rogers in It Happened One Christmas (1977)
    It Happened One Christmas
  • Free to Be... You & Me (1974)
    Free to Be... You & Me
  • Marlo Thomas in That Girl (1966)
    That Girl
    • (uncredited)

Writer

  • Free to Be... You & Me (1974)
    Free to Be... You & Me
  • In-development projects at IMDbPro

Videos9

Official Teaser
Trailer 0:35
Official Teaser
Theatrical Trailer
Trailer 2:43
Theatrical Trailer
Free to Be...You & Me
Trailer 1:58
Free to Be...You & Me
That Girl
Trailer 1:24
That Girl
That Girl: Seasons One Through Five
Trailer 1:24
That Girl: Seasons One Through Five
That Girl: Season Three
Trailer 1:26
That Girl: Season Three
That Girl: Season One
Trailer 1:26
That Girl: Season One
In The Spirit
Trailer 0:31
In The Spirit
Cardboard Boxer Trailer
Trailer 2:01
Cardboard Boxer Trailer

Personal details

Edit
    • November 21, 1937
    • Detroit, Michigan, USA
    • Phil DonahueMay 21, 1980 - present
    • Rose Marie Mantell Thomas
    • Terre Thomas(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Album (as Marlo Thomas and Friends), "Free to Be...A Family", A&M/PolyGram Records 215 196
  • Publicity listings
    • 1 Print Biography
    • 2 Interviews
    • 14 Articles
    • 2 Pictorials
    • 93 Magazine Cover Photos

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Remained friends with That Girl (1966) co-star Ted Bessell until his death. Thomas insisted Bessell see a doctor (which he did), when he complained of chest pains only days before he died.
  • Quotes
    My father said there were two kinds of people in the world: givers and takers. The takers may eat better, but the givers sleep better.
    • Raspy voice

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