Patricia Richardson Biography

Patricia Castle Richardson (born February 23, 1951) is an American television and film actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the sitcom Home Improvement, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical.

Richardson also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in Ulee's Gold (1997).

Early life

Richardson is a 1972 graduate of Southern Methodist University, where she was friends with classmates Beth Henley and Stephen Tobolowsky, who was slated to be a cast member of Home Improvement, but had other contractual commitments when the series began filming. Tobolowsky initially suggested to producers of Home Improvement that Richardson be considered for the role of Jill Taylor after Frances Fisher was deemed too serious for the role.

Career

Richardson began as the understudy for the role of Gypsy Rose Lee in Angela Lansbury's Broadway production of Gypsy: A Musical Fable, also playing several small chorus parts. In the next ten years she worked in regional theater, commercials, and other Broadway and Off- Broadway plays. She had roles in programs such as The Equalizer, Spencer For Hire, and Kate & Allie. She appeared in one episode of The Cosby Show in the third season with her husband playing a woman giving birth to her ninth child. Richardson also appeared in the films C.H.U.D. and You Better Watch Out.

In 1983 she left New York for LA briefly to do a sitcom centered around Katey Sagal's twin sisters, Liz and Jean Sagal, called Double Trouble, for Norman Lear. When asked to go back and do a second season after her contract had expired, she passed in order to stay in New York and continue performing in Beth Henley's The Miss Firecracker Contest Off-Broadway. A few years later Allan Burns, who co- created The Mary Tyler Moore Show, brought her back to Los Angeles to star in two sitcoms he produced: Eisenhower and Lutz and FM. Both shows ran for 13 episodes.

In 1991, three months after giving birth to twins, Richardson became a last-minute replacement for Frances Fisher in what would be her breakout role as Jill Taylor on the ABC sitcom Home Improvement. Richardson received four Emmy nominations, and two Golden Globe nominations in this role. While working on Home Improvement, she hosted the Emmys with Ellen DeGeneres, starred in the miniseries Undue Influence with Brian Dennehy, Sophie and the Moonhanger on Lifetime with Lynn Whitfield, and won an Independent Spirit nomination in 1997 for her first major theatrical film role in Ulee's Gold.

In 2002, Richardson replaced Janine Turner in the Lifetime medical drama series Strong Medicine, as a new character, Dr. Andy Campbell. She was nominated for two Prism Awards for her work in Strong Medicine. After three seasons on that show she was cast in a recurring role as Sheila Brooks, campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) in the final two seasons of NBC political drama The West Wing.

Richardson appeared in the first season of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In 2008, she was the executive producer of the video documentary Long Story Short, which tells the story of Larry and Trudie Long, a popular Asian American nightclub act of the '40s and '50s, told through the eyes of their daughter and her friend, actress Jodi Long. In 2010, she appeared in an NBC made-for-TV film, The Jensen Project, and in 2011, she appeared in the Lifetime television film Bringing Ashley Home, also starring AJ Cook and Jennifer Morrison. In 2011, she starred in the coming-of-age film Beautiful Wave and in the following year appeared in the Hallmark Channel TV film Smart Cookies. Since then, Richardson has filmed several small independent films and two more movies for the Hallmark channel, Friend Request and Snow Bride.

On the twelfth episode of the fourth season of Last Man Standing titled "Helen Potts", Richardson guest-starred as the titular character and reunited with her former Home Improvement co-star, Tim Allen. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that one of her sons' name is Randy, who was portrayed by her other Home Improvement co-star; Jonathan Taylor Thomas. She returned as Helen Potts in the next season.

In 2015, she ran for the position of national president of the SAG-AFTRA after she had served on the board for one term. She lost the election narrowly to incumbent President Ken Howard. She was re-elected to the National and Local Los Angeles Boards of SAG-AFTRA.

Personal life

Richardson married fellow actor Ray Baker in 1982. They had three children together: Henry Richardson Baker (born on February 22, 1985), and twins Roxanne Elizabeth Baker and Joseph Castle Baker (born on January 3, 1991), before they got divorced in August 1995. Richardson is the godmother of actress Betty Gilpin, the daughter of actor Jack Gilpin.

Richardson had a long-term relationship with retired psychologist Mark Cline, whom she had met when they were both students at the Southern Methodist University. When she joined the cast of Strong Medicine, Richardson mentioned in an interview they lived together in her LA home.

Richardson served many years on the Board of Directors and is the National Spokesperson for "Cure PSP", a patient advocacy and research organization for progressive supranuclear palsy, corticobasal degeneration, multiple system atrophy and related "Prime Of Life " diseases. Her father died of PSP in 2005.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1980	You Better Watch Out	Moss' mother
1984	C.H.U.D.	Ad Woman
1986	Yuri Nosenko, KGB	Joan Black	Television movie
1987	Hands of a Stranger	Helen	Television movie
1989	Parent Trap III	Cassie McGuire	Television movie
1989	Lost Angels	Cheryl's Mother
1989	In Country	Cindy
1996	Sophie & the Moonhanger	Bonnie Edgerton	Television movie
1996	Undue Influence	Laurel Vega	Television movie
1997	Ulee's Gold	Connie Hope	Nominated"?Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female
2001	Blonde	Gladys Baker
2001	Dead Simple	Helen/Wanda
2005	Candy Paint	Linda Miller	Short film
2007	California Dreaming	Aunt Bonnie
2009	Lost Dream	Patricia
2010	The Jensen Project	Ingrid	Television movie
2011	Beautiful Wave	Sue Davenport
2011	Bringing Ashley Home	Michelle McGee	Television movie
2012	Smart Cookies	Lola	Television movie
2013	Avarice	Claire
2013	Snow Bride	Maggie Tannenhill	Television movie
2017	County Line	Maddie Hall

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1981	Love, Sidney		Episode: "A Piece of the Rock"
1984	Double Trouble	Beth McConnell	8 episodes
1985	ABC Weekend Special	Pamela Sawyer	Episode: "The Adventures of Con Sawyer and Hucklemary Finn"
1985	Kate & Allie	Pamela	Episode: "The Reunion"
1986	Spenser: For Hire	Sarah Cabot	Episode: "Shadowsight"
1987	The Cosby Show	Mrs. Schrader	Episode: "Calling Doctor Huxtable"
1987	The Equalizer	Sandy	Episode: "In the Money"
1988	Eisenhower and Lutz	Kay 'K.K.' Dunne	13 episodes
1989	Quantum Leap	Rachel Porter	Episode: "Good Morning, Peoria - September 9, 1959"
1989-1990	FM	Lee-Ann Plunkett	13 episodes
1991-1999	Home Improvement	Jill Taylor	202 episodes Nominated"?Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy (1994-95) Nominated"?People's Choice Award for Favorite Female TV Performer Nominated"?Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1994, 1996-98) Nominated"?Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series Nominated"?Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Quality Comedy Series
1999	Law & Order: Special Victims Unit	Annabel Hayes	Episode: "Wanderlust"
2002-2005	Strong Medicine	Dr. Andy Campbell	59 episodes Nominated"?Prism Award for Best Performance in a Drama Series
2005-2006	The West Wing	Sheila Brooks	9 episodes
2013	Chance At Romance	May	Hallmark Movie
2015-2016	Last Man Standing	Helen Potts	2 Episodes "Helen Potts", "Tanks For The Memories"