Lauren Tewes
Tewes inThe Love Boat, 1977
Born	Cynthia Lauren Tewes (1953-10-26)October 26, 1953 (age 71) Trafford, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Education	Pioneer High School
Alma mater	Rio Hondo College University of California, Riverside (unfinished) Pacific Conservatory Theatre
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1973–present
Known for	Julie McCoy –The Love Boat
Spouses	John Wassel ​ ​ (m. 1977; div. 1982)​ Paolo Nonnis ​ ​ (m. 1985; div. 1995)​ Robert Nadir ​ ​ (m. 1996; died 2002)​

Cynthia Lauren Tewes^[1] (/ˈtwiːz/,^[2] born October 26, 1953^[3]) is an American actress. She played Julie McCoy on the televisionanthology seriesThe Love Boat, which originally aired onABC from 1977 to 1986.

Tewes was born inTrafford, Pennsylvania,^[4][5] of German extraction,^[2] and one of four children born to Joanne (née Woods) and Joseph Tewes,^[4][5] a wood pattern maker.^[2] Regarding the proper pronunciation of her last name, Tewes later explained, "[It] was originally pronounced 'Tavis.' But when my grandfather arrived inEllis Island from Germany, the immigration official carelessly said his name was "Tweeze," and it hung on ever since.'"^[2]

The family moved toWhittier, California when Tewes was eight.^[4] She attended Ada S. Nelson Elementary School^[6] andPioneer High School, where she studied drama, winning Best Actress award for three years.^[7] Tewes enrolled on anAssociate of Arts degree atRio Hondo College, deciding to major in theatre arts. At college, she won "The Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Theatre", a one-year scholarship which enabled her to transfer to theUniversity of California, Riverside, as a sophomore.^[8]

In 1973, when her scholarship expired, Tewes withdrew from college and joined thePacific Conservatory Theatre in Santa Maria, California, as an apprentice, making her stage debut inArsenic and Old Lace andThe Most Happy Fella before becoming a member of the Birdcage Theatre Company atKnott's Berry Farm, an amusement complex outside Los Angeles.^[9]

Tewes' first break came in mid-1974 when she starred in aLipton Ice Tea commercial, allowing her to join theScreen Actors Guild and register with an agent with the prospect to work on film projects.^[4]

Tewes was soon cast in roles on the prime time TV seriesCharlie's Angels ("Angels in Chains"),Vega$ ("My Darling Daughter"), andFamily ("Mirror, Mirror on the Wall...") as Jill Redfield, a disenchanted Pasadena debutante. However, it was her role inStarsky & Hutch ("Starsky and Hutch Are Guilty") as Sharon Freemont, an assistant district attorney, which brought her to the attention ofAaron Spelling.^[10]

Tewes was cast for the role of cruise director Julie McCoy onThe Love Boat, selected from more than 100 actresses who auditioned.^[11] She starred in the third and final pilot of the show, cast the day before production began on theRMSQueen Mary in Long Beach.^[12] Tewes recalls the pilot episode:

"I had to borrow money to get a new tire, because my ’62 Volkswagen Bug was not going to get to San Pedro…. That first day, standing there in the little outfit, and I had to say, ”Hi, welcome aboard, I’m Julie McCoy, your cruise director” a gazillion times. But I kept screwing it up and saying, ”Hi, welcome aboard, I’m Julie MacLeod…” because I was talking toGavin MacLeod and I was so excited."^[13]

In parallel, Tewes appeared in 1979 TV filmDallas Cowboys Cheerleaders alongsideJane Seymour and made her film debut in the 1981 filmEyes of a Stranger, which co-starred a youngJennifer Jason Leigh.

In 1984, after seven seasons onThe Love Boat, Tewes was replaced after a highly public battle with cocaine addiction, which she eventually overcame.^[14] She did reprise her role as a guest in a 1985 episode,^[15] and in the television films in the 1986–87 season.

Tewes was cast in a 1985CBS sitcom pilotAnything for Love. The pilot aired as a special that summer, but was not picked up as a series. She went on to star in classic 1980s TV seriesMy Two Dads,The New Mike Hammer,Murder, She Wrote,T. J. Hooker andHunter.

In 1994, Tewes moved to Seattle and focused on regional theatre acting and directing across the country. In Seattle, she performed with the Tacoma Actors Guild and the Seattle Repertory Theatre.^[16] As well as doing voice-overs for commercials, Tewes continued her TV career and appeared in a 1998 episode ofLove Boat: The Next Wave, a two-season revival of the original series. In 2000–01, she had a recurring role as a police detective onThe Fugitive.

Tewes plays Maxine Murdoch in theImagination Theatre comedy-mystery radio seriesMurder and the Murdochs, which debuted in 2020. She has also played roles in episodes of other radio series onImagination Theatre.^[17]

Tewes attended culinary school to become acheese specialist and works as asous-chef for acatering company in Seattle when not acting.^[18]

Tewes has been married three times: first to John Wassel, a TV commercials director; then to Paolo Nonnis, an Italian drummer; and, lastly, to stage actor Robert Nadir. In 1987, she suffered the loss of her one-month-old daughter, who was born prematurely.^{[19][dead link‍]}

• Lauren Tewes atIMDb
• Lauren Tewes atRotten Tomatoes

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• Living people
• Actresses from Whittier, California
• Actresses from Pennsylvania
• American film actresses
• American people of German descent
• American stage actresses
• American television actresses
• American voice actresses
• People from Trafford, Pennsylvania
• University of California, Riverside alumni
• 20th-century American actresses
• 21st-century American women
• 1953 births

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