Leigh Taylor-Young
Taylor-Young at the 1994 Emmy Awards
Born	Leigh Taylor (1945-01-25)January 25, 1945 (age 81) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Other names	Leigh Young Leigh Taylor Young
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1966–present
Spouses	Ryan O'Neal ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1974)​ Guy McElwaine ​ ​ (m. 1978; div. 1984)​ Craig Sheffer ​ ​ (m. 2003; div. 2004)​ John Morton ​ (m. 2013)​
Children	Patrick O'Neal
Website	www.lty.com

Leigh Taylor-Young (born January 25, 1945)^[1] is an American former actress who has appeared on stage, screen, podcast, radio, and television. Her best-known films includeI Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968),The Horsemen (1971),The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971),Soylent Green (1973), andJagged Edge (1985). She won an Emmy for her role on the hit television seriesPicket Fences.

Young was born inWashington, D.C. She added the surname Young, the surname of her stepfather, Donald E. Young, a Detroit executive. Her father was a diplomat, and her younger siblings are actress/sculptorDey Young and writer/director/producer Lance Young. The siblings were raised inOakland County, Michigan. Leigh graduated from Groves High School (Michigan). Before attendingNorthwestern University as an economics major, she spent a summer shifting scenery, modeling, acting, and sweeping up at a Detroit little theater.^[2] She left Northwestern before graduating to pursue a full-time acting career, making her professional debut onBroadway in3 Bags Full. About dropping out of college, she said:

I left there because I lost the most wonderful teacher. I didn't want to go back when she left. My parents naturally were upset, and I spent four months at home thinking what to do, then went to New York and California.^[2]

Taylor-Young got her first big break in 1966, when she was cast asRachel Welles on the primetime soap operaPeyton Place.^[3] Her character was written in the show as a replacement for the character ofAllison MacKenzie, previously played byMia Farrow. The series' producer, Everett Chambers, cast her because of her "great warmth and sweet angelic qualities not unlike Mia". When she received the role, Taylor-Young had been in California only a few days.^[2] She initially went there in April 1966 to recuperate from an attack ofpneumonia.^[4] She impressed the head producer ofPeyton Place,Paul Monash, with a performance fromThe Glass Menagerie and was immediately signed to a seven-year television and multiple-movie contract.^[4]

Shortly after, she told the press: "I'd have preferred to stay in New York to establish myself as an actress before coming to Hollywood."^[5]

It was on this series that she metRyan O'Neal, whom she later married. Taylor-Young had difficulty working on the show, explaining in an April 1967 interview:

"When I got my first check for [3 Bags Full], I thought to myself, 'isn't this wonderful — being paid to have fun.' But after working in 70 chapters ofPeyton Place out here in Hollywood, I'm glad to get my paycheck. I can now understand why good actors and actress[es] complain about going stale in television. It's difficult to give a character depth when there's a man with a stopwatch standing beside you complaining that the company is spending $3,000 a minute. Yes, I've learned that when you act in a TV series it becomes your whole life."^[6]

Despite the huge amount of publicity she received while working onPeyton Place, Taylor-Young left the soap opera in 1967 due to her pregnancy. She subsequently pursued a career in films, landing a lucrative seven-year contract with a major studio. Her first film role came oppositePeter Sellers in the comedyI Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968). It was commercially successful, and she received aGolden Globe Award nomination for Most Promising Female Newcomer. She then appeared with husband Ryan O'Neal inThe Big Bounce (1969).

For the next several years, her pictures tended to be high-budget films, such asThe Adventurers (1970), based on the novel by best-sellerHarold Robbins; andThe Horsemen, (1971) with leading manOmar Sharif. She is perhaps best known for her performance as Shirl, the "furniture" girl, in thescience fiction classicSoylent Green (1973). After her appearance inSoylent Green, she made the professional decision to take a hiatus from acting in order to concentrate on raising her only child, son Patrick.

The 1980s saw Taylor-Young return to both film and television, where her looks and voice often led to casting in roles of an aristocratic bent.^[3] In 1981 she appeared in the high technologyMichael Crichton productionLooker. In 1985, she was cast as Virginia Howell inJagged Edge, and appeared in theromantic comedySecret Admirer.

In addition to her film work, she guest-starred on such television series asMcCloud,Fantasy Island,The Love Boat,Hart to Hart,Hotel andSpenser: For Hire. She returned to her soap opera roots in 1983, appearing in the short-lived primetime seriesThe Hamptons. From 1987–89, she played Kimberly Cryder, a recurring character onDallas, her first role in a major prime time soap sincePeyton Place.^[3]

Despite being best known for her film and television work, she has stated a preference for live theater, where her career began. FavoringSamuel Beckett, she starred oppositeDonald Davis in Beckett's one act playCatastrophe (included in a trilogy of one-act plays billed asThe Beckett Plays) at theEdinburgh International Festival in 1984. She also touredLos Angeles,New York City andLondon with the show.^[7]

After 1990 Taylor-Young's film credits have included minor roles inHoneymoon Academy (1990),Bliss (1997) andSlackers (2002), as well asdirect-to-video filmsAddams Family Reunion (1998),Klepto (2003),Spiritual Warriors (2007) andThe Wayshower (2011).

Perhaps her best-known television work was on theCBS seriesPicket Fences, playing mercurial andcougar-ish mayor Rachel Harris from 1993–1995. She won anEmmy Award for the role in 1994, for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series, and received a Golden Globe nomination the following year.^[8] From 2004–2007 she played Katherine Barrett Crane on the soap operaPassions.

Taylor-Young also appeared on TV series such asThe Young Riders,Murder, She Wrote,Sunset Beach,Malibu Shores,7th Heaven,Star Trek: Deep Space Nine andLife. She had recurring roles onBeverly Hills, 90210,The Pretender, andUPN'sThe Sentinel. She also appeared in a handful oftelevision films, includingPerry Mason: The Case of the Sinister Spirit (1987),Who Gets the Friends? andStranger in My Home (1997).

Taylor-Young marriedRyan O'Neal, herPeyton Place co-star, in 1967. Their wedding was spontaneous: While in Hawaii for a promotion forPeyton Place, anABC manager offered them the opportunity to marry at his home.^[6]

She married John Morton in January 2013 at PRANA, headquarters of theMovement of Spiritual Inner Awareness in Los Angeles.^[9] She is an ordained minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness, founded by the lateJohn-Roger Hinkins and now led by her husband.^[10]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toLeigh Taylor-Young.

• Official website
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• Leigh Taylor Young Recites "A Course In Miracles"Archived 2016-03-04 at theWayback Machine

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• Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness
• Northwestern University alumni
• Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Drama Series Primetime Emmy Award winners

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