Catherine Hicks

Catherine Hicks had a master's degree in theater and Broadway credits by the time she earned an Emmy nomination for playing Marilyn Monroe in the warmly received "Marilyn: The Untold Story" (ABC, 1980). She continued her ascent with high-profile roles in projects like the campy miniseries "Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls" (CBS, 1981) and the series "Tucker's Witch" (CBS, 1982-83), as well as feature films "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986) and, most famously, as the whale-obsessed biologist in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986). She won a Best Actress Saturn Award for her starring role as a mother who buys Chucky, a demonically possessed doll, in the horror hit "Child's Play" (1988).

After supporting roles in "She's Out of Control" (1989) and "Turbulence" (1997), Hicks landed her most famous part, as the down-to-earth Annie Camden, who, along with her reverend husband Eric (Stephen Collins), used faith and common sense to shepherd their brood in the long-running inspirational family drama "7th Heaven" (The WB, 1996-2006; The CW, 2006-07). Although she never quite achieved household name status, Catherine Hicks built an impressively varied career that showed her considerable range and talent.

Born Aug. 6, 1951 in New York City, Catherine Mary Hicks grew up in Arizona but graduated from Saint Mary's College in Indiana. Determined to be an actress, she went on to study drama at Cornell University on a fellowship, earning her master's degree in theater. Hicks made her screen debut as pediatrician Dr. Faith Coleridge on the soap opera "Ryan's Hope" (ABC, 1975-1989) and began earning Broadway credits soon after, including a role opposite Jack Lemmon in the drama "Tribute." After essaying the junior high school principal on the TV version of "The Bad News Bears" (CBS, 1979-1980), she scored the highly coveted role of screen icon Marilyn Monroe in "Marilyn: The Untold Story" (ABC, 1980), despite looking nothing like the sex symbol. While many had previously essayed Monroe, Hicks's sensitive and genuine portrayal earned her an Emmy nomination as Best Actress in a Miniseries or Special.

The following year, she won the role of Ann Welles, the young woman searching for her place in the world, who undergoes a rough education on life in the miniseries version of "Jacqueline Susann's Valley of the Dolls" (CBS, 1981). Buoyed by her continuing success, Hicks followed by scoring the the female lead of the fun, frothy sitcom, "Tucker's Witch" (CBS, 1982-83), as the magical half of a husband-and-wife detective team. She also continued to make big-screen inroads with roles in "Garbo Talks" (1984), "The Razor's Edge" (1984) and "Peggy Sue Got Married" (1986), but more fans took note of her as Dr. Gillian Taylor, a biologist interested in cetology and romancing Captain Kirk (William Shatner) in "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" (1986), a role that earned her a Best Supporting Actress Saturn Award nomination. She charmed with a small role in the Dudley Moore/Kirk Cameron body-switch comedy "Like Father Like Son" (1987) and won a Best Actress Saturn Award for her role as a terrified mother who inadvertently buys her son a murderous doll named Chucky in "Child's Play" (1988).

Her "Child's Play" role proved auspicious in other ways as well. In 1990, she married famed make-up and special effects artist Kevin Yagher, who had designed and executed the notorious Chucky. The actress continued to work steadily, booking roles in the Tony Danza big-screen comedy "She's Out of Control" (1989), the glossy nighttime soap opera "Winnetka Road" (NBC, 1994) and the airplane thriller "Turbulence" (1997). Her most famous role, however, came when she was cast as Annie, the warm and wise wife to reverend Stephen Collins, as well as being the mother of their large brood on the family drama "7th Heaven" (The WB, 1996-2006; The CW, 2006-07). Although its gentle tone and inspirational overtones struck some as cloying, the series delighted others with its focus on family values and faith, and Hicks herself provided a strong maternal influence. Continuing in the vein of her inspirational-leaning later career roles, she appeared in the religious indie drama "The Genesis Code" (2010) and settled into a string of roles in family-themed projects, such as "Elf Sparkle and the Special Red Dress" (2010) and "A Christmas Wedding Tail" (Hallmark Channel, 2011).