Mariette Hartley

Attended and graduated from Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut (1957), where she was the head of the school's drama department.

Mariette Hartley was born Mary Loretta, a name she dislikes, in Weston, Connecticut. She was raised in accordance with the principles espoused by her behavioral psychologist grandfather, John B. Watson, who believed that children should never be held or cuddled. She says that the lack of warmth at home is what drove her to the theatre. She studied with John Houseman at the Repertory Stratford and with Eva Le Gallienne at Lucille Lortel's White Barn Theatre. It took her six years to get her first movie, Ride the High Country (1962) with Joel McCrea. She then made a series of TV appearances and sitcoms. Ultimately, she appeared with co-host Bill Beutel on "A. M.

Mariette's father committed suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot in 1962. Her family kept it a secret for 25 years, but she eventually revealed the incident. This brought her considerable acclaim for speaking out about her devastation. She co-founded a suicide prevention foundation based on her own past situation.

Received her Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Theatre from the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) (1965).

She was not allowed to show her belly button in the third season episode Star Trek: The Original Series: All Our Yesterdays (1969) due to censors. But Gene Roddenberry got even: he had her show TWO belly buttons in the television movie Genesis II (1973).

America", the predecessor to ABC's Good Morning America (1975). She is most known, however, for her series of Polaroid commercials with James Garner.

Her celebrity was increased significantly due to a notable, much praised, and much parodied very large series of television commercials and print ads for Polaroid cameras and film, with James Garner, running from 1977-1984. She and Garner were so naturally convincing as husband and wife that Mariette had a variety of T-shirts made, proclaiming "I am not James Garner's wife!" or "I am not Jim Rockford's wife!" or "I am not James Garner's son!" (worn by her teenage son at that time). More than 300 commercials were produced.

1978) is an actress and singer, and Sean Boyriven (b.

Received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7020 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on June 11, 1987.

Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Fine Arts) from Rider College (now Rider University) in Lawrenceville, New Jersey (1993).

She continues to work in the theatre and, in 2000, was hosting the syndicated Wild About Animals (1995). Her children, Justine E. Boyriven (b.

(2001-2006) She was spokesperson (with her son) for the See Clearly Method (a VHS/DVD tutorial by Vision Improvement Technologies purported to naturally correct impaired vision through an eye exercise program, for which sales were ultimately halted by a court, finding that this had been marketed dishonestly).

In 2006, she performed her one-woman show "If You Get to Bethlehem, You've Gone Too Far", which is based on her bestselling biography "Breaking the Silence" (1990). Mariette enacts eleven characters from her memories as a child living in a home beset by acute depression and alcoholism.

She was a founder and longtime national spokesperson for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, which she continues to be involved with as an honorary member of the board of directors (through 2013), and works assertively with many organizations that deal with mental illness. Her father, uncle and cousin all committed suicide.