Dee Wallace-Stone

Deanna Wallace (née Bowers), also known as Dee Wallace Stone (born December 14, 1948), is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Mary Taylor in the 1982 blockbuster science-fiction film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial''.

Wallace earned further recognition as a scream queen for starring in several horror films, including ''The Stepford Wives'' (1975), ''The Hills Have Eyes'' (1977), ''The Howling'' (1981), ''Cujo'' (1983), '' Critters'' (1986), ''The Frighteners'' (1996), '' Halloween'' (2007), ''The House of the Devil'' (2009), and '' The Lords of Salem'' (2012).

Early life

Wallace was born in Kansas City, Kansas, the daughter of Maxine (née Nichols), a secretary, and Robert Stanley Bowers. Wallace's father developed severe alcoholism before dying by suicide when Wallace was in high school. Her mother was a stage actress and producer who appeared in community-theater productions in Kansas City, which inspired Wallace's interest in acting.

After graduating from Wyandotte High School, Wallace attended the University of Kansas and obtained an education degree. She briefly taught high-school drama at Washington High School in her native Kansas City in the early 1970s.

Career

Wallace began her career on television appearing in episodes of ''The Streets of San Francisco'', ''Starsky & Hutch'', and '' Police Woman'', before appearing in the box-office horror hit film ''The Hills Have Eyes'' (1977). In 1981, she played a leading role in the horror film ''The Howling'' opposite her husband Christopher Stone. They later starred together in ''Cujo'' (1983) based on Stephen King's 1981 novel of the same name.

In 1982, Wallace went on to star in Steven Spielberg's science-fiction film ''E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial'' (1982). The film became the highest-grossing film of all time—a record held for 11 years until ''Jurassic Park'', another Spielberg-directed film, surpassed it in 1993. Wallace received a Saturn Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress for her performance at the 10th Saturn Awards. Wallace also starred in a number of comedy films, including '' 10'' (1979), ''Jimmy the Kid'' (1982), and ''Secret Admirer'' (1985). In 1986, she starred in the horror comedy film '' Critters'' (a role she later reprised in a sequel, ''Critters Attack!'', in 2019). She has also appeared in many other horror films, most notably Peter Jackson's ''The Frighteners'' (1996).

On television, Wallace played a leading role in the CBS sitcom ''Together We Stand'' (1986–1987) and the family drama '' The New Lassie'' (1989–1992). She guest-starred in episodes of a number of shows, including ''The Twilight Zone'', ''Hotel'', ''Murder, She Wrote'', ''Touched by an Angel'', ''Bones'', ''Grey's Anatomy'', ''My Name Is Earl'', ''Criminal Minds'', and ''The Office''. In 2015, Wallace was cast on the ABC soap opera series ''General Hospital'', as Patricia Spencer, the unseen, long-lost older sister of Luke and Bobbie Spencer; Wallace appeared in the show ''Supernatural'', in the episode titled "Into the Mystic", which aired on January 27, 2016. In 2016, she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series at the 43rd Daytime Emmy Awards for her performance in ''General Hospital''.

Personal life

She was briefly married first to Barry Wallace and still uses his surname in her career. Their marriage ended in divorce. She married Christopher Stone in 1980, who died suddenly in 1995. They have one daughter, Gabrielle Stone.

Wallace is a public speaker and self-help author, having written three books, and has her own call-in radio show, in which she talks exclusively about the creation of "self". She often speaks about how one can get through tough times with determination and love. She has also written a book called ''Bright Light'' about her life lessons from an acting career. In 2018, she gave her first TED talk at TEDx Cape May, entitled "The Common Ground of Self".

Selected filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

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American film actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
Living people
Actresses from Kansas City, Kansas
University of Kansas alumni
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
1948 births
Downtown Los Angeles Film Festival award winners