Janet Lansbury is an American educator and former actress, credited as Janet Julian for much of her career.

Early life

Janet Lansbury was born in

Evanston, Illinois Evanston is a city in Cook County, Illinois, United States, situated on the North Shore (Chicago), North Shore along Lake Michigan. A suburb of Chicago, Evanston is north of Chicago Loop, downtown Chicago, bordered by Chicago to the south, Skok ...

, and raised there and in Southern California. She graduated from

North Hollywood High School North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, including m ...

and attended the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school the ...

before moving to New York to become a model. She was a print and commercial model including commercials for

Herbal Essences Herbal Essences is a brand of hair care products line by Procter & Gamble. The brand was founded in 1971 as the single shampoo Clairol Herbal Essence Shampoo (officially typeset as ''Clairol herbal essence shampoo''). There are 29 collections of ...

shampoo.

Acting career

Lansbury got her big break when she won the role of

Nancy Drew Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...

in the 1970s television series ''

The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries ''The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries'' (re-titled ''The Hardy Boys'' for season three) is an American television mystery series based on the '' Hardy Boys'' and ''Nancy Drew'' juvenile novels. The series, which ran from January 30, 1977, to Ja ...

'' when

Pamela Sue Martin Pamela Sue Martin (born January 5, 1953) is an American actress, who is best known for starring as Nancy Drew on the television series '' The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries'' (1977–1979) and as socialite Fallon Carrington on ABC soap opera ...

left the show in 1978. Her other well-known TV role came a year later on the cult TV series ''

B. J. and the Bear ''B. J. and the Bear'' is an American action comedy television series which aired on NBC from February 10, 1979, to May 9, 1981. Created by Glen A. Larson and Christopher Crowe, the series starred Greg Evigan. The series was produced when t ...

'' as Tommy. She starred on the evening

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...

'' in 1989 as Cookie Nash. Lansbury made guest appearances on several TV shows, among them ''

Battlestar Galactica ''Battlestar Galactica'' is an American science fiction media franchise created by Glen A. Larson. It began with the original television series in 1978, and was followed by a short-run sequel series, '' Galactica 1980'', a line of book adaptat ...

''; ''

The Fall Guy ''The Fall Guy'' is an American action-adventure television series produced for ABC and originally broadcast from November 4, 1981, to May 2, 1986. It stars Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonl ...

''; ''

Knight Rider ''Knight Rider'' is an American media franchise, entertainment franchise created by Glen A. Larson. The core of ''Knight Rider'' is its three-television series: the original ''Knight Rider (1982 TV series), Knight Rider'' (1982–1986) and sequ ...

'';

Simon & Simon ''Simon & Simon'' is an American crime drama television series that originally ran from November 24, 1981, to September 16, 1989. The series was broadcast on CBS, and starred Gerald McRaney and Jameson Parker as two disparate brothers who ope ...

, ''

Fudge ''Fudge'' is a generic role-playing game system for use in freeform role-playing games. The name "''FUDGE''" was once an acronym for ''Freeform Universal Donated'' (later, ''Do-it-yourself'') ''Gaming Engine'' and, though the acronym has since b ...

''; ''

Columbo ''Columbo'' is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Columbo (character), Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originall ...

''; ''

Swamp Thing Swamp Thing is a superhero and antihero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. Created by writer Len Wein and artist Bernie Wrightson, the Swamp Thing has had several different incarnations throughout his publication. The ch ...

''; '' 240 Robert''; ''

Murder, She Wrote ''Murder, She Wrote'' is an American crime drama television series, created by Peter S. Fischer, Richard Levinson and William Link, starring Angela Lansbury, and produced and distributed by Universal Television for the CBS network. The series f ...

''; and '' Diagnosis: Murder''. Her first film role was in the 1978 movie ''

Big Wednesday ''Big Wednesday'' is a 1978 American epic coming of age buddy sports comedy-drama film directed by John Milius. Written by Milius and Dennis Aaberg, it is loosely based on their own experiences at Malibu, California. The picture stars Jan-Michae ...

''. She starred in two films directed by

Abel Ferrara Abel Ferrara (; born July 19, 1951) is an American filmmaker. He is best known for the provocative and often controversial content in his movies and his use and redefinition of neo-noir imagery. A long-time independent filmmaker, some of his best ...

: ''

Fear City ''Fear City'' is a 1984 American neo-noir erotic thriller film directed by Abel Ferrara, and written by his longtime collaborator Nicholas St. John. It stars Tom Berenger, Billy Dee Williams, Jack Scalia, and Melanie Griffith in the leading r ...

'' (1984) and ''

King of New York ''King of New York'' is a 1990 neo-noir crime film directed by Abel Ferrara and written by Nicholas St. John. It stars Christopher Walken, Laurence Fishburne, David Caruso, Victor Argo and Wesley Snipes, with supporting roles played by Gianc ...

'' (1990).

Teaching

Lansbury left acting in 1995 to raise her three children with husband Michael Lansbury, and she later became a parent educator. She has served on the Board of Directors of Resources for Infant Educarers
RIE
since 1995 and teaches RIE Parent/Infant Guidance Classes. In 2009, she began a parent educatio
blog
She later published two books, ''Elevating Child Care: A Guide to Respectful Parenting'' and ''No Bad Kids: Toddler Discipline Without Shame.'' In 2015, Lansbury launched ''Janet Lansbury Unruffled,'' a podcast series about respectful parenting.

Personal life

Julian has been married to Michael Lansbury, the nephew of actress

Angela Lansbury Dame Angela Brigid Lansbury (October 16, 1925 – October 11, 2022) was an Irish-British and American actress, producer, and singer. In a career spanning 80 years, she played various roles on stage and screen. Among her numerous accolades wer ...

, since 1990. They have three children together.

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * * * https://www.janetlansbury.com/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Julian, Janet 20th-century American actresses American film actresses American television actresses American bloggers Living people Actresses from Evanston, Illinois American soap opera actresses American women bloggers 21st-century American actresses Year of birth missing (living people)