Nada Rowand (born November 30, 1936) is an American
actress
An actor or actress is a person who portrays a Character (arts), character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek ...
, best known for her role as Kate Rescott Slavinsky on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
daytime
soap opera
A soap opera, or ''soap'' for short, is a typically long-running radio or television serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term "soap opera" originated from radio dramas originally being sponsored ...
''
Loving''.
Career
Rowand was born in
Sparta, Illinois
Sparta is a city in Randolph County, Illinois, United States. The population was 4,095 at the 2020 census.
The city was the principal filming location for the 1967 film '' In the Heat of the Night''.
Consumer ammunition manufacturer Underwood a ...
. She graduated from the
University of Illinois
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...
. Originally, she planned to be an
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...
singer, but after that didn't bring her significant success, she began studying to be an actress under
Uta Hagen.
She has numerous stage credits, including a singing role on
Broadway in ''
The Unsinkable Molly Brown'' from 1960 to 1962, a part in ''
Milk and Honey'',
and her role as a townswoman in ''
Walking Happy
''Walking Happy'' is a musical with music by Jimmy Van Heusen, lyrics by Sammy Cahn and book by Roger O. Hirson and Ketti Frings. The story is based on the 1916 play ''Hobson's Choice'' by Harold Brighouse. The musical was nominated for six Tony A ...
'' from 1966 to 1967. Later, in 1979, she played
Elizabeth, Duchess of York in the Broadway production of ''
King Richard III''.
In 1980, for the
Humana Festival
Humana Festival of New American Plays is an internationally renowned festival that celebrates the contemporary American playwright. Produced annually in Louisville, Kentucky by Actors Theatre of Louisville, this festival showcases new theatrica ...
at the
Actors Theatre of Louisville in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
, she appeared in two productions: in Adele Edling Shank's play ''Sunrise/Sunset'' as Louise, and as Yvonne in
Kent Broadhurst
Kent Broadhurst (born February 4, 1940) is an American actor, playwright, screenwriter and painter.
He has appeared in a number of off-Broadway and regional theater productions. Broadhurst has also acted in films, including ''The Verdict'', ''Sil ...
's play ''They're Coming to Make It Brighter''.
In 1984, Rowand won her most recognizable role to date of Kate Rescott on the fledgling ABC soap opera ''Loving''. The character of Kate ran a
boarding house in the show's setting of Corinth, Pennsylvania, which opened its doors to a steady stream of young tenants who sought refuge in Corinth—and in Kate's warm mothering and advice—from their troublesome lives and various romantic entanglements. Kate was also the mother of the scheming, long-running character Ava Rescott Forbes Alden Masters (played notably by
Roya Megnot and later by
Lisa Peluso
Lisa Peluso (born July 29, 1964) is an American soap opera actress.
Life and career
Peluso was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Mary Peluso. Her first big break came at the age of nine, when she starred in the Broadway produc ...
), who often benefited from Kate grounding her back to reality.
In 1990, Rowand received attention for her work on ''Loving'' when the Kate character was diagnosed with
cervical cancer
Cervical cancer is a cancer arising from the cervix. It is due to the abnormal growth of cells that have the ability to invade or spread to other parts of the body. Early on, typically no symptoms are seen. Later symptoms may include abnormal ...
. Kate subsequently had a
hysterectomy
Hysterectomy is the surgical removal of the uterus. It may also involve removal of the cervix, ovaries (oophorectomy), Fallopian tubes (salpingectomy), and other surrounding structures.
Usually performed by a gynecologist, a hysterectomy may b ...
on the show and went into
remission
Remission often refers to:
*Forgiveness
Remission may also refer to:
Healthcare and science
*Remission (medicine), the state of absence of disease activity in patients with a chronic illness, with the possibility of return of disease activity
*R ...
, all while being courted by sanitation worker Louie Slavinsky (
Bernard Barrow
Bernard Elliott "Bernie" Barrow (December 30, 1927 – August 4, 1993) was an American actor and collegiate drama professor. He was best known as an actor for his role as Johnny Ryan, a publican and the patriarch of an Irish-American family ...
), whom she married later that year. Rowand remained on ''Loving'' through the show's final episode in November 1995.
Rowand's other television credits include guest roles on ''
Bewitched
''Bewitched'' is an American fantasy sitcom television series that originally aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 17, 1964, to March 25, 1972. It is about a witch who marries an ordinary mortal man and vows to lead the life of a typic ...
'', ''
Highway to Heaven
''Highway to Heaven'' is an American fantasy Drama (film and television), drama television series that ran on NBC from September 19, 1984, to August 4, 1989. The series starred Michael Landon as Jonathan Smith, an angel sent to Earth in order t ...
'' (in the two-part premiere of season three, "A Special Love"), ''
Kate & Allie
''Kate & Allie'' is an American sitcom television series that aired on CBS from March 19, 1984 to May 22, 1989, starring Susan Saint James and Jane Curtin as two divorced women, both with children, who decide to live together in the same house. ...
'', and on ''
Law & Order
''Law & Order'' is an American police procedural and legal drama television series created by Dick Wolf and produced by Wolf Entertainment, launching the '' Law & Order'' franchise.
''Law & Order'' aired its entire run on NBC, premiering on ...
'', where she appeared twice, each time as a different character. In cinema, she has had roles in ''Super Seal'', ''
F.I.S.T.'', and ''
Masquerade
Masquerade or Masquerader may refer to:
Events
* Masquerade ball, a costumed dance event
* Masquerade ceremony, a rite or cultural event in many parts of the world, especially the Caribbean and Africa
* Masqueraders, the performers in the West ...
'', and played Clara Brockway in the 1985 TV special ''
Blind Alleys
''Blind Alleys'' was a play written by David Henry Hwang and Frederic Kimball, filmed and aired as a 1985 television special produced by WCVB-TV for Metromedia. It is the story of two people once linked by an interracial marriage setting up for ...
'' alongside
Pat Morita and
Cloris Leachman. In 1997, Rowand returned to Broadway in ''
The Young Man from Atlanta'', as an understudy for the roles of Lily Dale Kidder and Miss Lacey.
In 2015, Rowand appeared as Elizabeth, an elderly mother with memory loss who has to contend with her fighting caretaker children, in Kate Hawley's play ''Complications from a Fall'', which ran at Center Stage Theater in
Santa Cruz, California.
Filmography
References
External links
* https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0746440/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowand, Nada
Living people
1936 births
American soap opera actresses
American stage actresses
American television actresses
People from Sparta, Illinois
Actresses from Illinois
University of Illinois alumni
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses