Marla Heasley (born September 4, 1959 in Hollywood, California) is an American film and TV actress.
Early life and career[]
Heasley grew up in the entertainment industry. Her father, Jack Heasley and uncle Bob Heasley were identical twins and professional ice skaters, known as The Heasley Twins. They skated with Sonia Henie and Dorothy Lewis and skated in their own ice revue's as well. They appeared in many films, such as Dr. Seuss's The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T (1953), Ice Capades (1941), Thin Ice (1937), A Chump at Oxford (1940) and many more. The Heasley Twins also appeared in many advertising campaigns, such as Chesterfield (cigarette). They then went on to become successful entertainment managers and represented actors such as, Shelly Winters, Betty Hutton, and Audie Murphy to name a few.
The A-Team (as Tawnia Baker)[]
Marla is best known for her role as Tawnia Baker in the 1980s hit TV series The A-Team. She played a newspaper reporter working with the team.
Introduced in season 2 episode 15 "The Battle of Bel Air", the character was brought in as a replacement for Melinda Culea (Amy Amanda "Triple A" Allen), who was abruptly dropped from the series after insisting on being given more to do. Although cast as a regular, Heasley was not added to the show's opening credits, and did not appear in every episode during her time with the series.
In order to be written out of the series the character was married off in the season 3 two-part episode 2/3 "The Bend in the River". One of the reasons for the character being dropped is believed to be due to series star George Peppard, who continually insisted to the producers that the show didn't need a female co-star.
Her character from The A-Team, Tawnia Baker, was named after Tawnia Cannell, the daughter of the creator of the series, Stephen J. Cannell. Some time prior to being cast as Tawnia Baker, Heasley made a guest appearance as a bikini clad co-ed called Cherise in a short-term relationship with Templeton "Faceman" Peck in season 2 episode 4 "Bad Time On The Border".
Personal life[]
Heasley married Christopher Harriman, an international business developer, on March 1, 2001, after dating since 1992. Harriman was a successful recording artist in the early 1980s in Europe. Prior to Harriman, she was engaged to singer Wayne Newton for eight years, ending in 1991.
External links[]
- Marla Heasley at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
External links[]
- Marla Heasley article at Wikipedia
