Actress Meredith Baxter was born into a family of entertainers, so her acting abilities come as no surprise. Her mother, Whitney Blake, was the actress that portrayed Mrs. B. on the 1961 sitcom Hazel, and her father, Tom Baxter, was a radio announcer.

Baxter was born in South Pasadena, California, on June 24, 1947, and is the youngest of three children. She had a long string of male relationships, most notably David Cassidy, who she dated for a short time in the late ’60s, and husbands David Birney, Bob Bush and Michael Blodgett, before she outed herself as a lesbian in 2009.  The mother of five children explained her sexual change of heart this way:

“I am a lesbian and it was a later-in-life recognition.

Some people would say, well, you’re living a lie and, you know, the truth is — not at all. This has only been for the past seven years.”

In the early ’70s, Baxter hit it big with the short-lived sitcom Bridget Loves Bernie. Not only did the series give her name recognition, but it provided her with husband number two, David Birney, and the temporarily-hyphenated name Meredith Baxter-Birney. The comedy was a stepping stone to her portrayal of daughter Nancy on the drama Family, and later as the free-spirited mother, Elyse Keaton, on the much-loved career-building sitcom, Family Ties.

Baxter has worn the hats of movie actress, guest performer, producer and television host, over the course of her career, and is a champion of breast cancer research, after having been given a breast cancer diagnosis in 1999.

Baxter is slated to play the role of President Harriet Franklin in the 2010 movie Airline Disaster, and is currently in a relationship with building contractor Nancy Locke.