Linda Purl is an American actress and singer, known for her roles as Ashley Pfister on Happy Days, Sheila Munroe in the 1982 horror film Visiting Hours, Pam Beesly’s mother Helene in The Office, and Ben Matlock’s daughter Charlene Matlock for the first season of the television series Matlock.
Linda Purl has played several roles in television series, starting with The Secret Storm – a daytime “soap opera” drama (1973–1974).
In 1978, she appeared as newlywed Molly Beaton in the ABC western drama series The Young Pioneers, set in the Dakota Territory of the 1870s and based on the novels of Rose Wilder Lane.
Purl has been a regular performer (and was in the original cast) of the international touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners. In November 2007, she appeared at the Théâtre Princesse Grace, Monte Carlo, directed by Marc Sinden, as part of Sinden’s British Theatre Season, Monaco.
In 2008, Purl opened at the Cleveland Play House in Cleveland, Ohio in a production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, playing Amanda. Purl launched a jazz music career after leaving Matlock and has released several albums of music, including Out of This World – Live.
Where is Linda Purl now?
These days, Purl is still acting, and she’s also taken on a new venture with her boyfriend, who happens to be a TV star himself. Read on to find out more about Purl’s life today at 67.
Earlier this year, she performed in the play Catch Me If You Can during a UK tour. The play co-starred her partner, actor Patrick Duffy. The two have also performed the show Love Letters together.
In addition to acting, Purl is a jazz singer. She released her latest album, Taking a Chance on Love, in 2020.
“Both of my parents are to blame,” Purl told Broadway World of her love of music in 2021. “Their turntable was always going with either Broadway or jazz. There was a lot of [Antônio Carlos] Jobim. There was a lot of Rosemary Clooney.
There were a lot of Broadway chestnuts. I grew up in Japan. My parents fully embraced living in Asia. They lived there for 30 years. But the music was a real connection to their American selves. And so my sister and I were the recipients of this.”