Who is Lucy Lee Flippin, and what is she doing today?
Lucy Lee Flippin was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA, on 23 July 1943 – her zodiac sign is Leo and she holds American nationality. She is an actress, perhaps still best known for her portrayal of the lead character Eliza Jane Wilder in the American western historical series “Little House on the Prairie” which also starred Michael Landon, Karen Grassie and Melissa Gilbert. It is based on the best-selling series of books “Little House”, and follows the lives of a family living on a farm in Walnut Grove in Minnesota in the 1880s.
Lucy hasn’t been active in the film industry since 2008, and is said to be living a peaceful life somewhere in the countryside.
Early life and education
Lucy was raised as an only child in Douglassville, Pennsylvania by her father who was a mailman, and her mother who was a housewife. She grew up being focused on school, and became interested in acting while attending high school, and started appearing in school plays, most often played lead roles. She matriculated in 1961, and then enrolled at Northwestern University, obtaining her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1965. Upon graduation she started practicing ice skating and then toured around the US for a year while ice skating with “Holiday on Ice”.
After returning from the tour, she started practicing acting under the tutorage of Uta Hagen, the late German-American actress.
Roles in movies
Lucy launched her career in 1971 when she appeared in the movie “The Telephone Book”, then after a five year break from acting, she portrayed nurse in the comedy movie “The Front”.
The year 1977 saw her make an uncredited appearance in the American sports comedy movie “Slap Shot”, and she portrayed a waitress in the romantic comedy movie “Annie Hall”. In the following year, she played Agata Franklen in “The One and Only”, and Diane Haber in the western comedy movie “Goin’ South”, which starred Jack Nicholson, Mary Steenburgen and Christopher Lloyd, and follows a bachelorette who marries a horse thief sentenced to the gallows – the two must then fight the man’s old gang, the sheriff and the bank.
After a five-year long break from appearing in movies, Lucy was invited to play a supporting character in the romantic film “Flashdance” in 1983, and the following year saw her appear in the film “Young Lust”. She made a cameo appearance in the popular comedy movie “Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment” in 1985, and some of her following roles were in movies “Private Resort” and “Summer School” both in 1987, and “Bulletproof” in 1988. She was praised for her portrayal of Grace La Della in the mystery slasher movie “Lady in White”, which starred Lukas Haas and Len Cariou, and she also starred in several other movies in 1988, such as “Hero and the Terror” and “Earth Girls Are Easy”.
In 1989, she played a supporting character in the movie “My Mom’s a Werewolf”, which failed to attract much attention, and in 1993, she was one of the lead characters in the crime movie “A Perfect World”, starring Kevin Costner. Her next notable performance was in the critically acclaimed comedy movie “Rat Race” in 2001 ,which starred several famous actors including Rowan Atkinson, and some of Lucy’s latest roles in movies have been in “Whigmaleerie” in 2005, the horror “Urban Decay” in 2007 and the western “Prairie Fever” in 2008.
Roles in TV series
She made her debut TV series appearance in 1976, when she appeared as Darva in the episode “The Slammer” of the sitcom “The Bob Newhart Show”, and her following notable appearances in TV series were in “The Edge of Night” also in 1976, “The Ropers” in 1979, and “Flo” in which she portrayed Fran Castleberry in 23 episodes in 1980 and 1981.
The following years saw Lucy guest star in a single episode of numerous series, including “Philip Marlowe, Private Eye” in 1983 and “The Scarecrow and Mrs. King” in 1985, and she also appeared in eight episodes of the sitcom “The Last Precinct”. She went on to appear in series such as the sitcom “The Golden Girls”, the science fiction comedy series “Small Wonder”, and the sitcom “Full House” – Lucy was most often invited to appear in comedy series, as she apparently had a natural talent for making the audience laugh. In 1989, she appeared in the episode “A Happy Guy’s Christmas” of the sitcom “Mr. Belvedere”, while the year 1990 saw her guest star in “Adam-12”, “The Hogan Family” and “The Munsters Today”.
In 1991, she portrayed Becky in the episode “Hello, Dolly” of the sitcom “Babes”, and she also played Nurse Nancy in the episode “Just Say No Fun” of the horror science fiction series “Eerie Indiana”.
Some of Lucy’s most recent appearances in TV series have been in “The Mind of the Married Man” in 2001, the legal drama “Judging Amy” in 2002, and the sitcom “Still Standing” in 2005.
Love life and husband
Lucy has been very secretive regarding her love life, and not much is known about the men whom she might have dated, however, it is widely known that she was married to Tom Tarpey, an actor from New York City, perhaps best known for his roles in “FM” in 1978, “9 to 5” in 1980 and “Murder, She Wrote” in 1984.
The two met when they were cast to appear in the same movie in 1972, and three years later they married in a small ceremony attended by their closest friends and family on 25 October 1975. In 1978, Lucy gave birth to their son Christopher, but several years later Tom and Lucy divorced for unknown reasons – neither of the two gave any interviews regarding how and why they divorced.
As of August 2020, Lucy is single, was once married and has a son.
Hobbies and interests
Lucy has been interested in sports since she began taking ice skating lessons, and although she doesn’t play any today, she was once very good at tennis, soccer and golf.
She likes to travel, and has been all around the world for both work and pleasure, and two of her dream travel destinations are Tokyo in Japan and Paris in France. She is a lover of animals and has had several pet cats and dogs, while she has also donated money to a number of animal shelters. She has also donated to the poor, and has attended many charity events.
Lucy has her own favorite actors and actresses, some of whom are the late Robin Williams, Will Smith and Nicole Kidman, and some of her favorite movies are “The Last Samurai”, “Patch Adams” and “I, Robot”.
Net worth
Lucy is 77 years old. She has brown hair and green eyes, is 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall and weighs around 134lbs (61kgs).
As of August 2020, her net worth has been estimated at over $1 million.