Jan Smithers

 ( 1949 Births ) 

Karin Jan Smithers (born July 3, 1949) is an American former actress, model and singer. She is best known for playing Bailey Quarters on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982).

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Early life Smithers grew up in a middle-class family in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Her father was a lawyer while her mother was a stay-at-home mom. She has three sisters. Her eldest sister, however, died in a car crash at age 21.

Smithers first reached the public eye as a teenager when, at 16, she was profiled and featured on the March 21, 1966 cover of Newsweek. She was seated on the back of a motorcycle. As a result of that appearance Smithers received offers from Hollywood agents.

Smithers graduated from the Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California. She attended the Chouinard Art Institute which is now known as the California Institute of the Arts.

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Career Smithers made her mark as a successful fashion model before embarking on an acting career. She was the co-lead singer of the early 1970s band Hot Cup of Friends which featured Christopher Mancini (the son of Henry Mancini).

Smithers, in her early 20s, won a role in the 1974 feature film, Where the Lilies Bloom, about a household of children surviving in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1978, she got her biggest break, landing a role on the situation comedy, WKRP in Cincinnati, playing Bailey Quarters.

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Personal life

Smithers's first marriage was to Kipp Whitman from 1971 to 1972. From 1986 to 1995 she was married to actor James Brolin and was stepmother to his two children from a previous marriage. Together they have one daughter, Molly Elizabeth. Smithers filed for divorce from Brolin in 1995.

After living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada "for a few years", she returned to California. In June 2014, Smithers attended a reunion of surviving WKRP in Cincinnati cast members hosted by the Paley Center for Media.

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Television and filmography

Episode: "Beginner's Luck"

Feature film

Feature film

Episode: "Running"

Feature film

Main cast (86 episodes)

TV movie

Episode: "The Spoonmaker Diamond/Papa Doc/The Role Model/Julie's Tycoon"

Episode: "Spaced Out"

Episode: "Long Time No See/The Bear Essence/Kisses and Makeup"

Episode: "Take the Credit and Run"

Episode: "Encores"

Episode: "By Hook or by Crook/Revenge with the Proper Stranger/Don't Get Mad, Get Even"

Episode: "Old Friends"

Episode: "Firestorm"

Episode: "The Assassin"

Episode: "Sudden Death"

Episode: "The Columnist"

Episode: "Triangles"

Feature film

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Further reading

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External links

Categories: 1949 Births, 20th-century American Actresses, 21st-century American Women, Actresses From Los Angeles, American Film Actresses, American Television Actresses, Living People, People From North Hollywood, Los Angeles, Chouinard Art Institute Alumni

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