Kathryn Walker is an American theater, television and film actress.

Early life

Walker was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wells College in Aurora, New York, and was a Fulbright Scholar in music and drama.

Career

Walker's career began on the off-Broadway New York stage with her performance in Slag in 1971. On Broadway she appeared in The Good Doctor (1974), A Touch of the Poet (1977), Private Lives (1983) and Wild Honey (1986), among others. She also has been a sporadic presence on daytime drama, including Search for Tomorrow and Another World, and received an Emmy award for her outstanding performance as First Lady Abigail Adams in PBS's 13-part epic miniseries The Adams Chronicles (1976). On film, she has co-starred or played secondary femme roles in Blade (1973), Slap Shot (1977), Girlfriends (1978), and Rich Kids (1979), and she also played John Belushi's wife in the dark, oddball comedy Neighbors (1981). Walker also narrated two PBS reality series, Frontier House (2002) and Colonial House (2004), based on the format of experiential history. With the late William Alfred, she co-founded The Athens Street Company. In 1997, she was Rothschild Artist in Residence at Radcliffe College. Her six-part documentary series The Millennium Journal has been shown on the PBS cable channel Metro Arts. Over the years, she has become a strong force outside of acting. She has helmed many of the 92nd Street Y's classical theater productions, directing and/or adapting plays such as Euripides' Hekabe (2004); Sophocles' Elektra (2002); Euripides' Medea (2001); The Bacchae of Euripides (2000); and her own adaptation of Fagles' The Iliad (2006). She lives in both New York City and Tesuque, New Mexico. In 2008, her novel, A Stopover in Venice was published.

In popular culture

Walker was portrayed in the film Burton & Taylor by Sarah Hadland, and by Emmy Rossum in the film A Futile and Stupid Gesture.

Personal life

Walker's relationship with writer Douglas Kenney lasted until his death in 1980 at the age of 33. She was married to singer James Taylor from 1985 to 1996.

Filmography

Film

Television

Broadway