Bridget Hanley

At 83 years old, Bridget Hanley has this physical status:

Bridget Ann Elizabeth Hanley (born February 3, 1941) is an American actress known for her appearances and supporting roles in TV comedy, western, adventure, and drama series, as well as Candy Pruitt on the Western dramedy Here Come the Brides.

Wanda Reilly Taylor appeared in Harper Valley PTA as Wanda Reilly Taylor.

Early life

Leland "Lee" Hanley, an All-American football player and a United States Marine Corps veteran, and Doris "Dorie" Hanley, born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on February 3, 1941. She and her parents and older sister Mary-Jo moved to Edmonds, Washington, north of Seattle, where her younger sister Molly was later born. Hanley left Edmonds High School to study drama for two years, then moved to University of Washington, where she earned her degree in 1962 with honors and a B.A. Having appeared in 17 major productions, ranging from Shakespeare to Arthur Miller, I felt in drama.

Personal life

On April 26, 1969, Hanley married Egbert Warnderink (E. W.) Swackhamer, Jr., a producer and director of Here Come the Brides. Bronwyn and Megan had two children together, and they had two girls. In 1994, Swackhamer died.

Hanley and her sisters were able to save the Ganahl-Hanley log cabin in Edmonds, Washington, with the help of community members and followers. The cabin, which was originally built in 1929, was donated by Hanley's parents in 1975 and painstakingly relocated two miles from its original site to downtown Edmonds, next to the city's Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Center, where it was dedicated in 1976. The cabin was totally restored and rededicated on November 18, 2000, after falling into disrepair over the next two decades.

Hanley had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and died on December 15, 2021, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California.

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Career

Hanley began acting in San Francisco, where she worked as a secretary at an advertising firm for $50 a week while auditioning for roles in repertory theater. When she accepted the lead female role in Robin's debut in The Trials of Arvid "Tickles" Yastrzemski's touring company production, her weekly salary doubled. She appeared in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, and Hollywood for almost four years before Screen Gems agreed to her in 1966.

Hanley's publicity material referred to him as a "new Maureen O'Hara."

Hanley's first recognized television appearance came in 1965, as Terry in the episode "My Fair Coward." Gidget, The Farmer's Daughter, Love on a Rooftop, Bewitted, I Dream of Jeannie, and The Flying Nun were among the credited appearances on numerous Screen Gems television series. Hanley met director/producer E. W. Swackhamer, whom she later married while working at Screen Gems. She has worked on several pilots for Screen Gems, including her first lead role in the film Here Come the Brides.

In the film "Here Come the Brides," Hanley played Candy Pruitt, the female lead role, which premiered on September 25, 1968. In an interview with L.A. Times television critic Cecil Smith, it was inspired by the film Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and loosely based on Asa Mercer's attempts to relocate single women from the East Coast to what was then the frontier logging outpost of Seattle. Perry Como, who achieved some chart success with it, performed "Seattle," the show's theme tune. Hanley's character was based on teen heartthrob Bobby Sherman's performance; Sherman's reinterpretation of "Seattle" was not as effective as Como's version.

Harper Valley PTA is a late 1980s American television sitcom based on the 1978 film Harper Valley PTA, which was in turn based on Jeannie C. Riley's 1968 song, which was written by Tom T. Hall. Barbara Eden plays Stella Johnson, a door-to-door saleswoman and single mother who lives in Harper Valley, Ohio, who is trying to find and raise her daughter Dee after her husband's death. Mrs. Johnson's flouting of the small town's traditions by the PTA of Harper Valley Junior High School, egged on by its socialite president, Flora Simpson Reilly (Anne Francine), has a pessimistic view of the school's traditions. Wanda Reilly Taylor, Hanley's character, is a descendant of the snooty family that is trying to control Harper Valley.

Hanley spent time at Theatre West, a nationally recognised non-profit arts group headquartered in Hollywood, California. Theatre West, founded in 1962, is Los Angeles' oldest continuously operating theatre company.

She appeared on Mama's Family, and in an episode of the crime drama series Murder, She Wrote as the wife of a serial cheating husband.

May Day Sermon, a one-woman performance starring Hanley, was produced and produced by Middletown Productions, based on James Dickey's poem. Hanley appeared in "Bronwen, the Traw, and the Shapeshifter," which was based on a James Dickey poem.

Hanley was a guest lecturer and performer at Radford University.

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