Cindy Pickett

Born on April 18, 1947, in Norman, Oklahoma^{[2] [a]} and raised in Sand Springs, Oklahoma and Houston, Texas,^[7][5] Pickett is the daughter of Millie and Cecil J. Pickett (the latter an influential drama teacher/director at Bellaire High School, Houston Baptist College and the University of Houston).^[8][9] In Houston, Pickett attended Jane Long Junior High School and Bellaire High School;^[10] next came Jacksonville's Lon Morris College^[11]—under the tutelage of another widely revered Texas-based teacher-director, LMC drama department founder Lula Pearson^[12]—and the University of Texas at Austin.^[1] Returning home, Pickett attended Houston Baptist College and the University of Houston, once again studying with—and being directed by—her father, as well as performing in a repertory company alongside similarly Hollywood-bound classmates such as Randy Quaid, Trey Wilson, and Brent Spiner (then Brent Mintz).^[13][5]

Pickett made a major departure from her soap opera image when she played the central role in the 1980 erotic film Jeux de Nuit / Night Games, directed by Roger Vadim.^[14] It was a sexually charged role involving numerous nude scenes, however the film went unnoticed and did not boost Pickett's career. In the 1981 mystery/crime drama Margin for Murder, Pickett played the role of Velda, Mike Hammer's (Kevin Dobson) loyal and devoted secretary. She played "Jackie Marler" on the soap opera The Guiding Light from 1976 to 1980,^[15] "Vanessa Sarnac" on the ABC weekly TV series Call to Glory from 1984 to 1985,^[16] and she appeared as Dr. Carol Novino on the hospital drama TV series St. Elsewhere from 1986 to 1988.^[17]

Pickett had a supporting role in the 1987 mini-series Amerika, which she then considered to be her "best part and the best showcase" she ever had.^[4] In 1991, she played the part of Addy Mathewson in the TV movie/pilot Plymouth, which at the time was considered to be one of the most expensive such movies ever made. Pickett portrayed the real-life Kay Stayner, the mother of a boy who was kidnapped for several years, in the dramatic TV movie I Know My First Name Is Steven. TV series she has guest-starred on include Riptide, Simon & Simon, Magnum, P.I., L.A. Law, Murder, She Wrote, The Pretender, NYPD Blue, CSI: Miami, Without a Trace, Crossing Jordan and Burn Notice.

While studying at Lon Morris college, Pickett dated actor Brent Spiner. ^[18] Pickett met Lyman Ward when they played the parents of the titular teenaged protagonist in the 1986 comedy film Ferris Bueller's Day Off. They married in real life and divorced in 1992.^[19] Pickett is a collector of stereopticon cards.^[17]