Actress-vocalist Linda Purl was born in Greenwich, Connecticut and raised in Japan, where she began her performing career as a student. She subsequently went to England to study under Marguerite Beale, and later, in the United States at the Lee Strasberg Institute. Over a multi-decade career, Purl has appeared on stage, in film and in television. Her Broadway credits include The Ad
ventures of Tom Sawyer and Getting and Spending More recently, Purl has been seen at the Cleveland Play House in The Glass Menagerie. She is also known for her TV roles as Ashley Pfister on “Happy Days,” Pam Beesly’s mother Helene in “The Office” and Ben Matlock’s daughter Charlene Matlock for the first season of “Matlock.” In film Purl has been in Crazy Mama, Young Pioneers’ Christmas, The High Country and Fear of the Dark, among many others.
In addition to these many acting credits, Purl has pursued a career as a vocalist, performing in cabaret and concert halls internationally. Her albums include Alone Together, Out of This World Live and Midnight Caravan. Her new CD, This Could Be the Start will be celebrated on Monday, September 11 at the Green Room 42 at 7 PM, with music director-pianist Tedd Firth and with bassist David Finck and drummer, Ray Marchica. (For tickets, click here).
NiteLife Exchange (NLE) asks Linda Purl (LP) Six Questions:
NLE: You’ve worked consistently over a long career, but among many high points therein, does any one experience stand out among the others as especially meaningful?
LP: Tough one…like choosing between children..each their own nature and challenges. I’d say though a stand out was a TV movie I got to do w Shaun Cassidy called Like Normal People. Every part of doing that was a privilege. First off Shaun…so talented, focused, funny, smart. His wa
s a difficult role and he went the full distance. Very inspiring not to mention ridiculously fun to work along side him. The story was about a a mentally challenged young couple who had fallen in love and the legal hurdles they had to overcome to build a life for themselves. A tale of extraordinary courage, determination not only from the couple themselves but from his family. They succeeded on every front and pioneered a pathway forward with dignity for so very many.
NLE: Your grandmother, Beatrice Saville, was a founder of Actors Equity and in your youth, owing to your father’s job, you lived in Japan where you attended Toho Geino Academy to study acting. When did you first realize show business was in your blood?
LP: Oh goodness..you’ve really done your homework! Thank you for that. Unlike so many who have a very clear Eureka moment, for me it happened more gradually I’d say. Growing up in Japan my Dad’s company had afforded us a large house with guest rooms aplenty. Because those years coincided with a time when artists of many disciplines, particularly from the west were flocking to Tokyo to work and/or study, there was a constant flow of artists staying at our house. Conversations and perspectives swirled at the dinner table and somewhere in that midst I got set on the path.
NLE: Between stage and television/film work, is any one more fulfilling than the other? If yes why?
LP: Each of course has its appeal but theatre is the actors’ medium so pressed to choose, I’d have to stick with theatre…and I’d add to that live concerts. It’s dangerous, it’s fun, it is always an adventure.
NLE: Social activism, causes and philanthropy are important to you. What was the genesis of your involvement in these areas?
LP: I have, we all do, political beliefs to be sure and I support privately individuals by whom I am inspired, who give me hope in this fractured, divisive moment. Those aside, our little company Duffy’s Dough gives all net proceeds away to food scarcity programs. I don’t have enough to give to ever be listed on the side of a building but I’m hopeful that the gestures I am able to make collectively add up to something that helps to lift boats in the tides. Until covid and the shutdown I had
taken being able to attend the theatre as an audience member, for granted. I had not known but realized, how much I relied on going to live events to help me process…well, life. Therefore, again at such modest amounts, but I support not for profit theatre where I can.
NLE: What was behind your decision to launch a singing career in the late 1980s? Did you have mentors, inspirations or any special motivators in this regard?
LP: I had had the chance to perform in musicals as I grew up and once in LA I missed music, missed singing terribly. Jimmy Dunne, one of the producers on “Happy Days,” was/is also an extraordinary musician/composer/singer so on our USO tours we got to sing together now and then. Jimmy kindly asked me to duet with him one night at a cabaret club in LA and to my horror, after the show, the club owner invited me to create an act and do it there. This led to introductions to director David Galligan and music director Ron Abel who took me on, held my 
hands and built the act. To this day they are chosen family. Their unfailing encouragements got me past the terror of our first opening night, brought music and singing back into my life and there was no looking back. For one thing, there was autonomy in it. You get to create an act with incredibly talented maestros, book a room and do the deed. It’s always a challenge, there is always something more to learn…the joy of it all is profound and the community of the cabaret world is tightly knit and one of the very most beautiful. A gift that keeps on giving.
NLE: Your latest album, This Could Be the Start, is themed with taking a leap toward new horizons. What would like to say about the concept and song choices for the album?
LP: We started working on the album before Covid. When I say we I mean Deborah Grace Winer who helps curate and heroically pulls my scattered thoughts into focus and music director extraordinaire Tedd Firth. This is our fourth album together. Lucky, lucky me. So…the theme at first had to do with the process of falling in love. 
Then all our worlds changed. We were isolated, coping with the unknown, the missing..all of it. During that extended period we morphed through a few other themes but in the process of emerging back into the world, we eventually landed on this one…a moment of restarting, reinitiating. We also, more than in the past, played around with different feels. One of the myriad joys of working with the Tedd, Firth, David Finck, Ray Marchica and Nelson Rangell is their willingness to go with new ideas, to experiment. Let me tell you…when you work with the best of the best as I am so privileged to do with this tribe, you get mighty spoiled!
