2004 Alumnae Member Citation
Mary Kay Place
Writer, director,
singer, and Emmy Award winning actress Mary Kay Place was born in Tulsa on September
23, 1947, and educated at Tulsa's Nathan Hale High School. Her father, Dr. Brad
Place, chaired the School of Art at The University of Tulsa, where Mary Kay
completed her undergraduate education, majoring in Radio and Television Production.
After obtaining her Bachelor of Arts in 1969, she headed to Hollywood with aspirations
of becoming a writer and comedic performer. Tim Conway recognized her talent
and hired her as a production assistant to himself and producer Norman Lear,
which resulted in her first on-camera break and her first writing credit in
a network television series. Her appearance in Norman Lear's CBS series, "All
in the Family," was particularly memorable for her vocal rendition of a
satirical protest song. Mary Kay Place's work in television is best known for
her role cast by Norman Lear as would-be country and western star Loretta Haggers
in the syndicated satire, "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." She won an
Emmy for her portrayal of Loretta, a fictional character based loosely on Dolly
Parton. Mary Kay wrote all seventy-five of the songs performed during the run
of the show, and received a Grammy nomination for her spin-off album, which,
along with a second album, included the voices of Emmylou Harris, Anne Murray,
Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson.
During the 1970s, Mary Kay Place wrote scripts for a number of classic episodes
of such television sitcoms as "The Mary Tyler Moore Show, "Phyllis,"
and "M*A*S*H." She collaborated with her professional partner (and
future producer of "Designing Women") Linda Bloodworth, with whom
she was also nominated for an Emmy for a "M*A*S*H" episode entitled
"Hot Lips and Empty Arms." During the mid-1970s, Mary Kay appeared
in films such as "Bound for Glory" and as the nightclub singer who
briefly replaces Liza Minnelli in Martin Scorsese's "New York, New York."
On the big screen, Mary Kay Place is probably best known for her role as the
reconstituted "child of the 60's" who volunteers for surrogate motherhood
in the Oscar nominated "The Big Chill."
Mary Kay Place's directing credits include the irreverent HBO sitcom "Dream On" and work on the popular television series, "Friends." Regarded as a versatile actress, she has also starred in Armistead Maupin's "Tales of the City" and "Forever Fernwood." Her many television guest starring roles include appearances on "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit," "Chicago Hope," "My So-Called Life," "thirtysomething," "King of the Hill," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and as President Bartlett's Surgeon General in "West Wing." She has been a guest on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" and "Saturday Night Live" in which she and Willie Nelson sang a duet. She has performed special roles in over sixty movies or mini-series, including the hit comedy "Sweet Home Alabama," "Girl, Interrupted," Francis Ford Coppola's "John Grisham's The Rainmaker," and Tim Blake Nelson's, "Eye of God." Her portrayal of Elaine in the independent hit film, "Manny and Lo" won a nomination for an Independent Spirit Award in 1997, and her depiction of Floris in "Being John Malkovich" was nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2000.
Mary Kay Place has never
forgotten her Tulsa roots and has continued to give back to the community that
nourished her ability to fully avail herself of the many divergent opportunities
that have led to her success as a writer, director, singer, and actress. She
keynoted the 2002 Harwelden Awards Ceremony and has periodically returned to
the TU campus to work with our students and faculty. In addition, she was one
of the award-winning actors, including Bill Cosby, Alfre Woodard, Ed Asner,
Mary Steenburgen, Mike Farrell, and Nell Carter, who provided voiceovers for
Michael Wilkerson's documentary film about the 1921 Tulsa race riot.
The 2004 documentary series entitled "TV Land Moguls" (The 70s-Part
I) hosted by Merv Griffin focuses on Mary Kay Place's creative work, along with
that of Marlo Thomas, Jean Stapleton, Dick Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Tony
Randall, and Henry Winkler, Sarah Jessica Parker, and others. It chronicles
"the creative pioneers who indelibly influenced" the medium and the
installment on the 1970s" illuminates how the movers and shakers of that
period "broke down barriers, opened viewers' minds, and shed light on the
world 'outside the box' - illuminating the human spirit." As one journalist
has observed, "if anyone in Hollywood deserves the description, 'Renaissance
Woman,' it is Tulsa native Mary Kay Place."