A familiar face from 1980s film and television looked almost unrecognizable while running errands in Los Angeles earlier this week.
The 74-year-old actress began earning television credits in the 1970s, but her career gained real momentum during the following decade.
She appeared in major comedy films on either side of the 1980s, including one featuring a star best known for his roles in mob dramas.
In the 1990s, she took on one of her most notable film roles in a crime drama opposite screen icon Warren Beatty.
In more recent years, she has continued sharing her love of acting by teaching aspiring performers.
Can you identify this film and television star?
The 1980s star looked almost unrecognizable while stepping out to run errands in Los Angeles earlier this week
The 74-year-old actress began appearing on television in the 1970s, but her career truly took off during the next decade
In the 1990s, she landed one of her biggest roles in a crime film opposite screen legend Warren Beatty
The actress is Wendy Phillips, who is recognized for appearing in Midnight Run and Bugsy, along with the primetime series Homefront, Falcon Crest and Promised Land.
Our News Outlet has contacted Phillips for comment but has not received a response.
Phillips cut a polished yet relaxed figure while handling errands in Los Angeles earlier this week.
She wore a smart navy suit with a long jacket, pairing it with a white T-shirt bearing the message, ‘The future is female,’ for a more casual touch.
The actress carried a slim dark-brown handbag and a larger brown leather tote, along with several drinks. She completed the look with comfortable blue-and-white Hoka trainers.
Her long silver hair was swept back, while tortoiseshell sunglasses shielded her eyes from the California sun.
Born in Brooklyn in 1952, Phillips is the daughter of two actors. Her parents later separated after her father, Wendell K. Phillips, was reportedly blacklisted because of his political views.
After the family moved to Berkeley, California, their circumstances improved when Phillips’s mother began teaching acting. Her classes became so popular that she eventually established her own acting school.
Wendy Phillips is known for Midnight Run, Bugsy and the primetime series Homefront, Falcon Crest and Promised Land (Above, L–R: John Slattery, Wendy Phillips, Jessica Steen and Kyle Chandler in Promised Land)
Phillips looked stylish and composed while running errands in LA, wearing a navy suit over a white T-shirt that read, ‘The future is female’
She carried both a small dark-brown handbag and a larger leather tote, along with several drinks, and wore blue-and-white Hoka trainers
Her long silver hair was pulled back, and she wore chic tortoiseshell sunglasses
Phillips was born in Brooklyn in 1952 to two actors whose marriage later ended after her father was blacklisted. She and her four siblings moved to Berkeley with their mother, who went on to establish an acting school
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Phillips initially came close to pursuing a legal career after studying pre-law at the University of California, Berkeley. Ultimately, however, she followed her parents into acting.
Her screen career began with two television movies in 1975: Death Be Not Proud and One of Our Own.
The following year, she secured her first regular series role in the television adaptation of Executive Suite. It marked the beginning of a run that would include several primetime soap operas.
Beginning in 1978, she appeared on the short-lived series The Eddie Capra Mysteries. She also took guest roles in shows including Lou Grant, BJ and the Bear, CHiPs, Trapper John, M.D. and Taxi during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Phillips appeared poised to transition to feature films when she joined the cast of Airplane II: The Sequel in 1982.
The sequel was made without the creative team behind the 1980 original, which had become a comedy phenomenon. It ultimately disappointed both critics and audiences at the box office.
Following more television guest appearances on St. Elsewhere, the revived Twilight Zone, Amazing Stories, Matlock and Murder, She Wrote, Phillips returned to the big screen six years later in Midnight Run.
The successful comedy gave Robert De Niro an opportunity to move away from the crime movies that had established his reputation. He played a bounty hunter pursuing an accountant, portrayed by Charles Grodin, who had stolen millions from mobsters.
After a series of television appearances in the mid-1970s and early 1980s, Phillips moved toward film with 1982’s Airplane II (Above), but returned to television after the movie failed commercially
She followed the film with the 1991 mob drama Bugsy, starring Warren Beatty as gangster Bugsy Siegel. Phillips played his wife, Esta Krakower
Although she found success in film, Phillips continued building her television career with projects including A Year in the Life, The Robert Guillaume Show and the primetime drama Falcon Crest
After guest-starring in several episodes of Touched by an Angel during the mid-1990s, she led its spinoff Promised Land for three seasons
During the 2000s, Phillips took supporting roles in I Am Sam, starring Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning, the 2006 dramedy Friends with Money and the 2007 political thriller Rendition
Phillips has taught acting privately since the beginning of the 21st century and later expanded that work by joining the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts as an adjunct associate professor
In Midnight Run, Phillips played De Niro’s former wife.
Midnight Run was a critical and commercial success, eventually becoming regarded as one of the most popular comedies of the 1980s.
Phillips next appeared in the 1991 mob drama Bugsy, with Warren Beatty portraying gangster Bugsy Siegel.
She played Siegel’s wife, Esta Krakower, although the mobster’s attention in the film was largely focused on starlet Virginia Hill, played by Beatty’s future wife, Annette Bening.
Even after establishing herself on the big screen, Phillips continued to concentrate on television. Her credits included A Year in the Life, The Robert Guillaume Show, the primetime soaps Falcon Crest and Homefront, and, later in the 1990s, the Touched by an Angel spinoff Promised Land.
She later made guest appearances on ER, The Closer, Bones and SEAL Team, while also taking a recurring role on HBO’s acclaimed series Big Love.
During the 2000s, Phillips appeared in supporting roles in the Sean Penn and Dakota Fanning drama I Am Sam, the 2006 film Friends with Money and the 2007 political thriller Rendition.
Phillips has privately taught acting since the start of the 21st century. In more recent years, she brought that experience to a wider audience after joining the faculty of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts as an adjunct associate professor.
