Linda Purl is an American actress and singer, known for her roles as Ashley Pfister on Happy Days, Sheila Munroe in the 1982 horror film Visiting Hours, Pam Beesly’s mother Helene in The Office, and Ben Matlock’s daughter Charlene Matlock for the first season of the television series Matlock.
Advertisement
Linda Purl has played several roles in television series, starting with The Secret Storm – a daytime “soap opera” drama (1973–1974).
In 1978, she appeared as newlywed Molly Beaton in the ABC western drama series The Young Pioneers, set in the Dakota Territory of the 1870s and based on the novels of Rose Wilder Lane.
Purl has been a regular performer (and was in the original cast) of the international touring play Seven Deadly Sins Four Deadly Sinners. In November 2007, she appeared at the Théâtre Princesse Grace, Monte Carlo, directed by Marc Sinden, as part of Sinden’s British Theatre Season, Monaco.
In 2008, Purl opened at the Cleveland Play House in Cleveland, Ohio in a production of The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, playing Amanda. Purl launched a jazz music career after leaving Matlock and has released several albums of music, including Out of This World – Live.
Advertisement
Why did Linda Purl leave the Matlock Show?
According to information available on IMDb.com, the first season of “Matlock” aired on television in 1986.
Linda Purl was cast as Ben Matlock’s daughter, Charlene Matlock. However, according to the article, the show was mostly focused on the activities of its title character.
This prompted Purl to make her exit from the show. The article called her exit from the popular show “a rare step.”
“I’d hoped the father-daughter relationship would be developed and explored,” Linda Purl reportedly told People in 1987. “But it just didn’t turn out that way.”
Linda Purl chose to leave “Matlock” when she was only 31 years old. What television viewers might not know is that she had been working in the entertainment industry since she was 17.
Leave a Reply