Early life

Corbett was born in 1947 in Camp Sherman, Oregon to Henry Ladd Corbett, Jr. and Katherine Minahen (née Coney) "Kay" Corbett. She is a great-great-granddaughter of Oregon pioneer and Senator Henry W. Corbett. She studied drama at Pittsburgh's Carnegie Tech before its merger with the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research to form Carnegie Mellon University in 1967.

Career

Film and television

One of Corbett's first television roles was on ABC's short-lived police detective show, N.Y.P.D., in 1968. In an episode called The Case of the Shady Lady, Corbett played a dancer who tries to make her husband's suicide into a murder for the insurance money. She had supporting roles in Out of It with Jon Voight (1969), and as a mute in Let's Scare Jessica to Death (1971).

In 1973, Corbett moved to Los Angeles under contract to Universal Studios, as one of the last "contract players" of the studio contract system. Her first role under contract was an episode of the detective series Kojak: Conspiracy of Fear in 1973. She had recurring roles on Marcus Welby, M.D., Otherworld, Ellery Queen, and Love Is a Many Splendored Thing, and guest roles on such series as Wonder Woman, Emergency!, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-O, Columbo: An Exercise in Fatality, Gunsmoke, McMillan & Wife, Barbary Coast, Banacek, One Day at a Time, Family, Otherworld, Murder, She Wrote, Cheers, and Magnum, P.I.

The Rockford Files: 1974-1978

In 1974 Corbett joined the cast NBC's The Rockford Files where she played Beth Davenport, the beleaguered lawyer and sometimes lover of series lead Jim Rockford, a private investigator portrayed by James Garner. Corbett left the series at the end of the fourth season over a salary dispute, though Corbett herself was not looking for more money. The dispute was between the show's producers and Universal, who owned Corbett's contract as a contract player. Corbett went on to do more TV work, eventually returning to play Davenport again in the Rockford Files TV movies of the 1990s.

Stage work

Some of her stage appearances include After the Rain with Alec McCowen (Broadway), Forty Carats with Julie Harris (Broadway), Shakespeare's Henry VI (New York Shakespeare Festival), Shaw's Arms and the Man (The Sheridan Square), Iphigeneia at Aulis with Irene Papas (Circle in the Square), The Government Inspector with David Dukes and John Glover (The Phoenix Theatre), and The Survival of St. Joan (The Anderson Theatre).

She worked in many regional theatres, including the Long Wharf Theatre, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, the Eugene O'Neill Festival, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and the Repertory Theatre of New Orleans. In 2014, she directed the production "Bo-Nita" at Portland Center Stage.

Personal Life

Her daughter Winslow Corbett is a stage actress.

The Haven Project

In the 2000s, Corbett served as Artistic Director of the Haven Project, a theatre project for underprivileged children in Portland, Oregon, a replication of New York's 52nd St. Project.

Filmography

Film

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1969	Out of It	Barbara
1971	Let's Scare Jessica to Death	The Girl
1974	The Cay	The Mother	Television film
1975	Knuckle	Jenny	Television film
1976	Farewell to Manzanar	Lois	Television film
1976	The Fatal Weakness		Television film
1976	The Savage Bees	Jeannie Deveraux	Television film
1978	The Other Side of the Mountain: Part II	Linda Mae Meyers
1978	Secrets of Three Hungry Wives	Karen McClure	Television film
1979	Mandrake	Jennifer Lindsay	Television film
1979	She's Dressed to Kill	Jennifer Gooch	Television film
1980	High Ice	Liz	Television film
1980	PSI Factor	Lt. Sheila Foster
1981	Jaws of Satan	Dr. Maggie Sheridan
1981	Time Warp	Ellen Devore	Television film
1982	Million Dollar Infield	Carole Frische	Television film
1984	Things Are Looking Up	Joanne Braithwaite	Television film
1985	North Beach and Rawhide	Rita Aaron	Television film
1991	Final Verdict	Aunt Blanche	Television film
1993	Moment of Truth: Why My Daughter?	Mrs. Hill	Television film
1995	Without Evidence	Mary
1996	If the Frame Fits...	Beth (Davenport) Van Zandt	Television film
1996	The Rockford Files: Friends and Foul Play	Beth (Davenport) Van Zandt	Television film
1998	A Change of Heart	Gail Stern	Also known as: "A Father for Brittany"
1999	The Rockford Files: If It Bleeds... It Leads	Beth Davenport	Television film
2011	Motor Away	Paisley	Short film
2011	Bucksville	Kathleen French
2012	Evelyn	Evelyn	Short film

Television

Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1968	N.Y.P.D.	Darlene Welby	Episode: "Case of the Shady Lady"
1973	Kojak	Jeri	Episode: "Conspiracy of Fear"
1974	Ironside	Gail Portman	Episode: "The Taste of Ashes"
1974	Banacek	Vicki Merrick	Episode: "Now You See Me, Now You Don't"
1974	Columbo	Jessica Conroy	Episode: "An Exercise in Fatality"
1974	Gunsmoke	Arlene	Episode: "Town in Chains"
1974	Sierra	Theodora Burke	Episode: "The Trek"
1974-1976	Marcus Welby, M.D.	Hedy Moran/Leah Blakely/Jan Allister	Four episodes
1975	Hawaii Five-0	Glynis	Episode: "Study in Rage"
1975	McMillan & Wife	Megan McMillan	Episode: "Love, Honor, and Swindle"
1975	Ellery Queen	Jenny O'Brien	Episode: "The Adventure of Colonel Nivin's Memoirs"
1975	Barbary Coast	Lily Colt	Episode: "Arson and Old Lace"
1975	Matt Helm	Nancy Taylor	Episode: "Murder on the Run"
1975-1976	Emergency!	Mara Lynn Smith/Sue Hickman	Two episodes
1976	Switch	Beryl	Episode: "Come Die with Me"
1976	Wonder Woman	Erica Belgard	Episode: "Wonder Woman vs Gargantua"
1976	Kingston Confidential	Helen Drew	Episode: "Welcome to Paradise"
1974-1978	The Rockford Files	Beth Davenport	Thirty-three episodes
1977-1978	Family	Ellen Rickover	Three episodes
1978	Barnaby Jones	Jenny Hastings	Episode: "Blind Jeopardy"
1978	W.E.B.		Episode: "The Great Clowns"
1978	Lucan	Bonnie	Episode: "Thunder God Gold"
1981	The Misadventures of Sheriff Lobo	Kathleen Dixon, Esq.	Episode: "Bang, Bang... You're Dead!"
1981	One Day at a Time	Sophie	Episode: "Plain Favorite"
1982	Trapper John, M.D.	Vivian Langtry	Episode: "Victims"
1983	Cheers	Gretchen Darrow	Episode: "Diane's Perfect Date"
1983	Tales of the Unexpected	Martha Parker	Episode: "Turn of the Tide"
1983	The Mississippi		Episode: "Peace With Honor"
1981-1983	Magnum, P.I.	Holly Hudson/Holly Fox/Christine Richards	Two episodes
1985	Otherworld	June Sterling	Eight episodes
1985	Simon & Simon	Lisa Cambio	Episode: "Burden of the Beast"
1986	Murder, She Wrote	Lt. A Caruso	Episode: "Deadline for Murder"
1987	21 Jump Street	Jan Prentiss	Episode: "Higher Education"
1989	A Peaceable Kingdom	Dr. Amelia Altman	Episode: "Jaguar"
1990	Hunter	Mary Reynolds	Episode: "Brotherly Love"
1991	The Trials of Rosie O'Neill	Madeleine	Episode: "The Reunion"
1995	Dead by Sunset	Barbara Welch	One episode
2013-2015	Portlandia	Mary Eunice Oliver	Two episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]