Early life

Warren was born in New York City, the daughter of Margot (née Verblow), a singer, and William Warren, a real estate agent. Her family was Russian Jewish, on both sides, and her father's original surname was "Warrenoff".

Career

The 5-foot-8-inch (1.73 m) Warren began her career as a ballet dancer, training at the School of American Ballet. She entered the Actors Studio at the age of 17—reputedly the youngest applicant ever to be accepted. Her Broadway debut came in 1963 in the musical 110 in the Shade. She won the Theatre World Award for her performance in the 1965 flop musical Drat! The Cat!. In 1973, she portrayed Scarlett O'Hara in the Los Angeles production of the musical Scarlett; however, the play was poorly reviewed and did not continue to Broadway as planned.

Having failed to obtain the role of Liesl in the film version of The Sound of Music, Warren's first major television success was in the title role of Rodgers and Hammerstein's television special Cinderella in 1965. She later played the part of Dana Lambert, the leading female on the Mission: Impossible team, during the 1970-71 television season. According to The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier by Patrick White, she was considered too inexperienced for the part and left after only one year. Despite her departure, throughout the 1970s Warren became a leading lady of TV movies, TV series, and TV miniseries. She appeared as a guest star in the third season of The Muppet Show and made an occasional feature film. Warren also played Lois Lane in the 1975 TV special It's a Bird...It's a Plane...It's Superman adapted from the Broadway musical of the same name. Warren went on to screen-test for the role of Lois Lane in the 1978 Superman film, a role that was ultimately won by Margot Kidder (footage of Warren's screen test has been included as a supplementary feature on VHS and DVD releases of the film).

In 1981, she starred with Ken Wahl, George Peppard, and Donald Pleasence in Race for the Yankee Zephyr, a New Zealand suspense-action-thriller film directed by David Hemmings. For her portrayal of dim-witted gangster's moll Norma Cassidy in the 1982 musical-comedy Victor Victoria, Warren was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. Warren is also a five-time Golden Globe nominee and won for the 1977 miniseries Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue. She was Emmy-nominated for the TV movie Family of Spies (1991).

In 1975, Warren played a mental patient opposite Peter Falk and George Hamilton in the Columbo episode A Deadly State of Mind. Warren played Princess Jeanetta in the Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre episode The Dancing Princesses, an adaptation of the fairy tale The Twelve Dancing Princesses. She starred as one of the prime murder suspects, Miss Scarlet, in the comedy film version of the popular board game Clue (1985). In 1986, Lesley was prominently featured in Bob Seger's popular music video for his hit song "American Storm." In 1989, she appeared in the Aerosmith video "Janie's Got a Gun", wherein she played Janie's mother. She was also featured in a video for the Eagles' "Life in the Fast Lane". In 1994, Warren had a major supporting role in the erotic thriller Color of Night, in which she played a nymphomaniac; the film was poorly received, and she was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Supporting Actress. However, it was successful on the home video market.

Warren had recurring roles on Will & Grace as Will Truman's father's mistress and on Desperate Housewives as Susan Mayer's mother. Other television roles have included Lily Lebowski's mother on Crossing Jordan and Kip Stedman's mother in Less than Perfect.

Warren played the role of Mary Shannon's mother in the USA Network original television series In Plain Sight.

Personal life

Warren married producer Jon Peters in 1967. They divorced in 1974. They have one son, Christopher Peters, born 1968; he was an actor, now producer. She married Ronald Taft in 2000.

TV and filmography

Film and Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1962	The Chapman Report	Sarah's Daughter	uncredited
1965	Cinderella	Cinderella
1966	Gunsmoke	Betsy Payson	1 episode
1966	Dr. Kildare	Bonda Jo Weaver	4 episodes
1967	The Happiest Millionaire	Cordelia 'Cordy' Biddle	feature film debut
1968	The One and Only, Genuine, Original Family Band	Alice Bower
1969	Seven in Darkness	Deborah Cabot
1970-1971	Mission: Impossible	Dana Lambert	23 episodes Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Series, Miniseries or Television Film
1971	Love, Hate, Love	Sheila Blunden
	Cat Ballou	Cat Ballou	TV-movie version
1972	Assignment: Munich	Cathy Lange
	Pickup on 101	Nicky
	The Daughters of Joshua Cabe	Mae
1973	The Letters	Laura Reynolds
	Saga of Sonora	Emmy Lou
	Death on a Barge	Hyacinth ( vampire )	TV series Night Gallery season 3 episode 13
1975	Columbo	Nadia Donner	Episode: A Deadly State of Mind
	The Legend of Valentino	Laura Lorraine
1976	Harry and Walter Go to New York	Gloria Fontaine
1977	Harold Robbins' 79 Park Avenue	Marja Fludjicki/Marianne	TV mini-series Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Drama
1978	Betrayal	Julie Roy
	Pearl	Dr. Carol Lang	TV mini-series
	The Muppet Show	Herself
1979	Portrait of a Stripper	Susie Hanson
1980	Beulah Land	Sarah Pennington	TV mini-series
1981	Race for the Yankee Zephyr	Sally
1982	Victor Victoria	Norma Cassady	Nominated - Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1983	A Night in Heaven	Faye Hanlon
1984	Choose Me	Eve
	Songwriter	Gilda	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress - Motion Picture
1985	Clue	Miss Scarlet
1986	Apology	Lily
	A Fight for Jenny	Kelsey Wilkes
1987	Burglar	Dr. Cynthia Sheldrake
1988	Cop	Kathleen McCarthy
	Baja Oklahoma	Juanita Hutchins	CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Movie or Miniseries
1989	Worth Winning	Eleanor Larimore
1990	27 Wagons Full of Cotton	Flora
	Family of Spies	Barbara Walker	Nominated - Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Miniseries or Television Film Nominated - Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
	Lola	Lola Baltic
1991	A Seduction in Travis County	Melanie Evans
	Life Stinks	Molly
1992	In Sickness and in Health	Anita Mattison
	Pure Country	Lula Rogers
	Willing to Kill	Wanda Holloway
1993	A Mother's Revenge	Carol Sanders
1994	Color of Night	Sondra
1995	Joseph	Potiphar's Wife
	Bird of Prey	Carla Carr
	Murderous Intent	Gayle
1997	Going All the Way	Nina Casselman
1998	All of It	Glenda Holbeck
	Richie Rich's Christmas Wish	Regina Rich
1999	Love Kills	Evelyn Heiss
	The Limey	Elaine
	Twin Falls Idaho	Francine
	Teaching Mrs. Tingle	Faye Watson	Cameo appearance
2000	Ropewalk	Charlie's mother
	Trixie	Dawn Sloane
2001	Losing Grace	Mary Reed
	Delivering Milo	Anna
	The Quickie	Anna
	Wolf Girl	Dr. Klein
2002	Secretary	Joan Holloway
2003	Touched by an Angel	Kelly Cartwright	Episode: As It Is in Heaven
	The Practice	Sylvia Bakey	Episodes: Choirboys and Special Deliveries
2004	Less than Perfect	Diane Steadman	Episode: Claude's Apartment
	My Tiny Universe	Vee
2005	The Shore	Mrs. Becky Harris
	Constellation	Nancy
	When Do We Eat?	Peggy Stuckman
	Deepwater	Pam
2002-2005	Crossing Jordan	Arlene Lebowski	Episodes: Don't Look Back and Locard's Exchange
2006	Miracle Dogs Too	Nurse Bleaker
	10th & Wolf	Tina
2001-2006	Will & Grace	Tina	4 episodes
2008	The Diagnosis	Linda
2009	Bound by a Secret	Jane Tetley
2010	Stiffs	Joy Tramontana
	A Little Help	Joan
2011	Peep World	Marilyn Meyerwitz
2005-2011	Desperate Housewives	Sophie Bremmer	Special Guest-Star
2008-2012	In Plain Sight	Jinx Shannon	28 episodes
2013	Jobs	Clara Jobs
2013	Psych	Lesley Scarlett, rock band groupie	Season 7, Episode 5, "100 Clues" (100th episode)
2015	I Am Michael	Michael's mother in flashback scenes	shown at Sundance, Berlin, and Frameline film festivals in early 2015
	Community	Deb Perry	2 Episodes

[ Source: Wikipedia ]