Ann Jillian

Ann Jillian (born Ann Jura Nauseda; January 29, 1950) is an American former actress and singer whose career began as a child actress in 1960. She is best known for her role as the sultry waitress Cassie Cranston on the 1980s sitcom It's a Living.

Jillian was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1950 to Lithuanian immigrant parents Juozas and Margarita Nausėda (later George and Margaret Nauseda) and speaks Lithuanian fluently. Jillian was raised as a devout Roman Catholic.

She began her career as a child actress in 1960 when she played Little Bo Peep in the Disney film Babes in Toyland. Jillian appeared as Dainty June in the Rosalind Russell-Natalie Wood movie version of Gypsy (1962). She had several television appearances in the 1960s and 1970s, becoming a regular on the 1960s sitcom Hazel (1965-66 season) and appearing in the 1963 Twilight Zone episode "Mute" (where she was given screen credit as "Ann Jilliann") as the mute telepath Ilse Nielsen. In 1983, Jillian was honored by the Young Artist Foundation with its Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award, recognizing her achievements within the entertainment industry as a child actress.

Jillian moved on to voice roles, for Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! and Sealab 2020 in the early 1970s, but — told she was too old to play youthful roles of the day and too young to play a leading lady — there was no more work for her in Hollywood. She took a department store job and studied psychology, but heeded the advice of casting director Hoyt Bowers and Walt Disney, who had told her, "Whatever you do, keep working at your craft".

Jillian married Andy Murcia, a Chicago police sergeant, on March 27, 1978, and shortly thereafter Murcia retired to manage his wife's career.

In the late 1970s, she toured in musical comedies, including Sammy Cahn's Words and Music. After appearing with Mickey Rooney in the play Goodnight Ladies in Chicago, the producers cast Jillian to appear in the original company of Sugar Babies on Broadway with Rooney and Ann Miller in 1979. She also starred in I Love My Wife at the Drury Lane Theatre in Chicago.

Jillian appeared in more than 25 films, mostly for television. Though she had nearly two decades' worth of film and television credits already, she first came to national prominence in the 1980s series It's a Living, a sitcom that elevated Jillian to sex symbol status in 1980. She was the last to be signed onto this series and received last place billing. The sitcom aired for two seasons on ABC before being cancelled due to low ratings and was sold into syndication for the burgeoning cable television market. (The show became a surprise success in syndication.) Toward the end of her time on the series for the ABC run, she portrayed Mae West in a 1982 made-for-television film. Jillian was nominated for a lead actress Emmy and Golden Globe for her performance.

In 1983, she appeared in the John Hughes movie Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton and Teri Garr. The same year, she appeared in the miniseries Malibu, starring Kim Novak, Eva Marie Saint and James Coburn. That fall she starred in her own sitcom, Jennifer Slept Here, a variation on The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, with Jillian as the apparition in question. Jennifer Slept Here ended in 1984, enabling her to take a role in the miniseries Ellis Island. For their work in the miniseries, Faye Dunaway and Ben Vereen were nominated for Golden Globe Awards, and Ann Jillian and Richard Burton were nominated for Emmy Awards.