JoBeth Williams

Kramer">Kramer vs. Kramer (1979). Williams' star ascended with such roles as the mother of long-suffering Heather O'Rourke in the first two Poltergeist films and the sixties activist-cum-housewife in The Big Chill (1983). While she hasn't always been well-served by Hollywood, she has managed to show up in a number of worthwhile assignments, ranging from 1984's Teachers (in which she spontaneously performing the most dramatically justifiable striptease in movie history) to 1994's Wyatt Earp (as Bessie Earp) Her TV-movie credits are even more impressive: she had several memorable moments in the post-apocalyptic The Day After (1983) and was brilliant as the anguished mother of the murdered title character in Adam (1983). She has also participated in series television, lending her voice to the character of Angel in the animated nighttimer Fish Police (1992) and essaying the Susan Sarandon role in the 1995 weekly TV adaptation of The Client. In addition, she served as executive producer of the 1991 TV movie Bump in the Night, and as co-producer of the Oscar-nominated documentary On Hope (1994). JoBeth Williams is married to director John Pasquin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide