Patricia Richardson
Patricia Richardson
Patricia Castle Richardsonis an American television and film actress best known for her portrayal of Jill Taylor on the sitcom Home Improvement, for which she was nominated four times for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series and two times for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series - Comedy or Musical. Richardson also received an Independent Spirit Award nomination for her performance in Ulee's Gold...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionTV Actress
Date of Birth23 February 1951
CityBethesda, MD
CountryUnited States of America
I have born-again Christians in my family, and they are completely against abortion... Everybody's got to stop being afraid of it real soon. Who's going to do it if a woman's network doesn't? People are going to be dying.
I curse too much. I really do. I have a horrible cursing mouth.
Getting married and then having children just centered me and grounded my values. It was like a whole new world. It started happening in New York with a little play called Cruise Control, where I relaxed, and then I kept getting work in Hollywood till this series happened.
Instead of yelling and spanking, which don't work anyway, I believe in finding creative ways to keep their attention - turning things into a game, for instance. And, when they do something good, positive reinforcement and praise.
Television is a real woman's medium... but what's disturbing is, still even in television, women have so little to do with what's going on behind the scenes.
I've had so many horrible things happen in my life since I did 'Home Improvement' that it's worried me about doing comedy because - how do I say this - I'm a much darker person than I was.
When youre a woman with a certain amount of fame and money, you are never certain what someones motives are.
But then my mother, who's a very selfless, stoic person from a family of Marines, would tell us that what was good for our father was good for us - he would make more money; therefore, we'd be able to get better educations.
They see me as being this Super Mom on TV who also can more than handle a difficult husband, and they assume I'm going to be just full of wisdom as a mother and wife myself.
You have to be the parent; you can't be their friend.
Good actresses can often accomplish miracles, and it is possible to be someone you've never been or will be. But in a sitcom, there's no time.
I still get the kids to the doctor and dentist and plan their play dates and buy their clothes.
I know it's a lot harder for women who don't have enough help, but the truth is, no matter how much money you have, if you want to stay involved with your children and don't want to lose being a primary parent to them, you're still in the game.
It was extremely hard going from being a parent of one to a parent of three, because now all these instant decisions have to be made about how you balance out the time and attention between them.