Former actress, 75, known for cult sci-fi show and married to a soap opera star, 82, is seen on rare LA outing… can you guess who?
This former actress was pictured on a rare outing in Los Angeles earlier this month.
She’s best known for starring on a cult science fiction series in the late 1970s that went on to inspire an even higher-regarded remake in the 2000s.
This 75-year-old former TV star was seen out in the city with her husband, who’s also an actor, as well as their son.
While she has been retired from the screen since 2007, her 82-year-old husband continues to work to this day.
In addition to working on primetime TV like her, he has been appearing on a popular soap opera for nearly four decades.
Can you guess who this retired actress with a famous spouse is?
This former actress, 75, was pictured on a rare outing in Los Angeles earlier this month. She’s best known for starring on a cult science fiction series in the late 1970s that went on to inspire an even higher-regarded remake in the 2000s
She was joined in LA by her son and her husband, who is also an actor known for starring on a popular soap opera for nearly four decades. Can you guess who she is?
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She’s former TV star Laurette Spang-McCook.
Spang-McCook was seen running errands in LA with her husband, The Bold and the Beautiful mainstay John McCook, as well as their son.
Spang-McCook, who worked under her maiden name, found her greatest success in the late ’70s when she was cast as Cassiopeia on Battlestar Galactica.
The septuagenarian looked remarkably youthful in a black sweater and flared jeans, which she paired with brown suede slip-on clogs.
Her husband cut a rugged figure in an unbuttoned white work shirt and dark trousers.
In the 1978 pilot of Battlestar Galactica, which was also released as a feature film, Spang-McCook played a sex worker known as a ‘socialator,’ but her character was rewritten after the pilot to be a medical worker and the girlfriend of fighter pilot Starbuck (Dirk Benedict).
The sci-fi series was a ratings hit at the outset, but after the ratings juggernaut All In The Family moved into the same time slot, it took a hit in the ratings, and ABC executives opted to cancel it in 1979 after a single season due to its exorbitant budget.
Battlestar Galactica ended up being one of the rare shows to be saved thanks to a letter-writing campaign.
She’s former TV star Laurette Spang-McCook; Above, in a publicity still for Battlestar Galactica
Spang-McCook was seen running errands in LA with her husband, The Bold and the Beautiful mainstay John McCook, as well as their son. They have been married since 1980
The septuagenarian looked remarkably youthful in a black sweater and flared jeans, which she paired with brown suede slip-on clogs
Her husband cut a rugged figure in an unbuttoned white work shirt and dark trousers
However, its follow-up, the lower-budget Galactica 1980 – which didn’t feature Spang-McCook – only lasted for 10 episodes.
The actress, who was born in 1951 in Buffalo, New York, was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she began appearing in the theater in her high school years.
After graduation, she attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, which she graduated from in 1969, before returning to college in Michigan.
But after academic issues forced her to drop out, she worked as a typist until a Universal Studios talent agent discovered her in 1972 and changed her life.
Spang-McCook was signed to the studio on a seven-year contract, which led to a bevy of guest-starring roles on shows including Charlie’s Angels; Happy Days; The Six Million Dollar Man; The Love Boat; Emergency!; Marcus Welby, MD; Adam-12 and The Streets of San Francisco.
She also appeared in several TV movies in that period, while she made one of her few feature film appearances in Airport 1975 (in 1974).
But Spang-McCook was in dire straits toward the end of her contract, as People Magazine reported at the time that she was low on money and had been evicted from her apartment.
But her commercial fortunes changed after she was cast in a major role on Battlestar Galactica, even though the series was ultimately short-lived.
Spang-McCook’s big break came with Battlestar Galactica in 1978. The show as at first a hit until its ratings collapsed against All in the Family, leading to its 1979 cancellation after one season; Above, with costar Dirk Benedict
She was discovered in 1972 and signed to a seven-year contract with Universal, leading to numerous guest appearances on TV, including on Charlie’s Angels, Happy Days, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Love Boat and Magnum, PI; Above, with James Brolin (R) on the TV movie Short Walk to Daylight
Her husband, John McCook, is likely familiar to soap opera fans, as he has starred on The Bold and the Beautiful as Eric Forrester since 1987; Above, on Dynasty in 1983 with Heather Locklear (L)
Spang-McCook (L) retired from acting in 1984, before returning for a final project, the 2007 horror film Plot 7, which her husband (R) also appeared in; Above, in 2024 in LA
The show’s popularity helped catapult her to guest roles on high-profile shows including Three’s Company, Fantasy Island, The Dukes of Hazzard and Magnum, PI, but she largely retired from acting after 1984.
Following her stint on Battlestar Galactica, she married McCook in 1980, and they went on to welcome a son and two daughters, including the actress Molly Cook.
McCook is likely familiar to soap opera fans, as he has starred on The Bold and the Beautiful as Eric Forrester since 1987.
Before that, he had appeared as Lance Prentis on The Young and the Restless from 1975 to 1980, and he was a prolific guest actor on primetime shows throughout the ’70s and ’80s.
After his wife’s 1984 retirement, she appeared in the early 2000s in documentaries about Battlestar Galactica, but her final major project was the horror movie Plot 7, in which her husband also appeared.