Jenilee Harrison
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Jenilee Harrison | |
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| Born | June 12, 1959 Northridge, Los Angeles, California, US |
| Spouse(s) | Bruce Oppenheim |
Jenilee Harrison (born in Northridge, Los Angeles, California on June 12, 1959) is an American actress possibly best known for her role as replacement blonde roommate Cindy Snow on the hit sitcom Three's Company from 1980-1982.
She was a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority (Epsilon Chapter) at the University of Southern California.
Before being cast in Three's Company, Jenilee was a cheerleader from 1978-1980 for the Los Angeles Rams. Harrison can be seen in the opening moments of the highlight film for Super Bowl XIV, which shows the Rams cheerleaders in their dressing room before the game.
After Suzanne Somers, who played Chrissy Snow, left during season five after a bitter salary dispute, Harrison served as the replacement dumb blonde roommate: her character Cindy was Chrissy Snow's cousin and a klutzy farmgirl version of Chrissy. The similarity between the two cousins was enough so the show could use the scripts that were already written with Chrissy in mind. In addition, Harrison and costar John Ritter worked well together, as her character's clumsiness often set up many of the physical gags that Jack Tripper was famous for on the show.
Suzanne Somers continued to receive star billing and occasionally appeared in the tag (final 1-2 minutes) of certain episodes. Even with Somers's final appearance occurring midseason (in the episode "And Baby Makes Four") and with Somers's character, Chrissy, never being mentioned again, the opening titles continued to have Somers's name until the end of the season. By that time, the producers realized that Harrison just did not have the stage presence to replace the highly popular Somers.
For the sixth season a new blonde roommate named Terri Alden (Priscilla Barnes), a smart nurse, took Cindy's place in the apartment. Harrison was retained in the show and this time given star credit; however, she now had a lesser role, appearing less frequently in the series while actually living at UCLA. By the end of the season, Harrison's character was deemed obsolete, and with no explanation, Cindy Snow disappeared from the series (her last appearance was in "Janet Wigs Out.")
In the TV movie of The Three's Company Story, Harrison was portrayed by Liz Crawford.
Harrison later portrayed Jamie Ewing Barnes on the hit drama Dallas. She was a recurring character in the series, first appearing in the episode titled "Jamie." She played the role until 1986 when she decided to leave the soap. Her character was actually killed off twice, first when she starts the car belonging to her brother Jack Ewing in the episode "Blast from the Past," and it explodes killing her. Turns out, the whole season was all a dream, so Harrison agreed to return long enough for her character to die again. Early in 1987 Jamie was killed in a mountain climbing accident. She is memorable in the role because she played the cunning wife of Cliff Barnes, J.R. Ewing's mortal enemy.
In 1984, Harrison played a reluctant prostitute in the movie Tank alongside James Garner and C. Thomas Howell. In one memorable scene, she was spanked with a belt. In an apparent effort to re-energize her career, Harrison posed for a semi-nude pictorial in the June 1987 issue of Playboy Magazine. The rather tame layout had a negligible effect on her fortunes.
Harrison also guest-starred on That '70s Show in 1999.
As of 2005, Harrison is starring on infomercials for the Ultimate Chopper with Chef Tony. In her personal life, she is married to actress Cybill Shepherd's ex-husband Bruce Oppenheim and is a stepmother to Cybill and Bruce's children, Ariel Shepherd-Oppenheim and Zachariah Shepherd-Oppenheim.
