Cherish EVERY DAY

The longtime actress shares Hollywood memories and her thoughts on life and love

- MORGAN FAIRCHILD, Lindsay Hoffman

When Morgan Fairchild was a little girl, she wanted to study science. “Louis Pasteur was my early idol,” she confides to Closer. “I wanted to be a doctor or a paleontologist. Like everybody, I loved the Tyrannosaurus Rex. That was the big one when I was a kid.”

Life had other plans for Morgan, who began her acting career on soaps, but became a star on the nighttime dramas Flamingo Road, Falcon Crest and Dallas. Morgan, 75, is also an adept funny lady who was nominated for an Emmy for her guest role on Murphy Brown. She's also appeared on everything from Mork & Mindy and The Love Boat to Friends and The Simpsons.

You grew up in Texas. What was that like?

Texas was a great place to grow up. My dad had gone to work at Texas Instruments back in the late '50s. It was a whole new development, so there were a lot of open fields. There were great places for kids to play, chase butterflies and build hideouts.

Morgan earned a Golden Globe nomination for Flamingo Road, which ran from 1980 to 1982.

How did you start acting?

I was one of those real shy kids that never opened my mouth and made straight A's. In the fifth grade, my teacher decided we would have to make oral book reports instead of written book reports. I stood in front of the class for three days in a row, and nothing would come out of my mouth. My mother said that no child of hers was going to be that incapacitated by shyness, so she enrolled us in drama classes.

She also got you started in theater.