Nancy - Elayne Heilveil
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rob-949 — 18 years ago(January 09, 2008 10:12 PM)
I think Ms. Heilveil was a competent actress in her scenes especially the breakdown in the car scene. I think the producers didn't have a clear idea of what they wanted for the character of Nancy in the first 6 episodes, and when they did they decided to go in a different direction probably in no small part than because Willie and Buddy were so protective of one another they needed a contrast and source of conflict hence bitchy Nancy II.
Ms. Baxter looks less like the possible daughter of Sada Thompson and James Broderick than does Ms. Heilveil, and, actually, after the pilot, Ms. Heilveil's appearance improved considerably (as did Ms. Thompson's).
I don't think it's a slight on the actress that she was released from her contract, and the role wsas recast. It's simply the producers looking at the first six episodes and the cast as a whole and deciding what worked, what didn't, and where there was room to increase the drama and complicate the family dynamic to keep things interesting. -
lbjca — 17 years ago(June 18, 2008 11:22 AM)
I never saw Elayne Heilveil again after being on Family the first few times. Meredith Baxter bacame a big star, this tells a lot right there. This was a very good choice to get rid of Ms. Heilveil, she didn't play the role well at all.
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ethersmum — 16 years ago(June 19, 2009 10:07 AM)
HmmmI don't know. I agree with the other person on this forum who said Baxter looked something like Broderick and Gary Frank (Willy): same fair hair and pale blue eyes. I also agree that Heilveil, with her big dark eyes and hair, resembled Sada Thompson and Kristy McNichol. Are all the children you know absolute spitting images of their parents? Not in my family. My mother is a dead-ringer for Audrey Hepburn, but her mother looked like Bea Arthur and her father looked like Pope John Paul II!
Besides, I think acting ability should take precedence over appearance, especially on such a well-crafted drama such as "Family". -
subcarrier — 16 years ago(August 29, 2009 01:11 AM)
I agree, I've seen many instances where a parent's child looks completely unlike them. This was not left unaddressed by the writers though. In the episode "Princess In The Tower", Kate is telling Kim Darby's character while she's giving birth about her children. I don't remember it verbatim, but she says how different from her her oldest daughter Nancy lookstall and with long blond hair.
I sure could use a refresher on the episode, if Sony would just get off of their butts and get out some more seasons.
What else do you like? Lazy, ugly, horny? I got it all -
fentress — 16 years ago(January 04, 2010 02:08 PM)
I agree with the majority of posters on this thread, i.e. that Meredith Baxter Birney was a better actress and more attractive. Not that Elayne Heilveil was particularly unattractive, but Baxter-Birney was more telegenic. I think replacing Heilveil with Baxter-Birney was a wise casting choice, even if she doesn't look as much as though she could be the Lawrence's daughter.
However, I can't help but notice that photo of Elayne Heilveil on the piano during the show's opening sequence - in the few episodes she was in. In that photo, I think she looks quite striking. I can't get over how good she looks in that photo. Unfortunately she didn't look quite as good any other time. The photographer must have caught her on a good day. -
thedavidavin — 11 years ago(March 10, 2015 04:15 PM)
Of course there's a chance that none of the original posters on this topic are still alive, but this thread made me go back and watch the first 6 episodes, just to see if the actress playing Nancy was ugly, boring or a bad or miscast actress. I found none of it to be true. Wikipedia (not that I trust everything I read there) refers to the first 6 episodes as a mini-series, so that accounts for a lot of questions regarding the length of the first "season" and the decision to recast Nancy. As an earlier post suggests, if the following season wasn't negotiated, I can see where they would have traded the star power of Baxter to ensure a hit.
Heilveil was perfectly attractive for the time and I think she very much looked like she could be an actual daughter of Sada Thompson, as well as Willie and Buddy's sibling and her acting is spot-on. This character is quite different than the other generations of the family in that so many characters of that age were written off as hippies or the typical bitchy-but-hot "Meredith Baxter California Girl". I think Heilveil gave the role an interesting substance, almost a "trump card" of a character, such as ALL of those we watched Christina Raines play during the same era. She seemed to not be confident of anything, which was very realistic for a character of her age in 1976.
Thanks to this discussion board, I was forced to look up these episodes and watch them. When this show originally aired, I was growing up in a rural area and we only picked up the NBC affiliate, so I only saw a handful of the Season 3 episodes back then. Now I see what the big deal was and plan to watch all of it. Much of it still holds up thematically. I can see where Gary Frank's "method" likely rubbed off on McNichol. And speaking of, no wonder the child grew up to be manic-depressive. Let's look at the themes of the first 6 episodes:- Infidelity/Abortion
- Cancer and Best Friend Moving Away
- Falling In Love with Someone Who Is Pregnant By Someone Else
- Death
- Death of a Child
- Psychotic Home Invasion/Runaway Brother (although I don't think a High School Drop-Out could qualify as a runaway during that period).
Did they set out to be the Polar-Brady Bunch? Does anything good every happen to this family? I'm hooked already, so I guess I'm about to find out. Thompson and Broderick turned in some fine TV acting here.
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fentress — 11 years ago(March 10, 2015 05:18 PM)
Well, if it's comfort to you, I am still alive! Kind of interesting to get a reply to such an old post. To be honest, I haven't watched or thought about that show in a long time. I don't know if more episodes have released now, but when I made the post all that was on DVD was that abbreviated first season with Elaine Heilveil and then the following full season with Birney. So that's all I've really seen. I am old enough to remember it being on the air but didn't watch much back then. I guess a person could find pirate DVD's to see the rest (if not released yet) but I never went to that effort (and wouldn't likely now).
I respect all those thoughts. What I remember liking about the show was that they had a number of crises, but they were basically a functioning family. For the most part the problems were real and not clichd. A well balanced drama. -
thedavidavin — 11 years ago(March 10, 2015 07:26 PM)
There is a certain internet (toob) site that seems to have ALL episodes, all five seasons. I'm on the third episode of the 2nd season and it seems, although the themes are still somewhat deep and serious, they lightened it up a few notches. And congratulations on still being alive!
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SkipEastport — 10 years ago(November 12, 2015 02:34 PM)
This is an old thread, and maybe no one cares, but thanks to social media I've been in touch with some of the participants of Family. As it turns out, Elayne Heilveil wasn't replaced. According to the producer, she didn't want to commit to a regular series when ABC picked the show up after it's initial mini-series run.
I didn't know this, but another actress was actually cast as Nancy after Heilveil but before Meredith Baxter, and she filmed the first episode of the second season. Her name was Jane Actman. I did a Google search, and she looked very similar to Elayne Heilveil. It was ABC president Fred Silverman who decided that he wanted an older actress with a different look. He went over the heads of producers Carol and Nigel McKeand and recast Meredith Baxter as Nancy. Meredith actually talks about this in her autobiography. She had to refilm Actman's scenes for that episode and resented the fact that she had to play Actman's mannersims and inflections to make the scenes with other actors match.
Meredith accepted the part because she was assured that Nancy would be recurring and not appear every week. At the time, Meredith was busy with young kids to raise, not to mention placating her jealous husband David Birney.