I have always enjoyed Pat's work on television. She played the straight woman to the comic, as seen mostly in Bob Newhart. The same could be said for her stable performance opposite the somewhat intense character of Dennis Becker on The Rockford Files. The claim that Pat is somewhat wooden is false as it is clearly seen by her far out performance as Twinx on MTM show. I never tire of seeing Pat in these shows and I hope she is doing well.

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I imagine you clutching pearls, while typing.

First, very sad to hear about poor Heath.
But, in defense of Miss Finley, she does make a strong point about the devaluation of a college degree because that plus 49 cents could probably purchase you one postage stamp these days.
When you think about all of the hard work that you put into your college studies and all of the hard work behind the scenes to pay for all of that outrageous ripoff costs of tuition and supplies, then you know that it all adds up to a commendable achievement if you graduate and even more of an accomplishment if you go back for seconds or thirds to endure all of those rigors all over again with instructors who work against you to try to sabatoge your ever credit.
And then when you go to apply for some type of career which would not necessarily suit your expectations to begin with, you are either overqualified or outmoded because your degree is now from two seasons ago, or else you are not exactly what they are looking for, or else if you pass, you soon get laid off because of funding curtailments.
What Miss Finley is actually saying is that a college degree is just like a snapshot in time, to show that you are trainable, but the education process does not end there in the least because life is a much more valuable education tool than that scribbled piece of sheepskin which you are parading around town.
As far as her acting capabilities go, yes it is surprising that1c84 she did not embark on a much wider film and television acting career than she has been bestowed, but if she is judged from her role as Ellen Hartley, then that may not be entirely her fault because what supporting performer could possibly take center stage amid the greats of Suzanne Pleshette, Bob Newhart and Bill Dailey? Anybody except for the legendary Martha Scott and Bernard Hughes is going to blend into the woodwork in the presence of such star power.
What they seem to be trying to do with her character is to pattern Pat Finley after the amazingly wonderful Pat Crowley, who really does possess those fine qualities of beauty, virtue, grace, charm, class, style and endearment wherever she may film except for "Forever Female," where you are surprized that Miss Crowley had a career after that awful mess.
But good that she does because she brings such lovely characters to life, whereas Miss Finley isn't given half of Miss Crowley's charms in her role of Ellen Hartley. Maybe she was directed to act selfishly and annoyingly, or maybe nobody could support those very professional "Bob Newhart Show" regulars by outshining over them, but at least she's cute and perky in her role, and it's good to see her once in a while in those necessary reruns.
Best of luck to Miss Finley, Miss Crowley and Pats everywhere, and also to college grads everywhere unless they earn that degree non-meritudiously, as many teachers' pets often do.

I don't get it. I majored in education and I love being a teacher. Why arent you doing what you majored in?? Hard to get a job with just a high school diploma.
RIP Heath Ledger 1979-2008

I agree with you, however, for someone to be invited to give an inspiring graduation speech and then tell all the studentb68s they just wasted their money and four years of their lives just shows that Finley lacks a considerable amount of insight or concern about othersnot to mention class and intelligence

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I remember her on the Big Money Movie on a Seattle Channel, replacing Sandy Hill.
What's that?

I remember her on the Big Money Movie on a Seattle Channel, replacing Sandy Hill. The next time I saw her was on Bob Newhart and then Rockford. She was hard to take.. No emotion, at all. No one would beleive it was Bob's sister on Bob Newhart. Her voice was contracted and irritating..

She was the graduation speaker several years ago at Saint Martin's University (she had family in Olympia). Her speech was notable for its vacuity. Among other things, she said that one needn't go to college nowadays.

I met her years ago in Seattle. She mentioned she was moving to France, I'm guessing because of her husband.

I think she went into film distribution on the side while she was acting in the early 70s, so maybe she went over to the business end of things. She has guest starred in some programs now and then over the years, though.