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|---|---|---|---|---|
 Laurette Spang | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Gender: | Female | |||
| Birth name: | Laurette Michelle Spanglet | |||
| Also known as: | Laurette Spang-McCook | |||
| Born: | 16 May 1951 | |||
| Birthplace: | Buffalo, New York | |||
| Website/URL: | LauretteSpang.com | |||
| Career/Family Information | ||||
| Occupation/ Career: |
Actress | |||
| Years active: | 19 | |||
| Spouse(s): | John McCook, 1980-present (3 children) | |||
| Character information | ||||
| Appeared on: | Three's Company | |||
| Character played: | Inga | |||
| Episode appearances: | "Downhill Chaser" (Season 5) | |||
Laurette Spang-McCook (born Laurette Michelle Spanglet 16 May 1951) appeared as Inga, a skiing instructor which Jack meets at The Regal Beagle in the Season 5 episode of Three's Company titled "Downhill Chaser". Laurette is perhaps well known to TV viewers for her part as Cassiopeia in the original ABC-TV series Battlestar Galactica. Laurette is married to actor John McCook, who appeared in two episodes of Three's Company in Seasons 4 and 7.
She is credited as Laurette Spang in productions prior to 1980.
Biography[]
Spang was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she was the middle child. Her father was a chemist and her mother a housewife. She has an older brother, Richard, and a younger sister, Marilyn.
She had what some would call an interesting start in the show-business. Prior to her starting out, she was an active letter-writer, penning letters to actors. She was also a "huge fan" of the gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows and of the TV western, Bonanza.
At 16, she accompanied her father on a business trip to New York City, where she waited at the stage door of Dark Shadows. In an event likely out of place in today's society, the stage guard allowed her to walk right in, leading her to actress Kathryn Leigh Scott. After their meeting, Spang would answer Scott's fan mail through high-school.
The summer of her junior year, she auditioned to be an apprentice at Williamstown Summer Theater. A year later, Scott set up an audition for Spang at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
She was spotted by an Universal talent agent in 1972, where she was signed up for a contract. The contract lead to guest starring roles in nine shows, including Emergency!, Adam-12, The Streets of San Francisco, Happy Days and Charlie's Angels. This also lead to four television movies, including Short Walk to Daylight, Runaway!, and Sarah T. - Portrait of an Alcoholic.
After her leaving the contract system, she was cast as Cassiopeia in the Battlestar Galactica mini-series, "Saga of a Star World". An initial draft would have lead to her being eaten by the Ovion, however this death was averted and she had a regular role (downgraded from the "socialator" status to a medtech) in the series.
After appearing in Magnum, P.I. in 1984, Spang left the business for reasons unstated. Laurette appeared in the Battlestar Galactica episode of Sciography, a short-lived documentary series on the Sci-Fi Channel in 2002.
Personal Life[]
Laurette with husband John McCook at the 39th Annual Emmy Awards ceremony
Laurette married John McCook on February 16, 1980. Subsequent to that, she was credited as Laurette Spang-McCook. She has three children with McCook: Jake, Becky, and Molly. One of her daughters is presently interested in pursuing an acting career.
An official website for Spang was launched 16 April 2005. (LauretteSpang.com)
