At A Glance

Leigh Taylor-Young, Emmy Award winning actress and international personality portrays the role of Katherine Crane.

Born to a diplomatic family in Washington, D.C., she began her formal education as an Economics major at Northwestern University. Taylor-Young soon changed to Theater and studied under the renowned teacher, Alvina Krause. Subsequently, following graduation, she continued her studies in New York City with Sanford Meisner, at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

Taylor-Young has over fifteen feature films to her credits including I Love You, Alice B. Toklas with Peter Sellars, Jagged Edge with Glenn Close and Jeff Bridges, Looker with Albert Finney, The Gang that Couldn't Shoot Straight with Robert DeNiro, Soylent Green with Charlton Heston and The Horsemen with Omar Shariff. Her television credits include Peyton Place, Dallas, Beverly Hills 90210, The Pretender and the critically acclaimed Picket Fences, for which she won an Emmy.

In addition to her film and television work, Taylor-Young has a special passion for theater. She had the unique privilege of performing in one of Samuel Beckett's last works, The Beckett Plays, directed by Alan Schneider at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, the Harold Clurman Theatre in New York, the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in Convent Garden, London and the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland. Her other theatre credits include Three Bags Full, Knives and Sleeping Dogs.

Taylor-Young has worked for Ted Turner's Better World Society. She is the voice for the Search for Serenity series of audio meditations for The Course in Miracles and she is an ordained minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness and works closely with John Roger, an educator and Wayshower. Taylor-Young has been active on behalf of the environment as a Special Advisor in Arts and Media for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), as well as a representative for the Institute for the Study of Individual and World Peace. She as the Goodwill Ambassador from the United Nations for ICEBRIDGE: First Artic Environmental Forum in 1995.

Taylor-Young resides in Los Angeles, CA. She has one son, Patrick, a sportscaster. Her birthday is January 25.

Acting Portfolio

TELEVISION

Passions Katherine Crane May 2004 to Present Sunset Beach Elaine Stevens 1/1997 to 12/1997 Picket Fences Rachel Harris (recurring) 1993 to 1995 Dallas Kimberly Cryder (recurring) 1987 to 1989 The Hamptons Lee Chadway 1983 The Devlin Connection Lauren Dane 1982 Peyton Place Rachel Welles 1966 to 1967

Awards & Acclaim

Emmy : Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series ( Picket Fences , 1994)

Vital Statistics

DATE OF BIRTH: January 25, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH: Washington, District of Columbia
SIBLINGS: Sister is actress Dey Young, brother is writer/director Lance Young.
CHILDREN: Son Patrick (b. 1967, with Ryan O'Neal); through him has granddaughters Sophia and Veronica (mother is Rebecca de Mornay).

Related Information

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Who's Who: Read a biography of Katherine Crane.
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