Jan Smithers

Jan Smithers (born 1949 or 1950) is a former American actress, model and singer. She is best known for playing Bailey Quarters on the CBS sitcom WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982).

Early life

Smithers grew up in a middle-class family in Los Angeles, California. Her father was a lawyer, while her mother was a stay-at-home mom. She has three sisters, however her eldest sister died in a car accident at age 21.

Smithers first reached the public eye as a teenager when, at 16, she was profiled and featured on the March 21, 1966 cover of Newsweek seated on the back of a motorcycle. She received offers from Hollywood agents as a result of that appearance.

Smithers graduated from the Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California. She attended the Chouinard Art Institute which is now known as the California Institute of the Arts.

Career

Smithers made her mark as a successful model before embarking on an acting career.

Smithers, in her early 20s, won a role in the 1974 feature film, Where the Lilies Bloom, about a household of children surviving in the Appalachian Mountains. In 1978 she got her biggest break, landing a role on the situation comedy, WKRP in Cincinnati playing Bailey Quarters.

Personal life

She was the co-lead singer of the early 1970s band Hot Cup of Friends which featured Christopher Mancini (the son of Henry Mancini).

Smithers's first marriage was to Kipp Whitman from 1971 to 1972. From 1986 to 1995, she was married to actor James Brolin and was stepmother to his two children from a previous marriage; together they have one daughter, Molly Elizabeth. Smithers filed for divorce from Brolin in 1995.

After living in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada "for a few years", she returned to California. In June 2014, Smithers attended a reunion of surviving WKRP in Cincinnati cast members hosted by the Paley Center for Media.

Television and filmography