Happy 65th Birthday to Meredith Baxter!

Meredith Baxter had been a part of our television lives for long with her TV series Bridget Loves Bernie, Family and Family Ties and endless television movies highlighted by her Emmy nominated work as Betty Broderick in a pair of highly-rated films.

In recent years, she’s been in the spotlight more for her personal life coming out as a lesbian a few years ago and writing a best-selling memoir.

Meredith turns 65 today and for her birthday, I hope someone comes along with a really juicy acting role for her to sink her teeth into.

I had a nice chat with Meredith at the LA Gay & Lesbian Center gala last fall and she made clear that while she’d love some good parts again, she’s not sitting around waiting for the phone to ring.

“Until then, I do a lot of speaking engagements. I speak on breast cancer and drug and alcohol addiction and domestic abuse and pro-choice. I’m out there and I earn my living in other ways right now and in ways that I didn’t know I would. I have something to say.”

Her autobiography, Untied, brought her closer to her fans too.

“I get the best reaction,” she said of her book tour last year. “I could not have imagined that’s what it was going to be. I hadn’t written a book before so it was all new. The support has been astonishing. Women have been amazing. I guess I accidentally found out that I have a story to tell and something to pass on. And it’s not just about the coming out process but I talk about domestic abuse and drug and alcohol addiction and breast cancer. I’m kind of my own series of Lifetime movies.”