Linda Purl on "Little Ladies of the Night"

The prolific career of lovely Linda Purl, accomplished jazz singer and stage actress, includes countless guest appearances on classic TV shows such as The Waltons, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, and Medical Center. Linda joined the cast of Happy Days for its tenth season as Fonzie’s girlfriend, Ashley, and later played Charlene in the first season of Matlock. More recently she has surfaced in episodes in Bones, Cold Case, Homeland, Lie to Me, True Blood, and the recurring role of Helene in The Office.

Linda also graced the screen in a number of TV movies, including memorable performances in The Adventures of Nellie Bly and The Young Pioneers. In 1977, she starred as a teen prostitute in the ABC movie of the week, Little Ladies of the Night, which led in the Neilsen ratings. Linda's mother was played by Carolyn Jones, the ex-wife of the movie’s producer, Aaron Spelling. By then, he was married to Candy and the father of future actress Tori Spelling. I asked Linda about her memories of working on the set of that film.

James Pylant: Little Ladies of the Night had such an impressive cast. Not only did you work with Carolyn Jones, but also with Dorothy Malone, David Soul, Kathleen Quinlan, Lana Wood, Vic Tayback, Katherine Helmond, and Louis Gossett Jr. That must’ve been an exciting experience for you.

Linda Purl: It was! It was a big role and it was a challenging role. And, of course, none of us could’ve predicted that it would’ve had the success that it did. And I would say it was one of my earlier jobs in LA. So it was just a great experience.

JP: That was such a different part for you.

LP: Well, it was an eye-opener for me. I went with a male friend—a large male, physically strong friend—and we hung out in Hollywood and met and talked to some young prostitutes. Oh, the vacant stares in their eyes; the hopes for who they wanted to become. They wanted to become actresses. They had come to Hollywood, and they were sure that they could succeed. This was Hollywood Boulevard. You didn’t have to go far to look for this stuff going on.

JP: What do you recall about meeting Carolyn Jones?

LP: I guess my primary recollection of her was that she was so nice, very at home on the set, and she spoke about Aaron. And how grateful she was to him, you know? They had a divergent, but life-long relationship. My memory of her is that she was gracious, that she was very pleasant, and always had a smile on her face; extremely professional. I remember her talking about Bette Davis and that Carolyn was a blonde. She said she had to dye her hair black, as advised by the studio, in order to have a career. I do remember that she joked. I think that’s part of the memory—just the smile.

JP: Was Aaron on the set much? Did you see any interaction between the two?

LP: No, I don’t think I did. He came on the set a couple of times. Candy came on the set with Tori, a cream puff in her arms at that point. But I don’t remember Candy being on the set when Carolyn was there.

JP: You had several scenes with Kathleen Quinlan. What was is like working with her?

LP: Oh, Kathleen was great. I haven’t seen her in a very, very long time now, but we actually became friends and spent some time hanging out together. But that happens in this business. You get pulled into different projects, your lives go in different ways, you get busy, and you kind of get pulled away from each other. But, oh, Kathleen was great. I remember I had a pool at the time that had a big diving board, and she had been a competitive diver, and so she did these incredible dives! Oh, my gosh! She has a great sense of humor, and she’s just a talented actress, obviously.

JP: You filmed Little Ladies in ’76. Young Pioneers came out the same year, didn’t it?

LP: Gosh, I was busy! Well, I loved doing Young Pioneers, and in fact, we’re all—those of us who are left—are still very close friends—Bobby Hayes, Roger Kern and Kay Kimler. We call ourselves the"Not So Young Pioneers" now.