JULY 6, 2022 - Rosemary Forsyth’s career began in 1963 on the television series Route 66. Some time after that, she became known as a soap opera actress and appeared on several well-known TV series, including Star Trek: Voyager. Today we celebrate her 79th birthday.

Forsyth was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1943. Her parents, a Scots-Canadian father, and an Irish-American mother separated when she was an infant and moved to New York City with her mother, the model Rosemary Collins when she was five.

As a high school student, Forsyth studied drama and followed in her mom’s footsteps, becoming a teenage model, and going on to study acting at the Wynn Handman Drama School. Handman was a director and artistic director whose mission was to seek out, encourage, and train new talent, which included such actors as Michael Douglas and, of course, Forsyth.

After her one-off guest appearance in Route 66, Forsyth made her film debut in 1965’s Shenandoah, playing Jennie Anderson, daughter of Charlie, played by James Stewart. That same year, she played opposite Charlton Heston as Bronwyn in The War Lord, a performance that garnered her a Golden Globe nomination. She would go on to a fruitful film career, joining Heston once more in the disaster film Gray Lady Down, among other roles for the silver screen.

In the 1970s, she moved on to television roles, including the pilot for a show entitled Is There a Doctor in the House? which was not picked up, but would have starred William Windom, who had guest-starred in the Star Trek episode “The Doomsday Machine.” (Windom went on to be a recurring character on Murder She Wrote, playing the crusty Doctor Seth Hazlitt. Forsyth would reunite with him for one episode of that series.) Forsyth would also feature in the pilot episode of Columbo, directed by Steven Spielberg, called “Murder By the Book.”

Forsyth became known in the 1970s and ‘80s as Sophia Wayne Capwell on the soap opera Santa Barbara and was the fourth actress on Days of Our Lives to play Laura Spencer Horton. She also guest-starred on Fantasy Island (starring Khan portrayer Ricardo Montalban,) Remington Steele, JAG, and ER, to name but a few. And, of course, Star Trek: Voyager.

In the fourth season episode, “Scientific Method,” Forsyth played a Srivani scientist named Alzen, who snuck aboard the titular ship to conduct medical experiments on the crew. Despite brandishing a death threat against the crew, Alzen was outsmarted by Captain Janeway, who simply pointed the ship at a binary pulsar, risking the deaths of not only her crew but the Srivani, as well.

You can find more of Rosemary Forsyth’s filmography here. In the meantime, please join us at DSTN in wishing here the happiest of birthdays.