Early TV appearances Fabares's acting debut was at the age of 3. At the age of 10, she made her first appearance on television in an episode of
Letter to Loretta, "The Clara Schumann Story" (1954). Early TV appearances included the ''
Producers' Showcase adaptation of Our Town starring Frank Sinatra and Paul Newman. She was Young Cathy in a Matinee Theatre adaptation of Wuthering Heights''. , Shelley Fabares,
John Wilder and
Jill St. John in
Summer Love (1958) Fabares had small parts in
The Girl Rush (1955),
Never Say Goodbye (1956),
The Bad Seed (1956),
Rock, Pretty Baby! (1956),
Jeanne Eagels (1957),
Marjorie Morningstar (1958), and
Summer Love (1958). On TV she was in
Captain Midnight,
Annie Oakley,
Fury, and
Colgate Theatre. She portrayed Moselle Corey on
Annette (1958) starring
Annette Funicello. She guest starred on
Mr. Novak,
The Eleventh Hour,
Arrest and Trial, and
The Twilight Zone ("
Black Leather Jackets").
The Donna Reed Show '': (clockwise from bottom left)
Paul Petersen,
Donna Reed,
Carl Betz, and Shelley Fabares, 1958 In 1958, Fabares landed the role of Mary Stone in the long-running family sitcom
The Donna Reed Show. This ran until 1966. Fabares quickly established herself as a favorite with teen audiences.
Singer in 1959 Fabares' national popularity led to a recording contract and two "Top 40" hits, including "Johnny Angel", which went to number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 in April 1962, and peaked at number 41 in the UK. It sold over one million copies and was certified
gold. She released an album,
Shelley!. "I was stunned about that, to put it mildly," she later said. "After all, I never could sing." Fabares left
The Donna Reed Show in 1963 (she would return periodically until its end in 1966) to pursue other acting opportunities. She released a third album,
Teenage Triangle in 1963.
Film career Fabares was one of the female leads in the surf film
Ride the Wild Surf (1964). MGM made a pilot for a TV series based on
Meet Me in St. Louis with Fabares in the lead but no network was receptive to it. She was reunited with Elvis for
Spinout (1966) at MGM and
Clambake (1967), at United Artists.
Daniel Boone,
Medical Center,
Lancer, ''
Bracken's World, and The Interns''. Fabares said she went through a period where she struggled to find work. "I went to bed on Tuesday having worked since I was 3. I got up Wednesday morning and didn't work for four years, went to bed Wednesday night after four years, got up and interviewed for a
Mannix episode and started working again. I think this business is very cyclical. You go through busy times and you go through dead times." After
Mannix, she was in
Longstreet,
Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law,
Love, American Style,
Rockford Files,
McCloud and ''
Cade's County''. "I wasn't a big risk-taker," she said later. "I should have been more aggressive. I was nervous and scared to try something really different."
The Brian Keith Show, The Practice Fabares had a regular role on
The Brian Keith Show (1972–1974), known as
The Little People during its first season, which lasted for 47 episodes. When the show ended she resumed guest shots:
Police Story,
Ironside,
The Rockford Files,
The Rookies,
Matt Helm,
Medical Story,
Marcus Welby, M.D.,
Barnaby Jones, and ''
Spencer's Pilots''. She had a role in the television film
Sky Heist (1975) and from 1976 to 1977 had a regular part on
The Practice with
Danny Thomas.
Forever Fernwood, One Day at a Time and Highcliffe Manor She then had a regular role on
Forever Fernwood. In 1978, Fabares played Francine Webster on the
CBS sitcom
One Day at a Time, a role she reprised for the last three years of the show. "I was Francine, a rather villainous character," she said later. "She was wonderful. She saw the world only through her eyes, and it never occurred to her that other people didn't." She was also in episodes of
Lucan,
Vega$,
The Incredible Hulk,
Hello, Larry, and
Fantasy Island. Fabares was in the television film
Pleasure Cove (1979), ''Donovan's Kid
(1979), Friendships, Secrets and Lies
(1979) and The Great American Traffic Jam'' (1980). She had the starring role in the TV series
Highcliffe Manor (1979) but it only lasted six episodes.
1980s In the 1980s Fabares could be seen on
Mork & Mindy,
Matt Houston,
The Love Boat,
Newhart, and
Murder, She Wrote. She did a television film
Memorial Day (1983) with
Mike Farrell (who would later become her husband), as well as the films
Suburban Beat (1985),
The Canterville Ghost (1985),
Hot Pursuit (1987), and
Run Till You Fall (1988).
Coach In 1989, she won the role of Christine Armstrong Fox on the
ABC sitcom
Coach. "Here was an intelligent, funny, well-written series," Fabares said "And the people putting it on wanted me to play a very successful, ambitious woman in it." The series originally struggled in the ratings until it shifted to play after
Roseanne. It was a hit and played until 1997. For her work, Fabares was nominated twice for a
Primetime Emmy Award, and, in 1994, she was honored by the
Young Artist Foundation with its
Former Child Star "Lifetime Achievement" Award for her role as Mary Stone on
The Donna Reed Show. During the series' run Fabares appeared on
Love or Money (1990),
Deadly Relations (1993),
The Great Mom Swap (1995), and
A Nightmare Come True (1997).
Later career After
Coach ended in 1997, Fabares voiced the role of
Martha Kent on
Superman: The Animated Series. She reprised the role twice, once in
Justice League and again for the
direct-to-video film
Superman: Brainiac Attacks (2006). She was in
Playing to Win: A Moment of Truth Movie (1998). From 2004 to 2011 she produced the
Screen Actors Guild Awards. == Personal life ==