Wallace began her career on television appearing in episodes of
The Streets of San Francisco,
Starsky & Hutch, and
Police Woman, before appearing in the box-office horror hit films
The Stepford Wives (1975) and
The Hills Have Eyes (1977). In 1981, she played a leading role in the horror film
The Howling opposite her husband
Christopher Stone. They later starred together in
Cujo (1983) based on
Stephen King's
1981 novel of the same name. In 1982, Wallace went on to star in
Steven Spielberg's science-fiction film
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). The film became the highest-grossing film of all time—a record held for 11 years until
Jurassic Park, another Spielberg-directed film, surpassed it in 1993. Wallace received a
Saturn Award nomination for
Best Supporting Actress for her performance at the
10th Saturn Awards. Wallace also starred in a number of comedy films, including
10 (1979),
Jimmy the Kid (1982), and
Secret Admirer (1985). In 1986, she starred in the horror comedy film
Critters (a role she later reprised in a sequel,
Critters Attack!, in 2019). She has also appeared in many other horror films, most notably
Peter Jackson's
The Frighteners (1996),
Rob Zombie's remake of
Halloween (2007),
The House of the Devil (2009), and
The Lords of Salem (2012). On television, Wallace played a leading role in the CBS sitcom
Together We Stand (1986–1987) and the family drama
The New Lassie (1989–1992). She guest-starred in episodes of a number of shows, including
The Twilight Zone,
Hotel,
Murder, She Wrote,
Touched by an Angel,
Bones, ''
Grey's Anatomy, My Name Is Earl, Criminal Minds, and The Office. In 2015, Wallace was cast on the ABC soap opera series General Hospital, as Patricia Spencer, the unseen, long-lost older sister of Luke and Bobbie Spencer; Wallace appeared in the show Supernatural, in the episode titled "Into the Mystic", which aired on January 27, 2016. In 2016, she was nominated for the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Special Guest Performer in a Drama Series at the 43rd Daytime Emmy Awards for her performance in General Hospital''. ==Personal life==