Mary Kay Place Net Worth

What is Mary Kay Place's Net Worth?

Mary Kay Place is an American actress, singer, and television writer and director who has a net worth of $8 million. Mary Kay Place rose to fame for her role as Loretta Haggers on the 1970s satirical soap opera "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," for which she won an Emmy Award. Since then, she has been prolific on both television and film, with credits including the television series "My So-Called Life," "Big Love," "Bored to Death," "Getting On," and "Lady Dynamite" and such films as "Private Benjamin," "The Big Chill," "Citizen Ruth," "City of Ember," and "Diane."

Early Life and Education

Mary Kay Place was born on September 23, 1947 in Tulsa, Oklahoma to Gwendolyn and Bradley. She attended Nathan Hale High School before going to the University of Tulsa, where her father was an art professor.

Career Beginnings

Hoping to become an actress and writer, Place moved to Hollywood in the early 1970s. She began her career as a production assistant on "The Tim Conway Comedy Hour," on which she eventually made her first professional on-camera appearance. Thanks to producer Norman Lear, Place landed a guest role on his sitcom "All in the Family" in 1973.

Television Acting

Following guest roles on "All in the Family," "M*A*S*H," and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," Place had her breakthrough role on Norman Lear's satirical soap opera "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," which premiered in early 1976. She played aspiring country singer Loretta Haggers, the best friend and neighbor of Louise Lasser's titular Ohio housewife. "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman" ran for two seasons and 325 episodes, and earned Place an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She subsequently reprised her role as Loretta Haggers on the spinoff series "Forever Fernwood," which ran from 1977 to 1978. In the 1980s and early '90s, Place's appearances on the small screen were mostly in television films. They included "Act of Love," "For Love or Money," "Out on the Edge," "Traitor in My House," "Bed of Lies," and "Telling Secrets." She went on to play Prue Giroux in the 1993 miniseries adaptation of "Tales of the City." After that, from 1994 to 1995, Place played the recurring role of Camille Cherski on the ABC teen drama series "My So-Called Life." She then went back to television films, appearing in "My Very Best Friend," "For My Daughter's Honor," and "Point Last Seen," among others.

In 2001, Place reprised her role as Prue Giroux in the third "Tales of the City" miniseries adaptation, "Further Tales of the City." She also appeared in episodes of "Citizen Baines," "Leap Years," and "The West Wing." Over the subsequent years, Place guest-starred on such shows as "Undeclared," "The Handler," "Jack & Bobby," "Numb3rs," and "Grey's Anatomy." In 2006, she began playing Adaleen Grant on the HBO series "Big Love," a role she continued until the show ended in 2011. Also on HBO, Place starred on the short-lived series "12 Miles of Bad Road" in 2008 and had a recurring role in the second season of "Bored to Death" in 2010. On other networks, she appeared in episodes of "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman," "Saving Grace," and "Pushing Daisies." After the end of "Big Love," Place guest-starred on "Suburgatory," "Californication," "The New Normal," and "Rake" and had a recurring role on "Getting On." On Netflix, she appeared in three episodes of "Grace and Frankie" between 2015 and 2016 and played the mother of Maria Bamford's protagonist on "Lady Dynamite" from 2016 to 2017. Place's subsequent credits have included recurring roles on "Imposters," "Shameless," and "9-1-1: Lone Star."

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Film Career

Place made her big-screen debut in Hal Ashby's 1976 film "Bound for Glory." The following year, she appeared in Martin Scorsese's "New York, New York," in which she sang "Blue Moon" with Robert De Niro. Place concluded the decade with roles in "More American Graffiti" and "Starting Over." She began the 1980s playing Private Mary Lou Glass in the comedy "Private Benjamin." Following that, Place appeared in "Modern Problems" and "Waltz Across Texas." In 1983, she had a memorable role as corporate attorney Meg Jones in the Oscar-nominated ensemble dramedy "The Big Chill." Place's credits over the rest of the decade included "Smooth Talk," "Explorers," and "A New Life." In the first half of the 1990s, she had roles in "Bright Angel," "Samantha," "Captain Ron," and "Teresa's Tattoo." Place had a notable year in 1996, when she appeared in Alexander Payne's debut feature "Citizen Ruth" and gave an Independent Spirit Award-nominated performance in "Manny & Lo." She subsequently appeared in Tim Blake Nelson's "Eye of God" and Francis Ford Coppola's "The Rainmaker" in 1997. During the final two years of the decade, Place was in "Naturally Native," "How to Make the Cruelest Month," John Waters's "Pecker," Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich," and James Mangold's "Girl, Interrupted."

In her first film of the 21st century, Place played a psychiatrist in the comedy "Committed." She next appeared in "My First Mister," "Human Nature," and "The Safety of Objects." In 2002, Place played the mother of Reese Witherspoon's main character in "Sweet Home Alabama." She played another mother of a main character in the 2003 gay Mormon romance "Latter Days." Place went on to act in such films as "Killer Diller," "Silver City," "Lonesome Jim," "Nine Lives," "War Eagle, Arkansas," and "Mama's Boy." Her final films of the decade included "City of Ember," "Youth in Revolt," and "It's Complicated." Kicking off the 2010s, Place played the mother of Emily Mortimer's main character in the Japanese biographical film "Leonie." Two years later, she was the estranged mother of Mary Elizabeth Winstead's main character in the drama "Smashed." Place followed that with roles in "Bad Milo!," "Miss Meadows," "Last Weekend," "I'll See You in My Dreams," and "The Breakup Girl." In Nancy Meyers's 2015 film "The Intern," she can be heard voicing the mother of Anne Hathaway's character. Place then appeared in "The Hollars," "Youth in Oregon," and "State Like Sleep." She gave one of the most acclaimed performances of her career in Kent Jones's 2018 drama "Diane," for which she won the LAFCA and NSFC Awards for Best Actress. Place's credits in the early 2020s include the musicals "The Prom" and "Music."

Writing and Directing

In the 1970s, Place wrote episodes of such television sitcoms as "M*A*S*H," "Paper Moon," "Friends and Lovers," "The Mary Tyler Moore Show," and "Phyllis." She made her directorial debut in 1988 on the sitcom "Baby Boom," and continued directing for television after that. In the 1990s, Place directed episodes of "Dream On," "Friends," and "Arliss." She has mostly focused on acting in the 21st century, although she did direct the final two episodes of the IFC sitcom "The Minor Accomplishments of Jackie Woodman" in 2007.

Music Career

Because she played an aspiring country singer on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman," Place branched out into a music career. During the run of the show, she released the albums "Tonite! At the Capri Lounge: Loretta Haggers" and "Aimin' to Please." The former earned Place a Grammy Award nomination for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. For the album, she wrote the songs "Baby Boy" and "Vitamin L," both of which she performed on "Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman." On the latter album, "Aimin' to Please," Place did a duet with Willie Nelson called "Something to Brag About" that was a solid country radio hit.

Personal Life

Place has never married and has no children. She splits her time between Los Angeles and New York.

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