Her story reads something like a Hollywood fairy tale.
Talent scouts found Lisa Whelchel in her small town in Texas in 1976, casting for “The New Mickey Mouse Clu” on Disney.
Lisa moved to Hollywood and appeared on the show for two years. Then, her big break: the role of Blair Warner on a new show called “The Facts of Life.” Whelchel played Blair for nine seasons.
What many people didn’t know at the time was that underpinning her show business career was a strong faith in God. Lisa had been a devout Christian since age 10.
And, as you’ll hear in this interview, that faith helped shape the way she portrayed characters on TV and in film.
In 2001 Lisa Whelchel wrote an autobiography called The Facts of Life, subtitled And Other Lessons My Father Taught Me. I met her that fall when she was on a book tour.
Here now, from 2001, Lisa Whelchel.
Lisa Whelchel is 62 now. She and her husband divorced in 2012.