Shelley Plimpton (born February , ) is an American former actress and
Broadway performer. She is perhaps best known for originating the role
of Crissy in the off-Broadway production of Hair, a role she resumed
when the production moved to Broadway in . She is the mother of
actress Martha Plimpton.Plimpton was born and raised in Roseburg,
Oregon, to an Episcopalian family. Her father, William Sherman
Plimpton, a native of Portland and graduate of the University of
Washington, operated an auto parts store in Roseburg, while her mother
worked as a researcher. She had one brother, Sherman Jr. She is a
"very distant" cousin of writer George Plimpton. Her parents divorced
when she was five years old, and her father died of cancer, aged ,
when Plimpton was twelve years old.When Plimpton was fourteen, she
relocated with her mother from Roseburg to New York City, where her
mother took a job working as a researcher for a Manhattan fertility
doctor. She and her mother moved into an apartment in Greenwich
Village, and Plimpton attended Washington Irving High School in
Gramercy Park, Manhattan. After graduating, she worked as a cashier in
a nightclub.Plimpton's acting career spanned from the mid-s to the
late-s. She created the role of "Crissy" in the original Off-Broadway
production of Hair, and continued the role as a member of the original
Broadway cast when the production moved to Broadway in . In both
productions, she sang the song "Frank Mills". Plimpton took a leave of
absence from Hair to appear in Arlo Guthrie's film Alice's Restaurant,
playing a -year-old who offers herself to Arlo, saying that she has
already "made it" with several other musicians and "you'll probably be
an album some day." He gently rejects her advances, giving her his
bandanna as a souvenir and saying simply, "I just don't want to catch
your cold". Plimpton also appeared in the Robert Downey, Sr., film
Putney Swope opposite Ronnie Dyson as one half of an interracial
college couple ("It started last weekend at the Yale-Howard game") in
a satire of a pimple cream TV spot. In , Plimpton appeared in Jim
McBride's post-apocalyptic drama film, Glen and Randa, in which she
portrays Randa, a young woman part of a group of scavengers who
survived a nuclear apocalypse many years prior and sets off with her
lover Glen (Steve Curry) to discover a ravaged world and to search for
a city which Glen has seen in comic books. She worked with McBride
once again when she was cast in the comedy film Hot Times. Her final
film role was in the film Forplay.
Broadway performer. She is perhaps best known for originating the role
of Crissy in the off-Broadway production of Hair, a role she resumed
when the production moved to Broadway in . She is the mother of
actress Martha Plimpton.Plimpton was born and raised in Roseburg,
Oregon, to an Episcopalian family. Her father, William Sherman
Plimpton, a native of Portland and graduate of the University of
Washington, operated an auto parts store in Roseburg, while her mother
worked as a researcher. She had one brother, Sherman Jr. She is a
"very distant" cousin of writer George Plimpton. Her parents divorced
when she was five years old, and her father died of cancer, aged ,
when Plimpton was twelve years old.When Plimpton was fourteen, she
relocated with her mother from Roseburg to New York City, where her
mother took a job working as a researcher for a Manhattan fertility
doctor. She and her mother moved into an apartment in Greenwich
Village, and Plimpton attended Washington Irving High School in
Gramercy Park, Manhattan. After graduating, she worked as a cashier in
a nightclub.Plimpton's acting career spanned from the mid-s to the
late-s. She created the role of "Crissy" in the original Off-Broadway
production of Hair, and continued the role as a member of the original
Broadway cast when the production moved to Broadway in . In both
productions, she sang the song "Frank Mills". Plimpton took a leave of
absence from Hair to appear in Arlo Guthrie's film Alice's Restaurant,
playing a -year-old who offers herself to Arlo, saying that she has
already "made it" with several other musicians and "you'll probably be
an album some day." He gently rejects her advances, giving her his
bandanna as a souvenir and saying simply, "I just don't want to catch
your cold". Plimpton also appeared in the Robert Downey, Sr., film
Putney Swope opposite Ronnie Dyson as one half of an interracial
college couple ("It started last weekend at the Yale-Howard game") in
a satire of a pimple cream TV spot. In , Plimpton appeared in Jim
McBride's post-apocalyptic drama film, Glen and Randa, in which she
portrays Randa, a young woman part of a group of scavengers who
survived a nuclear apocalypse many years prior and sets off with her
lover Glen (Steve Curry) to discover a ravaged world and to search for
a city which Glen has seen in comic books. She worked with McBride
once again when she was cast in the comedy film Hot Times. Her final
film role was in the film Forplay.
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