Michael Learned

Michael Learned is an actress, best known for her role as "Olivia Walton" on The Waltons, which she played from 1972 to 1979. She was billed as 'Miss Michael Learned' because she was relatively unknown at the time, and producers did not want confusion among viewers about her gender. In 1979, her contract was not renewed on The Waltons, and her disappearance was explained by her Olivia Walton developing TB and having an extended stay in a sanitarium. To facilitate this realistically, she did make occasional guest appearances in the program until it was cancelled.

Learned said that in 1971, at age 32, she realized she had become an alcoholic. She insisted it was Ralph Waite, her co-star who played her husband on "The Waltons," who helped her during the tough times. “I was drinking heavily when the show started and Ralph saved my life, really,” said Learned. “He pointed out that he thought I was drinking too much. I didn’t think I was, but he thought I was, and I haven’t had a drink since and it is because of Ralph."

After she left The Waltons, she starred as nurse "Mary Benjamin" in the hospital drama Nurse, which ran on NBC during the 1981-82 season. She also had a starring role in the 1989 sitcom "Living Dolls," and reprised her Waltons role for a number of TV movies/reunions in the 1990s.

She played Judge Helen Turner on the ABC soap operas "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" during the baby switch storyline currently playing out on both shows.