Which Three’s Company Star turned 65 in April? Read on to find out!

John OatesApril 7- John Oates, a songwriter, producer and rock, R&B and soul guitarist, is best known as half of the rock and soul duo Hall & Oates (with Daryl Hall). Although Oates’s main role in the duo was guitarist, he also co-wrote many of the songs they recorded, including (with Hall): “Sara Smile,” “She’s Gone” and “Out of Touch,” as well as (with then girlfriend Sara Allen and Hall) “You Make My Dreams,” “I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do),” “Maneater” and “Adult Education.” He also sang lead vocals on several singles that did not make it to the Top 10, such as “How Does It Feel to Be Back,” “You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling” (a remake of the 1965 song performed by the Righteous Brothers) and “Possession Obsession” (with Allen and Hall). Oates also co-wrote and sang backup on the song “Electric Blue,” recorded by the band Icehouse, which was a Billboard Top Ten hit. He also co-wrote, produced and sang duet with the Canadian group the Parachute Club on the 1987 song “Love is Fire,” which was a Top 30 hit in Canada. In 2004, Oates was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

 

Scott TurowApril 12 Scott Turow, known for his legal thrillers, is both author and practicing lawyer. His nine fiction and two nonfiction books have been translated into over 20 languages and have sold over 25 million copies. Four of his books were made into movies, including Presumed Innocent. Turow’s first book, One L, was based on his experience as a law student at Harvard Law School in 1977. In 1978, Turow became an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago, serving in that position until 1986, and prosecuted several high-profile corruption cases. After leaving that position, he began to write novels, starting with The Burden of Proof, Presumed Innocent, Pleading Guilty and Personal Injuries, which Time magazine named as the Best Fiction Novel of 1999. All four became bestsellers, and Turow won multiple literary awards, most notably the Silver Dagger Award of the British Crime Writers’ Association. In 1990, Time magazine featured Turow on the cover and described him as “Bard of the Litigious Age.” Currently Turow is a partner of the international law firm Dentons and works pro bono in most of his cases, including a 1995 case where he won the release of Alejandro Hernandez, who had spent 11 years on death row for a murder he did not commit.

 

Jessica LangeApril 20 – Jessica Lange considered one of the most celebrated actors of the modern era, has won many awards for her work in film, theater and television, including two Oscars, two Emmys, five Golden Globes and one Screen Actors Guild Award. Starting out as a model, Lange made her professional film debut in the 1976 remake of the 1933 action-adventure classic, King Kong. In 1982, she became the first performer in 40 years to receive two Oscar nominations in the same year: winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as a soap opera star in Tootsie and nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her portrayal of the troubled actress Frances Farmer in Frances. In the following years, Lange received three more nominations: for Country (1984), Sweet Dreams (1985) and Music Box (1989), before being nominated a sixth time and winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as a manic depressive housewife in Blue Sky (1994). She later won her first Primetime Emmy Award for her portrayal of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ famed aunt, Big Edie, in HBO’s Grey Gardens (2009) and won her first Screen Actors Guild Award, along with a second Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the first season of CD FX’s anthology horror show, American Horror Story.

 

In addition to acting, Lange is a photographer with two published works. She has also been a foster parent and currently holds a Goodwill Ambassador position for UNICEF, specializing in HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in Russia. In 2014, Marc Jacobs chose her to be the premiere model of his new high-end beauty line.
Patti Ann LuPoneApril 21 – Patti Ann LuPone, an actress and singer, is best known for her work in stage musicals and is a two-time Grammy Award winner and a two-time Tony Award winner. She received the first of six (as of 2013) Tony Award nominations for the 1975 musical The Robber Bridegroom. She won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her role as Eva Perón in the 1979 original Broadway production of Evita. In 1985, she played Fantine in the original London cast of Les Misérables and Moll in The Cradle Will Rock, winning the Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical for her work in both. Other stage musical performances include her Tony-nominated role as Reno Sweeney in the 1987 revival of Anything Goes, her Olivier-nominated role as Norma Desmond in the 1993 original production of Sunset Boulevard in London, her Tony-nominated role as Mrs. Lovett in the 2005 production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, her Tony Award-winning role as Mama Rose in the 2007 revival of Gypsy and her Tony-nominated role as Lucia in the 2010 original production of Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

 

She co-starred in the 2007 Los Angeles Opera production of Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and won two Grammy Awards for the 2008 recording, for Best Classical Album and Best Opera Recording. LuPone has also made appearance on TV, including the TV movie The Song Spinner (1995), for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award, and in movies, including Witness (1985), Driving Miss Daisy (1989) and Parker (2013).

 
Joyce Ann DeWittApril 23 – Joyce Ann DeWitt is most famous for playing Janet Wood on the ABC sitcom Three’s Company, which ran from 1977 to 1984, about three single roommates who platonically share an apartment. She made her TV debut in ABC detective series Baretta, which ran from 1975 to 1978. After Three’s Company ended in 1984, DeWitt quit acting for several years, but later resumed acting, first in a regional playhouse and then made several brief appearances on TV shows. In 2003, DeWitt co-produced and hosted the 2003 NBC television film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Three’s Company. In 2011, DeWitt starred in the play Miss Abigail’s Guide to Dating, Mating & Marriage in New York. Her charity work includes participating in the Capitol Hill Forum on Hunger and Homelessness and hosting presentations for the Family Assistance Program of Hollywood, the International Awards Ceremony at the White House for the Presidential End Hunger Awards, and, with co-host Jeff Bridges, the World Food Day Gala at the Kennedy Center.

About the Author