My father's father is Rear Adm. Laurence Baxter Richardson...
USMilBrats
(EXCERPT) Richardson's life, career better with 'Improvement' Sunday, June 8,
2003, By Eirik Knutzen Copley News Service
"Why screw up a good thing?" kept racing through Patricia Richardson's
overactive mind as she weighed her future career options.
"I don't have to work for the rest of my life thanks to eight years on 'Home
Improvement,' I've had three years to be with my kids and the rest of the
family — and I have a man in my life."
The 52-year-old Richardson joined the cast of the cable drama series "Strong
Medicine" last season as Dr. Andy Campbell, a tough yet compassionate wife,
mother and former U.S. Army surgeon now wielding a scalpel at Rittenhouse
Women's Health Center.
"I had the incredible luxury of being able to have it all, but I missed acting
too much," laughs Richardson, who signed a contract with the "Strong Medicine"
producers, calling for less than a five-year commitment and a four-day
workweek.
"It means that I don't have to kill myself trying to keep the character alive
and I have long weekends with my kids and my guy."
Life simply couldn't get any better, according to Richardson, long divorced
from actor Ray Baker, the father of Henry, 18, and 12-year-old twins Roxanne
and Joseph. And, more than anything, she would like to maintain the status quo
with her boyfriend, Mark Cline, a retired psychologist whom she met in the
early '70s while both were students at Southern Methodist University.
With her private life sorted out, she relishes every day on the set of "Strong
Medicine" — partly because it is a filmed show without a live audience adding
heavy pressure on writers and performers during weekly tapings.
"This is like a fresh breeze blowing through my life, letting me work in a
quiet, relaxed atmosphere," says Richardson.
A Navy brat born in Bethesda, Md., Richardson also knows exactly where her
character — a former colonel — is coming from.
"When they wrote this character, they had no idea about my solid military
background," she says. "My mother's father is Marine Lt. Gen. Samuel L. Howard,
who was captured at Corregidor in the Philippines and spent three years in a
Japanese prison camp.
"My father's father is Rear Adm. Laurence Baxter Richardson, also a vice chief
of naval operations during World War II," she continues. "My father, Laurence
Baxter Richardson II, was a World War II fighter pilot, then became a Navy test
pilot befor...
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