Peg Phillips
'Northern Exposure's' Ruth-Anne
Born in Everett, Wash., Phillips wanted to be an actress from the age of 4 but worked as a bookkeeper and tax accountant to pay the bills and rear her four children. Only after retiring did she enroll in the U. of Washington drama school in 1984. She soon landed so many jobs that she was unable to complete her degree.
In 1990, she landed a supposedly intermittent role on "Northern Exposure," an Eye skein on the fish-out-of-water travails of a N.Y. doctor working off his student loan in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska.
The show began as a summer replacement series but became so strong in the ratings it ran through 1995. Likewise, Phillips' character was so popular she was given a regular role.
On occasion she wrote her own lines. Criticized for smoking in one episode, she retorted, "I've been smoking since I was 13 years old, and during the Eisenhower administration I peaked at three packs a day. I'm not about to stop now."
She performed in movies, including with Shirley MacLaine in "Waiting for the Light" (1990); a number of commercials; and made guest appearances on such TV shows as "7th Heaven," "Touched by an Angel" and "ER." She also appeared in the made-for-TV movies "How the West Was Fun" (1994) and "Chase" (1985).
Actress founded the Woodinville Repertory Theater in Woodinville, Wash., where she moved to a 100-year-old farmhouse in 1977. Her last stage appearance was in the company's production of "Bell, Book and Candle" in 1999.
In 1987, she founded Theater Inside, a drama program for juvenile offenders at the Echo Glen Children's Center in Snoqualmie, Wash. She continued to work as a volunteer in the program until her health failed in recent years.
Survivors include two daughters,four grandchildren, eight great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
A memorial service is scheduled Saturday at East Shore Unitarian Church in Bellevue, Wash.
