name: Heather  Thomas
genres: Literature & Fiction
avg_rating: 3.39
ratings_count: 108
about: Heather Thomas grew up in Santa Monica in the ‘60s, California’s golden Mesozoic age, when public schools were the envy of the nation and teachers lived on the same streets as Aerospace executives. As the daughter of a PhD psychologist dad and a stay-at-home-mom-with-a-masters and the younger sibling of a genius older sister, Heather knew that the family academic bar was kind of high. But her straight-A report cards were sequels when inserted into dinner table quantum physics discussions, and so early on she sought to establish her own identity and interests outside the family smartypants nest. After much experimentation, Heather found she excelled in “surf babe,” “ditching to party” and “bucking unjust authority” and as long as she maintai Heather Thomas grew up in Santa Monica in the ‘60s, California’s golden Mesozoic age, when public schools were the envy of the nation and teachers lived on the same streets as Aerospace executives. As the daughter of a PhD psychologist dad and a stay-at-home-mom-with-a-masters and the younger sibling of a genius older sister, Heather knew that the family academic bar was kind of high. But her straight-A report cards were sequels when inserted into dinner table quantum physics discussions, and so early on she sought to establish her own identity and interests outside the family smartypants nest. After much experimentation, Heather found she excelled in “surf babe,” “ditching to party” and “bucking unjust authority” and as long as she maintained high grades in accelerated classes and participated in mealtime mental Olympics, her parents were none the wiser. In those days, you could hitchhike to Baja to surf for the day or join a farm workers’ picket line, as long as you were home before the streetlights came on. But the role Heather relished most was that of storyteller, and she rarely missed writing, directing or acting opportunities in student productions.	Both theater and academics paid off when casting agents visited her junior high school asking for clever kids with stage presence. She quickly landed her first professional role as one of the hosts of “Talking with a Giant,” an NBC Saturday morning talk show series where kids wrote the questions and interviewed the guests on camera. Although she wasn’t thrilled that her work was network-censored (there were only so many questions one could ask Kenny Rogers about “Something’s Burning” before straying towards his personal life) the job paid well over three years and enabled Heather to purchase a pretty car, helpful in taking her from classes at Santa Monica High to her job as a lifeguard. That same car drove her to UCLA where she enrolled as a Theater Arts major and pledged Chi Omega sorority. 	While still an undergraduate, she was cast as a go-go dancer in David Rabe’s play “In the Boom Boom Room,” and performed a seven minute solo during a set-change clad in a Band-Aid-sized cowgirl costume. By the third performance, she landed an agent!	By this time, she had already been accepted into UCLA’s prestigious Film and Television department so she was delighted that the ongoing acting work paid for her film, cameras, etc. Of course she exaggerated her skills with casting agents, often with disastrous and painful results, such as the milk commercial that required an expert ice skater (which she was not) or a spot for a popular cracker that had her munching crackers take after take atop a mechanical bull! 	Upon graduation, she dreamed of becoming the next Lina Wertmuller. But instead, she became one of the top pin ups of the 80s when she landed the leading role of stuntwoman Jody Banks opposite Lee Majors in ABC television’s “The Fall Guy.” The show exploded into an international hit in no less than 72 countries while no fraternity closet or garage workbench was without a Heather Thomas pink bikini poster; the highest selling of its kind in history. 1981 to 1986 were about fame, fast cars, bikinis and hot rollers for Heather as well as opportunities to use her celebrity power to create social change. Unfortunately, they were also about stalkers, tabloids, bodyguards, and a marriage that lasted less than a year. At the close of the series, Heather traveled to Sri Lanka to star in a German production and take time to regroup. 	Upon returning, she had a chance meeting with her old friend, entertainment lawyer Skip Brittenham, who revealed that his marriage too, was at an end, and sharing a common predicament, they began meeting on a regular basis for “dine and whine.” Grousing soon turned into love and after bonding with Skip’s children and the rest of his family, Heather was put to the ultimate test: fly-fis ...more