Betty Thomas
Nude

Either you know Betty Thomas as the actress who played Lucy Bates for 144 episodes of Hill Street Bluesfrom 1981-1987, or as the director who helmed Howard Stern‘s Private Parts (1997). She’s done more than those two projects, for sure, including acting as a topless biker chick in the film Loose Shoes, also known as Coming Attractions and Quackers, featuring Bill Murray. It’s a series of movie trailers, and Betty appears in one of them. Shot in 1978, it wasn’t released until 1980, just before she appeared as Bunny in Robert Zemeckis’ Used Cars (1980) with Kurt Russell. After Hill Street, she did one more film, Troop Beverly Hills(1989) as Velda Plendor, before changing positions from in front of the camera to behind it. Starting with TV, she directed episodes of Hooperman; Doogie Howser, M.D.; Mancuso, FBI; Parenthood; Sons and Daughters; Midnight Caller; and Shannon’s Deal from 1989-1991, before landing her first full-length film, Only You (1992) starring Andrew McCarthy and Helen Hunt. From there, she directed a mix of TV series, TV movies, and big-screen flicks, including The Brady Bunch Movie (1995); 18 episodes of HBO series Dream On from 1990-1996; Eddie Murphy’s Doctor Dolittle (1998); 28 Days (2000) with Sandra Bullock, Viggo Mortensen, and Dominic West; I Spy (2002) with Eddie Murphy (he likes her, he really likes her!), Owen Wilson, and Famke Janssen; John Tucker Must Die (2006) with hotties Brittany Snow, Arielle Kebbel, Sophia Bush, and Ashanti; and episodes of Netflix series Grace and Frankie in 2015 and 2020. Now you know and can admire both sides of Betty!