Best remembered for her starring role in the television classic #That Girl, actress Marlo Thomas also recorded a series of children's albums inspired by her acclaimed #Free to Be... specials. The daughter of legendary comedian Danny Thomas, she was born in Deerfield, MI, on November 21, 1937; despite her show business background, Thomas initially pursued a teaching career, and only turned to performing after college. A handful of guest shots on TV series ranging from #The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis to #77 Sunset Strip preceded her first starring role, on 1961's #The Joey Bishop Show; Thomas left the program after its first season, however, and returned to the guest circuit, appearing on shows including #Bonanza and #McHale's Navy. In 1965, she also made her uncredited feature film debut in Richard Lester's hit #The Knack...and How to Get It.

A year later, Thomas was cast in the title role of the sitcom #That Girl, a groundbreaking series that was the first show of its kind to realistically portray the life of a single, independent young woman; the role not only made Thomas a star, but it also launched her as an enduring feminist icon. After #That Girl ended its run in 1971, she became increasingly active in social and political work, and in 1974 starred in and co-produced the Emmy Award-winning children's special #Free to Be...You and Me, releasing a soundtrack (though an album of the same name had been released two years prior, and was later reissued by Arista in 2006), and a sequel, #Free to Be...A Family, followed in 1988, generating a soundtrack as well. Thomas acted sparingly in the intervening years, marrying talk show host Phil Donahue and working in film and on Broadway; in 1996, she also returned to TV to guest as Rachel's mother on the smash sitcom #Friends. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi