Crystal Bernard

Crystal Bernard
Bernard at the 1994 Emmy rehearsal
Born	Crystal Lynn Bernard (1961-09-30) September 30, 1961 Garland, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	1982-present

Crystal Lynn Bernard^[1] (born September 30, 1961) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She is known for her seven-year-long role on the comedy Wings. While her main work has been on television, she has appeared in some films and has also pursued a music career.

Early life

Bernard was born in Garland, Texas. She was raised in a Southern Baptist home. Her father, Dr. Jerry Wayne Bernard, was a televangelist who traveled across the United States preaching and singing.^[2] She became an entertainer at a young age, singing gospel songs with her elder sister, Robyn, also an actress. One recording of the two that has survived from those years is a song called "The Monkey Song" (an objection to evolution), on Feudin' Fussin' and Frettin' recorded when Crystal was 8 years old,^[3] a recording of a 1972 Thomas Road Baptist Church service led by Jerry Falwell. She has two younger sisters, Scarlett^[4] and Angelique Bernard.

Crystal and one of her sisters sang the "Monkey Song" many years ago in the 1980s at the First Assembly of God church in Slidell Louisiana when she was traveling with her father who was an evangelist.

Bernard studied acting at Alley Theatre while growing up in Houston, Texas. She attended Spring High School and continued her education at Baylor University, where she briefly dated Richard Wayne Kennedy, and where she studied acting and international relations.^[5]

Career

Television

Bernard at the 1991 Emmy Awards

Bernard got her start in prime-time television on the sitcom Happy Days, playing "K.C. Cunningham" during season ten (1982–83). Then, after various guest appearances on other shows, she joined the cast of the resurrected, syndicated version of the sitcom It’s a Living,^[6] playing waitress Amy Tompkins. She played strong-willed airport lunch-counter operator Helen Chappel Hackett on the sitcom Wings for the show’s entire duration (1990–97).

Film

Early in her film career, she appeared in Young Doctors in Love, along with her Happy Days co-star Ted McGinley. She starred in the Roger Corman-produced direct-to-video film Slumber Party Massacre 2.

In the 21st century, her work has included a role in the film Jackpot and starring roles in Welcome to Paradise and Grave Misconduct.

In 1999, she starred in the TV movie To Love, Honor, and Betray opposite David Cubitt and James Brolin.

She has also starred in two Hallmark Channel movies, Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus and its sequel, Meet the Santas.

In 1989, she starred in a TV-series pilot, Chameleons, created by Glen A. Larson. She played Shelley, a self-proclaimed crazed heiress who discovers that her eccentric millionaire uncle Jason Carr has been murdered. She sets out on a quest to find the truth behind his murder.

Theatre

Bernard has appeared in the following stage productions since the end of Wings:

• 1999: a Los Angeles production of Crimes of the Heart
• 2001: a 1999 Marquis Theatre revival of Annie Get Your Gun^[7] wherein she was the last in a series of actresses to play Annie Oakley
• 2005: the West Coast premiere of Barbra's Wedding starring opposite actor/playwright Daniel Stern in a production staged at Falcon Theatre in Burbank, California^[8]

Music

In addition to acting, Bernard has a music career as a singer-songwriter. Albums include The Girl Next Door (1996) and Don't Touch Me There (1999). The latter includes a gospel track she recorded with her father and one sung with country artist Billy Dean.

She co-wrote the song "If I Were Your Girl" with Rhett Lawrence, which appeared on the Paula Abdul album Head over Heels in 1995.

Bernard did a duet with Peter Cetera called "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight," released on Cetera's One Clear Voice album.

She also appeared in the video for the song "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants.

She also sang a duet with Jimmy Messina called "Watching the River Run".^[9]

Filmography

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Crystal Bernard.

• Crystal Bernard at the Internet Movie Database
• Crystal Bernard at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Crystal Bernard at AllMovie
• Crystal Bernard at AllMusic