Biography
Kathleen Denise Quinlan Abbott (born November 19, 1954) is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her Golden Globe-nominated performance in the 1977 film of the novel I Never Promised You a Rose Garden, and her Golden Globe and Academy Award-nominated role in the 1995 film Apollo 13, along with many roles in other feature films, television movies and series, in a career spanning almost five decades. She made her feature film debut in Mel Stuart's One Is a Lonely Number (...
Known For
Complete Filmography

Horizon: An American Saga - Chapter 2
2024
Explore the lure of the Old West and how it was won—and lost—through the blood, sweat and tears of many. Spanning 15 years before, during, and followi...

Walking with Herb
2021
as Sheila Amable-Amo
Joe Amable-Amo is a bank executive and former amateur golfer struggling with his faith after an unexpected tragedy. Faced with growing doubts about hi...

The Stairs
2021
as Grandma Bernice
In 1997, 11-year-old Jesse finds a mysterious staircase in the woods and disappears - - 20 years later, a group of hikers sets off into the very same ...

The Devil Has a Name
2019
as Nancy
An oil baron and a farmer standoff after the water on his farm is poisoned by her company.

Saving My Baby
2019
as Virginia
After she's run off the road, an expectant mother barely survives a harrowing crash. When she awakens days later, she discovers that her baby has been...

Parallel
2018
as Marissa
A group of friends stumble upon a mirror that serves as a portal to a "multiverse", but soon discover that importing knowledge from the other side in ...

Chimera Strain
2018
as Masterson
A brilliant but disturbed scientist freezes his children alive, while he races to cure their deadly genetic disease by decoding the DNA of the immorta...

Elizabeth Blue
2017
as Carol
A young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, is coping with ongoing episodes of schizophrenia.

ADDicted
2017
as Kate Dawson
Classes. Football. Finals. A bad break up. An over-bearing mom. Like many college kids, what helps Drew Dawson stay balanced is Adderall, a prescripti...

How Not to Propose
2015
as Susan
Travis plans the perfect romantic getaway to propose to longtime love Lena. As the carefully orchestrated weekend comically fails to go as planned, Tr...

After
2014
as Nora Valentino
A haunting and powerful psychological thriller. Set in icy upstate New York in the winter of 2002, "After" is about the Valentinos, a middle class cla...

Horns
2013
as Lydia Perrish
In the aftermath of his girlfriend's mysterious death, a young man awakens to strange horns sprouting from his temples.

Life's an Itch
2012
as Audrey
A married man reaches the point where he questions everything: career, creativity and even his marriage. Hilarious complications and temptations arise...
Eagles in the Chicken Coop
2011
as Mary Bernstein
Two artists are forced to make a formulaic, late-night, made for TV "skin flick."

Cinema Verite
2011
as Mary Every
In 1973, the Loud family became a television sensation of a new kind. It was long before a metal rock star showed his eccentric family on the small sc...

Elektra Luxx
2011
as Rebecca Linbrook
A favor for a woman from her past throws the life of a pregnant, retired porn star into chaos.

2Everything2Terrible2: Tokyo Drift
2010
as (archive footage)
The team of smart-talkin' toddlers known as Everything Is Terrible! have once again emerged from their VHS cocoons to conjure a jam on culture so cult...

The River Why
2010
as Ma
A young man abandons his family for a solitary life of fly-fishing. His goal was to find his own way in the fishing world and thereby find himself and...

Prison Break: The Final Break
2009
as Christina Rose Scofield
Prison Break: The Movie. Michael and Sara wed, but the happiness is short-lived when the Feds apprehend her for the murder of Michael's mother, Christ...

The Dissection of Thanksgiving
2008
as Carol
Buffalo, NY. The day before Thanksgiving. Cliff and Carol Morgan take their three grown children out to dinner to tell them that, after thirty years, ...

Made of Honor
2008
as Joan
Tom and Hannah have been platonic friends for 10 years. He's a serial dater, while she wants marriage but hasn't found Mr. Right. Just as Tom is start...

Harm's Way
2008
as Bea
Darlene and her daughter Victoria seek refuge at a remote rural safe house for abused women that's run by the strict and tough, but folksy and support...

Breach
2007
as Bonnie Hanssen
Eric O'Neill, a low-level surveillance expert with the FBI, believes he is accomplishing his dream of becoming a full-fledged agent, with his unexpect...

Humble Pie
2007
as Agnes Orbison
At nearly 400 pounds, Tracy Orbison is a wide target. When he sets out to pursue his dream of acting, the grocery clerk finds an assortment of people ...

The Hills Have Eyes
2006
as Ethel
Based on Wes Craven's 1977 suspenseful cult classic, The Hills Have Eyes is the story of a family road trip that goes terrifyingly awry when the trave...

The Dead Will Tell
2004
as Beth Hytner
Emily Parker is haunted by visions of a woman from the past soon after receiving an antique engagement ring from her fiancé.

El padrino: The Latin Godfather
2004
as Judge Scorsi
In the streets of East Los Angeles, Manny is a formidable drug dealer. Impressed by his extravagant lifestyle and prowess, his young son, Kilo, yearns...

The Riverman
2004
as Sande Keppel
A series of interviews are conducted with convicted serial killer Ted Bundy in hopes of gaining insight into the Green River Killer who is terrorizing...

Perfect Romance
2004
as Tess Kelley
When Tess Kelley realizes her daughter Jenny Kelley still isn't over her divorce from musician Rick Meadows, the irresponsible, ever-absent father of ...

Blessings
2003
as Meredith Blessing
Released from jail after a term basically served instead of friends he refused to rat out, Charles 'Skip' Cuddy is grateful his gentleman instinct get...

Hollywood's Magical Island: Catalina
2003
Beginning with William Wrigley's acquisition of the Santa Catalina Island Company in 1919, the history of the island is explored with archival footage...

The Battle of Shaker Heights
2003
as Eve
A quirky teen with a penchant for war reenactments, Kelly Ernswiler obsesses over military tactics with his buddy Bart. The school bully is one of Kel...

A Civil Action
1998
as Anne Anderson
Jan Schlickmann is a cynical lawyer who goes out to 'get rid of' a case, only to find out it is potentially worth millions. The case becomes his obses...

The Making of 'American Graffiti'
1998
as Self
Documentary that features many interviews and other footage of the cast and crew for the film American Graffiti (1973)

My Giant
1998
as Serena Kamin
Sammy, an agitated agent lost in the forest of the modern world, happens upon a gentle giant with a tall talent for friendship named Max.

Lawn Dogs
1997
as CLare
In the affluent, gated community of Camelot Gardens, bored wives indiscriminately sleep around while their unwitting husbands try desperately to climb...

Event Horizon
1997
as Peters
In 2047, a group of astronauts are sent to investigate and salvage the starship Event Horizon which disappeared mysteriously seven years before on its...
The Doors: The Road of Excess
1997
as Self
Interviews with friends of the late Jim Morrison and several people involved with the making of the film The Doors (1991) by Oliver Stone, delving int...

Breakdown
1997
as Amy Taylor
On their cross-country drive, a married couple, Jeff and Amy Taylor, experience car trouble after their SUV breaks down. Stranded in the New Mexico de...

Zeus & Roxanne
1997
as Mary Beth Dunhill
Mary Beth is a marine biologist that gets annoyed when a dog called Zeus stows aboard her research boat. Nevertheless she is intrigued when the intrus...

Lost Moon: The Triumph of Apollo 13
1996
as Self
The making of the motion picture "Apollo 13", as well as the story of the space mission it details. Featuring interviews with director Ron Howard, ast...

In the Lake of the Woods
1996
as Kathy Waylan
John Waylan is a candidate for U.S. senator; near the end of the campaign he is accused of ordering and participating in a massacre in a Vietnamese vi...

Lightning
1995
as Hooker
Against the backdrop of California’s 19th century Gold Rush, Brian Keith plays a lucky digger in a story of greed and equine smarts.

Perfect Alibi
1995
as Melanie Bauers
Melanie is married to Keith Bauers, she has two beautiful children and she is rich. She decides to engage a girl au pair, Janine, who arrives from Fra...

Apollo 13
1995
as Marilyn Lovell
The true story of technical troubles that scuttle the Apollo 13 lunar mission in 1970, risking the lives of astronaut Jim Lovell and his crew, with th...

Trial by Jury
1994
as Wanda
Valerie is a juror in the trial of a mob boss. When her young son's life is threatened, she has no option other than to see that justice isn't done.

Last Light
1993
as Kathy Rubicek
Kiefer Sutherland plays Denver Bayliss, a condemned murderer who has killed three people, including a prison guard. He was brought into the system as ...

Stolen Babies
1993
as Bekka
A 1940s Tennesee welfare worker learns that Georgia Tann, the charismatic head of a local adoption agency, is actually running a black-market baby rin...

An American Story
1992
as Hope Tyler
World War II has ended and many soldiers return to their houses and families. But three of them find themselves with big problems when they arrive at ...

Strays
1991
as Lindsey Jarrett
A young married couple and their daughter are terrorized by a pride of ferocious feral felines.

The Doors
1991
as Patricia Kennealy
The story of the famous and influential 1960s rock band and its lead singer and composer, Jim Morrison.

The Operation
1990
as Ginnie
Duplicity reigns supreme as a doctor in a messy, emotional divorce from his wife, who is also his partner in a medical clinic, is suddenly slapped wit...

Trapped
1989
as Mary Ann Marshall
Kathleen Quinlan is a woman working late in her locked high-rise office building who, along with Bruce Abbott, struggles to elude an intruder trying t...

Clara's Heart
1988
as Leona Hart
David is a teenager whose parents are in a deteriorating marriage after their infant daughter dies. Clara is a chambermaid at a Jamaican resort who's ...

Sunset
1988
as Nancy Shoemaker
Tom Mix and Wyatt Earp team up to solve a murder at the Academy Awards in 1929 Hollywood.

The Man Outside
1987
as Grace Freemont
A lawyer, running away from his past, becomes a recluse in the Alabama woods and becomes the primary suspect in the abduction of a local boy.

Dreams Lost, Dreams Found
1987
as Sarah McAllister
A young American widow is mysteriously drawn to a historic castle in the Scottish Highlands and finds herself at the center of a 200-year old ghost st...

Wild Thing
1987
as Jane
A child witnesses drug dealers murder his parents. He escapes and grows up wild in the city's slums. Years later he emerges to help the residents of t...

Children of the Night
1985
as Lois Lee
A sociology graduate student researches her doctoral thesis on female crime by interviewing street prostitutes. Shocked by her findings, she offers he...

Warning Sign
1985
as Joanie Morse
An accident occurs in an ultra-secret government biological weapons laboratory spreading a sinister bacteria.

Blackout
1985
as Chris Graham
A police officer suspects that a local husband and father, who has recently undergone facial surgery because of injuries received in a car accident, i...

When She Says No
1984
as Rose Michaels
After divorced college professor Rose Michaels invites three of her male colleagues to her room during a teacher's convention, she later accuses them ...

The Last Winter
1984
as Joyce
Tells the story of two women seeking leads to their missing husbands after the end of the Yom Kippur War (1973). A relationship builds between them wh...

Twilight Zone: The Movie
1983
as Helen Foley
An anthology film presenting remakes of three episodes from the "Twilight Zone" TV series—"Kick the Can", "It's a Good Life" and "Nightmare at 20,000 ...

Independence Day
1983
as Mary Ann Taylor
Mary Ann Taylor loves the comforts of her hometown in Mercury, Texas. She has a steady job as a waitress in her father's diner, yet she can't help but...

Hanky Panky
1982
as Janet Dunn
Naïve Michael Jordon is drawn into a web of government secrets when a girl carrying a mysterious package gets into a taxi with him. When she's later m...

She's in the Army Now
1981
as Pvt. Cass Donner
Akin to Private Benjamin, this comedy deals with the tough life of female army recruits going through basic training. Through their training they come...

Sunday Lovers
1980
as Laurie (segment "Skippy")
A sex comedy anthology containing four stories, each from a different country (England, France, USA and Italy). "An Englishman's Home" "The French Met...

The Runner Stumbles
1979
as Sister Rita
Dick Van Dyke stars as a priest accused of murdering a nun. Directed by Stanley Kramer, this 1979 drama also features Kathleen Quinlan, Maureen Staple...

The Promise
1979
as Nancy McAllister / Marie Adamson
A rich student's fiancee has her face destroyed by a car accident, and refuses to return to him fearing the loss of his love.

Nightmare in Blood
1978
Attendees at a horror-film convention in San Francisco keep disappearing. It turns out that the guest of honor is a real vampire, and his henchmen are...

I Never Promised You a Rose Garden
1977
as Deborah Blake
A disturbed and institutionalized 16-year-old girl struggles between fantasy and reality.

Airport '77
1977
as Julie
Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle after a hijacking gone wrong. Now the surviving passengers must brave panic, slow leaks, oxygen depletio...

Little Ladies of the Night
1977
as Karen Brodwick
The sister of ex-pimp and current Los Angeles Police detective Lyle York was murdered working the streets a few years ago. Since his reform, he has te...

Lifeguard
1976
as Wendy
Rick is a Los Angeles County lifeguard who is in his thirties. At his 15-year high school reunion, he sees his old girlfriend who is now a divorced mo...

The Turning Point of Jim Malloy
1975
as Edith Evans
The son of a small-town doctor returns to his hometown after being kicked out of Yale, and begins a new career on the town's newspaper.

The Abduction of Saint Anne
1975
as Anne Benedict
A cynical detective and a Roman Catholic bishop team up to investigate the reported miraculous powers of a 17-year-old girl being held captive in the ...

The Missing Are Deadly
1975
An emotionally disturbed teenager whose father is a research scientist takes a rat from his father's laboratory that is infected with an incurable vir...

Where Have All the People Gone
1974
as Deborah Anders
A strange series of solar flares proves fatal for inhabitants of the Earth, except for the fortunate few who are somehow immune from the effects. Anim...

Lucas Tanner
1974
as Joyce Howell
A high school teacher's career is threatened because of a student's death when the rumor is spread that his negligence killed the boy. This pilot film...

Can Ellen Be Saved?
1974
as Melissa
A young girl in search of spiritual enlightenment joins a religious cult, and becomes the focus of a struggle between her family and the group.

American Graffiti
1973
as Peg
A couple of high school graduates spend one final night cruising the strip with their buddies before they go off to college.