constance

Lean, leggy, lithesome Constance McCashin has a ferocious wit and the enviable ability to laugh at herself and the world. She's used these talents as a comedienne and also has utilized the underlying sensitivity she possesses in creating and building intricate characters on television, in film and on the stage. As one of the stars of CBS-TV's "Knots Landing," Constance is currently enjoying every minute of working on the series.

Smiling and projecting a grin that reminds one of the late Carole Lombard, Constance declares, "This show has been a tremendous experience for me in ensemble playing." No one acts the star but everyone works well together for the ultimate good of the show. The producer's have been receptive to the cast's ideas and suggestions, which makes all feel they are participating in the process of creativity."

Audiences have seen Constance in the TV movies "Special Olympics," "The Double Life of Jenny Logan," and "Daddy, I Don't Like It Like This." She's guested on series like "Family," "Who's watching the Kids," "Makin' It," "Married: The First Year" and "The Many Loves of Arthur." In Los Angeles, she appeared in the docu-drama "Missing Heirs." In New York, she put in a short stint on the soap opera, "Search For Tomorrow" and co-starred in LA on "First Ladies Diary: Edith Wilson." Viewers will also find her face familiar from some thirty or more commercials she has appeared in.

For someone who states, "I've played a lot of hookers, probably because of my red hair," Constance had a rather strict and conventional upbringing. She was born in Chicago in 1947 as Constance Broman (she changed her surname for pronunciation to one that was a family favorite). The softness of the name McCashin seems to suit her inherent loveliness and softness of nature.

A true Easterner, Constance has lived most of her life in places like New Jersey, Westchester, New York, Ohio and Connecticut. She grew up in Greenwich, the daughter of an independent, successful mother, who at one time was the highest paid buyer for her age in the retailing business. Her father worked in advertising and marketing and his business caused the family to move to several different places in the country. Peggy, Constance's mother, also had a radio show, ran a summer play tour, sang and played the piano. This delight in theatre and the arts was transmitted to the daughter. Constance saw her first play, "Peter Pan" with Jean Arthur when she was two and fell in love with performing. She's saved this playbill through the years. Regular trips to New York to see theatre as Constance grew up had great effect on the budding actress.

Constance sampled her first taste of performing at the age of five. She filled in for a little girl actress on a live TV commercial for Ideal Toys on "The Howdy Doody Show." Her father cut her career short (the toy company wanted her to continue on the commercials) because her wanted her to have a normal childhood.

Attending various private Catholic schools as she grew up, Constance studied dance and started appearing in summer musical's at the age of 16. She worked with the Summer Youth Festival in Greenwich and another group called the Connecticut Playmarkets. Plays like "Kiss Me Kate," "Bells Are Ringing," "Sweet Charity" and "A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum" followed. "My theatre life was a kind of rebellion against the discipline of my private school life," she vows. Her family enjoyed her theatrical involvement but her father was puzzled because his young daughter kept playing whores. "I told my dad it just showed my versatility!" Constance laughingly says. Her current role as demure Laura Avery in "Knots Landing" is a far cry from those days.

While still in high school and during her college years, Constance started to work with retarded children. She feels a kinship and empathy for this work since her younger sister Nancy (now 25) is retarded. She started as a volunteer, later was a paid camp counselor. At 19, the work she had been doing led her to accept a summer job as a recreational therapist at a mental hospital in Harrison, New York. Constance ran bingo games, talent shows, showed the women about makeup and styling, taught a form of dance and set up field trips for the patients. "I really got satisfaction from what I was doing... I've always had a compulsion to be needed," she states.

After graduating from Manhattanville College with honors in 1969, Constance took her teaching certificate from the State of New York and promptly moved into New York City. "I shared a one bedroom apartment with four other girls, all stewardesses, toyed with the idea of an acting career and then went out and got an agent. I went on 200 TV commercial interviews before I got my first job, five Sure deodorant commercials that never aired!" She also worked part-time at Saks Fifth Avenue to pay the rent and plunged into an active social life. As an actress, Constance later worked with a group called The Company and did two shows, "Ah Wildreness" and "A Revue," directed and produced by Julius Monk, creator of The Plaza Five Revues. She then took a nine-to-five job in production at WPIX-TV in New York for seven months.

She quit acting and production to again work with retarded children and spent a year teaching at P.S. 104 in Queens. "At the time I was teaching, I really felt good about what I was doing... I was contributing. I saw the results of what I was doing," Constance states. But she continued to study acting with Elizabeth Dillon at the Herbert Bergoff Studio in New York. This was the first real acting class she had been invulved in and it has a profound effect on her.