Connie began in show business at the age of 10, with the Ted Mack Original Amateur Hour. From that moment on, she was destined to continue in several media genres, including theatre, film, television, and country music. As a regular on the popular kids’ TV show, “Don Mahoney & His Kiddie Troopers”, it was just a matter of time when Connie would find her niche. Growing up in the “business” in Houston, Texas, she was groomed by her dance teacher, Patsy Swayze (Patrick Swayze and Don Swayze’s mom and later the choreographer for “URBAN COWBOY”), while honing her singing career at a stand-up microphone. She later said that she thought all singers sang with a stand-up, until later, when a local theatre director auditioned Connie for a role in a major production and showed Connie that it was okay to move all over the stage while singing. She was a mere 13 at the time and that was the moment when the theatre, musical comedy in particular, became her love and her focus.
She worked with many show business notables throughout her career, including Tony Bennett, Frankie Avalon, Mickey Gilley, Johnny Lee, Charlie Pride, Larry Gatlin, Ernest Tubb, Charlie Louvin, Jerry Jeff Walker, and too many others to list here.
In theatre, she worked with Yul Brynner and Janet Blair in “The King & I”, Anna Maria Alberghetti and James Mitchell (“All My Children”) in “Carnival”, Michael Evans in “Camelot”, Carolyn Jones (“The Adams Family”) and Mary Wickes in Noel Coward’s “High Spirits”, Rudy Vallee, K.T. Oslin (RCA country music recording artist—”80’s Ladies”) and Warren Berlinger in “How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying”,
Jaclyn Smith in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, “My Fair Lady” with TUTS (Theatre Under the Stars), as Bianca in “Kiss Me, Kate!”, Jane Powell in “Brigadoon”, and Connie was the Lead as Little Mary in “Little Mary Sunshine”.
As one of the original 80’s ladies of the era, Connie was cast as the foxy Marshallene in “URBAN COWBOY” with John Travolta and Debra Winger for Paramount, which brought her acclaim and gave her the chance to tour for 5 years, as The Redhead in URBAN COWBOY, playing the Flamingo for Steve Wynn in Las Vegas and appearing on stages all over the U.S. (which included many military bases) and Canada. Who could forget the famous scene in URBAN COWBOY where she is caught cheating with Scott Glenn (he played Wes, the escaped convict) in bed in the trailer! Connie went on to play other foxy parts in film and videos, including “Hot Wire” with George Kennedy and Strother Martin and the CMT Classic “Cry”.
Connie charted singles included, “Still A Lot of Love in San Antone”, “Close All the Honky Tonks”, and “Honky Tonk For Women”. Find her “I Can’t See Strait From Here!” video (she wrote music and lyrics) on Youtube.com Connie retired from “The Biz” in 1987, so as not to miss her 4 children’s growing years. She has been a homemaker for over 40 years.
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