Valerie Curtin (born March 31, 1945) is an American actress and screenwriter.
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Personal life
Curtin was born in Jackson Heights, New York, on March 31, 1945, the daughter of radio actor Joseph Curtin. She attended Lake Erie College.
She is a paternal cousin of TV comedian/actress Jane Curtin.
Career
Curtin performed with comedy groups and acted in theatrical productions in New York before going to Los Angeles in 1971. There, she was a member of The Committee, a comedy group.
Curtin began her writing career in the 1970s working on episodes of the television sitcom The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Curtin and her then-husband Barry Levinson were nominated for an Academy Award (in the category of Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen) for ...And Justice for All (1979) starring Al Pacino. They also co-wrote the semi-autobiographical Best Friends (1982), which starred Burt Reynolds and Goldie Hawn.
Curtin's acting career has run concurrently with her writing career. During the 1970s, she made various guest appearances on television in shows such as Happy Days; Welcome Back, Kotter; Rhoda; The Rockford Files; and Barney Miller. In March 1976, ABC shot the pilot episode for Three's Company, in which Curtin appeared alongside John Ritter and Susanne Zenor. Curtin played a character named Jenny, who eventually became Janet Wood, played by Joyce DeWitt.
