Annette McCarthy (April 12, 1958 – January 2023) was an American actress best known for her role as Evelyn Marsh in the second season of Twin Peaks, and as Dr. Wendy Oliver in the cult movie Creature (1985).

She also appeared in several television films and series, including Baywatch and noteworthy episodes of Night Court and Riptide.

Career

McCarthy was stage trained in both New York City and Los Angeles and continued to work in theatre. She also acted in several commercials.

McCarthy had roles in a variety of major television shows of the day, including: St. Elsewhere, The Twilight Zone, Happy Days, Beauty and the Beast, Magnum, P.I., The Fall Guy, and played a lesbian character in an episode of Night Court called "Passion Plundered" that has been noted by critics. She also played wealthy heiress Kathleen Huntington on Baywatch.

McCarthy was hired by David Lynch for her role in Twin Peaks. Her character Evelyn Marsh was a controversial addition, appearing in a string of episodes in a storyline that was meant to emulate film noir movies during a weak stretch of the show's second season, shortly after the conclusion of its main plotline (the reveal of Laura Palmer's killer) when the writers were struggling to come up with new storylines. One episode was one of the rare directorial projects of actress Diane Keaton's, which McCarthy found memorable.[18][19][20][21][2]

McCarthy also played "Rosalind Grant", the name derived from Rosalind Russell and Cary Grant but the character itself a parody of Cybill Shepherd's character Maddie Hayes in Moonlighting, in the penultimate episode of Riptide called "If You Can't Beat Em, Join Em" shortly before its cancellation, in part due to being beaten in the ratings by Moonlighting. This episode drew a lot of press attention at the time, with both Entertainment Tonight and the Los Angeles Times running features on it.

McCarthy made her feature film debut in Second Thoughts (1983) and played Dr. Wendy Oliver in Creature (1985).

Under contract to ABC, McCarthy starred in several made-for-TV movies, including Crazy Times (1981), Fugitive Among Us (1992), and A Cry For Love (1980).

Personal life and death

McCarthy was the niece of actress Joan Hackett. She died in January 2023, at the age of 64.