Michael Learned is best known for her television role as Olivia Walton in The Waltons, the popular and critically-acclaimed 1970s series about a rural family in Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. The Waltons first aired on television September 14, 1972, and the original run ended on June 4, 1981. For that show, Learned won three Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series (1973, 1974, 1976). Her next starring role on television came in 1982 as Mary Benjamin in the medical drama series Nurse, which also garnered her an Emmy Award even though the show aired only 25 episodes (including the pilot).

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