Crystal Bernard

Posted April 17, 201114 yr

Crystal Lynn Bernard (born September 30, 1961) is an American actress and singer, most widely known for her seven-year-long role on the situation comedy Wings. While her main work has been on television, she has appeared in some films, and also attempted to pursue a music career as a songwriter/performer.

Personal life

Bernard was born in Garland, Texas. She was raised in a Southern Baptist home. Her father, Jerry, was a Baptist evangelist who traveled across the United States preaching and singing. She became an entertainer at a young age, singing gospel songs with her elder sister, Robyn (also an actress, who played, "Terry Brock," on General Hospital, 1984-1990). One recording of the two that has survived from those years is a song called, "The Monkey Song" (an objection to evolution), on, Feudin' Fussin' and Frettin, a recording of a 1972 Thomas Road Baptist Church service led by Jerry Falwell. Bernard's father is famed televangelist Dr. Jerry Wayne Bernard, with whom Bernard still travels and sings gospel music. Crystal also has two younger sisters, Scarlett) and Angelique Bernard.

Bernard studied acting at Alley Theatre while growing up in Houston, Texas. She attended Spring High school and continued her education at Baylor University, where she studied acting and international relations.

Bernard is a Republican and was a supporter of George W. Bush.

Career

Television

Bernard got her start in prime-time television on the sitcom Happy Days, playing "K.C. Cunningham" during the show’s penultimate season. After various guest appearances on television, she joined the cast of the resurrected, syndicated version of the sitcom It’s a Living, playing waitress Amy Tompkins. But she is best known for her role as strong-willed airport lunch-counter operator “Helen Chappel Hackett” on the sitcom Wings, a role she played for the show’s duration (1990–1997).

Film

Early in her film career, she appeared in Young Doctors in Love. She starred in the Roger Corman-produced, direct-to-video film Slumber Party Massacre 2.

During the 21st century, her work includes a role in the film, Jackpot, and starring roles in Welcome to Paradise, and Grave Misconduct.

She has also starred in two Hallmark Channel TV-movies, Single Santa Seeks Mrs. Claus and Meet the Santas.

She also starred in a 1989 TV-series pilot, Chameleons, created by Glen A. Larson. She played Shelley, a self-proclaimed crazed heiress who discovers that her eccentric millionaire uncle Jason Carr has been murdered. She sets out on a quest to find the truth behind his murder.

Theatre

Bernard has appeared in stage productions since the end of Wings:

In 1999, she was in a Los Angeles production of Crimes of the Heart;

In 2001, she was the last in a series of actresses to play Annie Oakley, in a 1999 Marquis Theatre revival of Annie Get Your Gun.

In 2005, she was in the West Coast premiere of Barbra's Wedding, starring opposite actor/playwright Daniel Stern, in a production staged at Falcon Theatre, in Burbank, California.

Music

In addition to acting, Bernard has a music career as a singer-songwriter. Albums include The Girl Next Door (1996) and Don't Touch Me There (1999). The latter includes a gospel track she recorded with her father and one sung with country artist Billy Dean.

Co-wrote the song "If I Were Your Girl" with Rhett Lawrence, which appeared on the Paula Abdul album Head over Heels in 1995.

Bernard did a duet with Peter Cetera called, "(I Wanna Take) Forever Tonight," released on Cetera's One Clear Voice album.