Singer, Dancer, Spy

Funny how these things work, eh?

The recent news that the DVD set Mission: Impossible--The Fifth Season will reach stores in early October put me in mind of the lovely New York-born actress Lesley Ann Warren, who during that season (1970-1971) took on the series’ lead female role as Dana Lambert, replacing Barbara Bain’s Cinnamon Carter. Credited as “Lesley Warren,” she was only 24 years old at the time, and as Wikipedia reports, “was considered too inexperienced for the part.” Yet I remember Warren’s participation fondly, in a year when the series itself was undergoing some changes, its stories having more to do with combating organized crime in the States than tackling international intrigues. (The fifth season of Mission: Impossible was also when Sam Elliott joined the IMF team.)

The gaming Web site UGO has a Mission: Impossible tribute section, where it recalls that Warren

did a remarkable job of differentiating herself, most obviously by embracing the show’s penchant for disguises. Her transformation into an Asian woman in the 1970 episode “Butterfly” was astounding. While Lambert wasn’t the most versatile of the female operatives, she played the romance card very well. Of course, it also doesn't hurt that Warren was particularly outspoken about her character, publicly proclaiming that Lambert was a “now” person, meaning she was a well-versed member of the sexual revolution. Young, gorgeous and free-spirited? That’s just the way we like our spies.

Anyway, all of this got me thinking about Warren, and caused me to look up her birthday. Which just happens to be today. Amazingly, she’ll be blowing out 62 candles on any cake set down before her this afternoon. I say “amazingly,” because even though I enjoy watching her now as Mary McCormack’s alcoholic mother on In Plain Sight (the first-season finale episode of which will be broadcast tomorrow night on the USA Network), I still think of Warren as a much younger woman. As Dana Lambert in Mission: Impossible. As Cathy Lange in the 1972 TV movie Assignment: Munich, which spawned the Robert Conrad series Assignment: Vienna. And as a convicted thief’s daughter in one episode of The Mod Squad.

Warren made the rounds of celebrated crime dramas during the 1970s, guest starring on Columbo, Harry O, Jigsaw John, and other shows. But she is probably better recognized for several of her film roles. Warren, who originally trained as a ballet dancer and has developed an outstanding singing voice over the years, has put both to excellent use on the screen. Who could forget her remarkable, seductive performance in the 1984 Alan Rudolph film Choose Me, or her Oscar-nominated role as James Garner’s brassy, blond gangster’s moll in Victor, Victoria (1982), which included an eye-catching nightclub floor show in honor of Chicago, Illinois?

I, for one, have not forgotten. Happy birthday, Lesley Ann.