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Hometown:
Los Angeles, CA
Archer's first major film role was opposite Jon Voight in the 1970 film The All-American Boy. She then worked off-Broadway during the early 1980s. Before her breakout roles, the actress reportedly was one of the finalists for the role of Lois Lane in Superman: The Movie before it ultimately went to Margot Kidder.
A breakthrough role for Archer came in the 1987 thriller Fatal Attraction, in which she portrayed the wife of Michael Douglas' unfaithful character. The film earned her an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. She later played the physician wife of CIA analyst Jack Ryan in two films based on Tom Clancy novels, 1992's Patriot Games and 1994's Clear and Present Danger opposite Harrison Ford.
Archer also appeared in Robert Altman's 1993 film Short Cuts as a woman who performs at children's parties as a clown. Not known for provocative roles, Archer accepted the leading role of Mrs. Robinson, including its nude scene, for London's West End stage production of The Graduate, for which she received outstanding reviews.
More recently Archer has appeared in recurring roles on several television shows. On The L Word she plays Lenore Pieszecki, the troubled mother of Alice Pieszecki (Leisha Hailey); on The Ghost Whisperer she plays Beth Gordon, the mother of lead character Melinda Gordon (Jennifer Love Hewitt), and on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia she plays Barbara Reynolds, the self-serving, socialite mother of Dee and Dennis Reynolds (Kaitlin Olson and Glenn Howerton) and ex-wife of Frank Reynolds (Danny DeVito).
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