Tracy Brooks Swope is an actress who appeared at the Hollywood Show in Los Angeles on January 7, 2017. She made it onto my list because she had starred in a prominent role in one single episode of The Partridge Family, the fourth season offering Queen for a Minute, in which her character Frankie, a friend of Laurie’s, tries out for the school basketball team and is rejected because of her sex, leading to a battle of the sexes among the Partridges. Tracy was both a find and beautiful performer, and as this was one of the earliest roles in her career, it was obvious that big things should have come.
And they did… sort of. She went to make appearances in top-rated shows throughout the 70’s like Serpico, Starsky and Hutch, Baretta, and Charlie’s Angels. In fact the episode of Starsky and Hutch was even named after her character… as in I Love You, Rosey Malone.
But as I looked through her filmography, I noticed just 55 credits in 45 years, nearly every one of them a one-off. With the exception of some recurring roles on General Hospital and Another World in the early 80’s and some appearances her in her career in the soap opera Where the Heart Is, Tracy never seemed to repeat a character.
That’s not to say she wasn’t a successful actress by any means. She also performed a lot of theater during her career, and went on to produce her own films in recent years. She also assisted with a documentary about her late husband, director John G. Avildsen, director of Rocky and The Karate Kid films.
It got me thinking quite a bit about the career of the average actor, thousands more like Tracy Brooks Swope, who although exceptionally talented and charming, never ended up with their own series, or even one in which they were a regular performer. When one is as talented as she is, you have to question, how much luck does it actually take to get a big break?
She certainly didn’t seem phased by it, after all getting even 55 TV roles in the course of a career would have to be deemed a major success in the acting world, even if it doesn’t make one a household word. But it kind of inspires me to seek out even more performers who played one-off parts in many of the shows I’ve loved all my life.
As for my encounter with Tracy, it was short and sweet. I didn’t get the autograph and instead just opted to plunk down the $20 for the photo with her. I’m not sure what crowd she would have appealed to most at the Hollywood Show, as I’m sure it wasn’t The Partridge Family connection in most cases, but I hope she did well… and continues to do well as she continues her work in the entertainment industry.
Celebrities of the Winter 2017 Hollywood Show will continue…
Thank you for such a stellar article,,,I was touched by your kind words …and it was lovely to meet you as well…Have lots to share with you regarding my career…Thanks again ,,,You Rock!!!
Tracy Brooks Swope
August 29th, 2018
I just watched a movie “Inner Sanctum 2” with this beautiful but unfamiliar (for me) actress and looked for information about her on the Internet. Greetings to her from Russia!
Dina
November 16th, 2021