I can’t say that Cindy Pickett has starred in a huge number of successful films or TV series, although soap opera fans would cite her stint on The Guiding Light in the 1970’s as memorable. She has also done many guest starring roles in mostly dramatic TV series such as Magnum P.I., L.A. Law, and Murder She Wrote. But I personally have only seen two of the films in which she starred. The first was a rather crummy Stephen King thriller called Sleepwalkers. The second is one of the all-time great 1980’s films, a little opus called Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
As Ferris’ mother, she was uncanny in her role as both a stringent and sympathetic character to Ferris and his sister Jeannie’s antics. One of the classic scenes in the film is when the principal informs Mrs. Bueller that her son had been absent from school nine times. It was based on this dialogue exchange that I had Cindy Pickett sign the frame capture from the film in this fashion when I met her at the Chiller Theatre Show in Parsippany, New Jersey on April 18, 2009:
Cindy Pickett was very nice and friendly and had a more lengthy chat with my friend Bill Cappello, who had enjoyed some of her other work. She was very willing to pose for a photo with each of us after we picked up one of her $20 autographs. She may not be Meryl Streep…but then again Meryl Streep wasn’t Mrs. Bueller.
Autographs of the Chiller Theatre Show will continue…
She looks younger now than when she was in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. I love that movie! And she played the typical mom like me who could see no wrong in her little boy. On the other hand, the dad treating Ferris like a baby was not a believable feature.
Bev
September 4th, 2009
Wow! I agree with Bev – she looks great!
Heidi
September 6th, 2009