Mariclare Costello

Redheaded character actress Mariclare Costello has been in films and television since 1967. Best known as Rosemary Hunter Fordwick, wife of Rev. Fordwick (John Ritter) on TV's The Waltons (a role she played from 1973 to 1977), Costello was also a regular on the TV weeklies Sara (1976) and The Fitzpatricks (1977). Of her many TV-movie appearances, she is most fondly remembered as the aggrieved wife of the title character in The Execution of Private Slovik (1974). Always a welcome presence, Costello has yet to win her long-overdue stardom. For a while, it looked as though Mariclare Costello's breakthrough would be the theatrical feature Ragtime (1981), in which she was cast as anarchist Emma Goldman; alas, her entire performance ended up on the cutting room floor.

~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide