Peg Phillips

A late-blooming actress whose delayed entry into the entertainment industry at age 65 followed an extended career as an accountant, Peg Phillips would nevertheless endear herself to television audiences as lively shopkeeper Ruth-Anne Miller on television's popular Northern Exposure. A native of Everett, WA, who had, as a child, dreamed of a life on the silver screen, Phillips instead chose a more practical career in order to adequately care for her children and pay the bills. Following her retirement, Phillips would enroll in the University of Washington drama school in 1984. Never actually completing her degree due to increasing film and television work, Phillips signed on for what was at first an intermittent role in Northern Exposure, though her lovably acidic character would soon become a regular fixture of the series. With film work including such features as Waiting for the Light (1990) and Dogfight (1991), Phillips was able to give back to her community by founding a drama program for juvenile offenders at the Snoqualmie, WA, children's center at which she volunteered. Phillips would also found Woodinville, Washington's Woodinville Repertory Theater, where she would appear in numerous plays. Other television credits besides Northern Exposure include 7th Heaven, Touched by an Angel and ER. An unrepentant lifetime smoker, Peg Phillips died of lung cancer on November 7, 2002. She was 84. - Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide