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Christine Belford

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Christine Belford
Belford in 1973
Born
Christine Riley

c. 1949 – c. 1950
Amityville, New York, U.S.
Other namesChristina Belford
Alma materHofstra University
OccupationActress
Years active1971–2007
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1993; died 2024)​

Christine Belford (born Christine Riley, c. 1949 – c. 1950) is an American former television and film actress. She has sometimes been credited as Christina Belford.

Early life

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Christine Riley was born in Amityville, Long Island, New York to Joseph J. Riley and Mary Belford Riley (née Wilson; later Malone),[1][2] who later divorced. She has a brother, Terry, and a sister, Shawn. The family once lived at 112 Ocean Avenue, the location that later became famous as the setting of The Amityville Horror, for about five years from age 11 until age 16. As a young child and teenager on Long Island, she was active in equestrian trials and won many horsemanship awards.[3] "She was enrolled at the best schools and joined the best swimming and yachting clubs on Long Island."[4] After graduating from high school in 1966, she attended Hofstra University, initially interested in pursuing a career in psychiatry. However, the classwork she did with Joseph Leon, the head of the drama department, inspired her to become an actress.[3]

In 1970, after college she moved to New York City and did some modeling work but no acting. Additionally, she said, "In order to keep a roof over my head and to eat, I took any job I could get. I was a waitress, a bar maid, and I also drove an ice truck."[5] For both personal and professional reasons, she moved to Los Angeles near the end of 1970. There, at the suggestion of a friend, actress Carrie Snodgress, she auditioned at Universal Pictures, performing a scene from the film The Country Girl for the head of talent, Monique James. Christine then received a seven-year acting contract from Universal Pictures,[3] "A very precious commodity issued only to a chosen few."[6]

Career

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Her first appearance on television was as an extra on the Vince Edwards series Matt Lincoln. Her first credited appearance on television was in the NBC television movie Vanished in 1971. She played insurance investigator Carlie Kirkland during the second season (1973–74) of Banacek. She appeared in the 1980 TV-movie The Gambler with Kenny Rogers and also played Ricky Stratton's mother, Evelyn on Silver Spoons and Jackie on Empire.[7][4]

She appeared in guest roles on many popular television shows of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, including Ironside; Banacek; Mannix; Barnaby Jones; Owen Marshall, Counselor at Law; The Six Million Dollar Man; CHiPs; The Greatest American Hero; Wonder Woman; Magnum, P.I.; Hart to Hart; The Incredible Hulk; Family Ties; The Golden Girls; Blossom; Beverly Hills, 90210; Battlestar Galactica (as one of the prison-barge inmates recruited to destroy "The Gun On Ice Planet Zero"); The Paper Chase: The Television Series; My Two Dads; Night Court (the 1992 episode "Opportunity Knock Knocks", where she was credited as Christina Belford); Harry O; Murder, She Wrote; Diagnosis: Murder and Quincy, episode "Holding Pattern".

One television role was the December 21, 1980 CHiPs episode "Wheels of Justice", where she played the character Denise Holmes; an attractive, suffering, and sympathetic figure wife of an arrogant and habitual drunk driver. Denise dearly loved and would do anything to protect her husband, including lying to an officer of the law as well as under oath in court. She ultimately failed to hold him accountable for his destructive behavior until it was too late. Her husband drunkenly tried to evade a CHP pursuit, causing an accident. Denise was thrown from the Holmes' Cadillac and fatally landed on her neck.

She appeared in the episode "Devil Pack" from the 1977 series Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected (known in the United Kingdom as Twist in the Tale), as well as in various television films through the years.

She played on Dynasty as the nurse for Fallon's baby at the end of Season 2 and Season 3. In 1983, she co-hosted, in Los Angeles, with Steve Edwards, Cathy Kronkite, and Ruth Batchelor, an unsuccessful pilot for a daytime-magazine series, Personal & Confidential, over five days (August 1–5, 1983).[8]

Her last feature film credit was The Ladies Club (1986), while her last television credit was the TV movie Ruffian (2007).

Personal life

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Belford was married to actor Nicholas Pryor from July 1993[9] until his death in October 2024.[10]

Filmography

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Film

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Television

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References

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  1. ^ "Joseph Riley's Obituary on The Capital Gazette". The Capital Gazette.
  2. ^ "Mary Belford Malone". 9 May 2010.
  3. ^ a b c Pack, Harvey "Christine Belford: Starlet of '72" Sarasota Herald-Tribune (July 2, 1972) page 47 (also available online at the Google Books newspaper archive)
  4. ^ a b King, Richard (January 19, 1984). "Blonde back to natural". The Index-Journal. The Index-Journal. p. 7. Retrieved August 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ Manners, Dorothy (August 3, 1972). "Christine Belford: Life Is One Big Smile". Evening Herald. Evening Herald. p. 7. Retrieved August 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  6. ^ "Christine Belford - She Can Act". The Kokomo Tribune. The Kokomo Tribune. September 24, 1972. p. 56. Retrieved August 23, 2015 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  7. ^ "Christine Belford Biography". Fandango.com. Retrieved 2018-12-23.
  8. ^ Terrace, Vincent (1985) "Encyclopedia of Television Series, Pilots and Specials" Verlag für die Deutsche Wirtschaft AG, ISBN 0-918432-61-8, page 325
  9. ^ Hollywood.com Staff (3 February 2015). "Christine Belford - Biography and Filmography - 1949".
  10. ^ "Nicholas Pryor, of Port Charles, 90210 and Risky Business, Dead at 89: 'He Was an Actor's Actor'". TV Line. Retrieved 9 October 2024.
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