By 1969 (age 12) Melanie was in the movies as an extra. Her first movie was Smith! (1969), followed as an extra in her mother’s staring movie: The Harrad Experiment (1973). It was on this set that Melanie would meet her soon to be second husband, Don Johnson, who was co-stared with her mother. Her first husband was Steven Bauer (married, 1980-87) and they had one son, Alexander.
Her first staring role was in the movie Night Moves (1975) co-staring Gene Hackman. Shortly thereafter she appeared in a Clint Eastwood hit, The Drowning Pool (1975).
Melanie also had cameo appearances on hit TV shows like: Starsky and Hutch (1975), Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries (1977) and by the eighties she was appearing on Miami Vice. By this time she had secured her divorce from Bauer and married Don Johnson, which only lasted a year (1976). Their relationship was steamy tabloid and regrettably short lived.
Melanie had auditioned for the staring lead role in the horror movie Carrie (1976) but the lead went to Sissy Spacek. After her divorce from Don Johnson, Melanie had a severe accident in 1987.
After having dinner with Ricci Martin (son of Dean Martin) she was struck at a crosswalk by a car damaging her spine with whiplash. She has fought the pain from this injury for years, which eventually led to a drug addiction problem with painkillers. It wasn’t until Nov. 2000 that she faced her addiction and checked into the Marina Del Rey, California hospital for help.
In the 80’s she had some success with TV movies like The Star Maker (1981) with legend Rock Hudson, She’s in the Army Now (1981, comedy) and Golden Gate (1981, drama) with Perry King.
Some major cinema movies were: Body Double (1984, thriller) and Something Wild (1986, comedy) with Jeff Daniels. A major success for her was the romantic/comedy with Harrison Ford and Sigourney Weaver in Working Girl (1988).
The following year Melanie remarried Don Johnson for a second go-around (1989) but was divorced in 1996 but this time the couple had a daughter, Dakota (born 1989). She and Don appeared in a classic remake of Born Yesterday (1993, comedy) where the classic dumb blonde becomes brilliant.
Go To Page: 1 2
