Buckley starred in the ABC series Eight is Enough from 1977 to 1981, and played gym teacher Ms. Collins in the 1976 film Carrie, before going on to star in the short-lived Broadway musical version of Carrie in 1988, playing Carrie White’s mother, Margaret. Her other film roles include Dixie Scott in Tender Mercies (1983), Sondra Walker in Frantic (1988), Kathy in Another Woman (1988) and Mrs. Jones in The Happening (2008). She received a Saturn Award nomination for her role as Dr. Karen Fletcher in the 2016 film Split. Her other television credits include the HBO series Oz (2001–03), and the AMC series Preacher (2018). She is set to star in the title role in the upcoming US national tour of Hello, Dolly.\n', '

Betty Lynn Buckley was born in Big Spring, Texas, and raised in Fort Worth, the daughter of Betty Bob (née Diltz), a dancer and journalist, and Ernest Lynn Buckley, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force and former dean of engineering at South Dakota State University. She is the oldest of their four children. She has three brothers—Norman Buckley is a film editor and TV director, and Patrick and Michael Buckley are engineers. While a student at Texas Christian University (TCU), she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha. She was crowned "Miss Fort Worth" in 1966 and was runner-up in the Miss Texas competition. Buckley was then invited to perform at the Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, where she was spotted by a talent scout. After returning to TCU to earn her college degree, she toured Asia to visit soldiers wounded in the Vietnam War. Then she worked for a time as a reporter for the Fort Worth Press, but went to New York City in 1969, where she landed the role of Martha Jefferson in 1776 her first day in town.\n', '

Buckley made her Broadway debut in 1969 in the original production of the musical 1776; she has been called "The Voice of Broadway" by New York magazine. She is perhaps best known for the 1977–81 TV dramedy Eight Is Enough. She joined the show in its second season when the original star, Diana Hyland, died after the first four episodes of season one. Hyland\'s character (Joan Bradford) died, and Buckley was cast as the widower\'s new romantic interest, Sandra Sue Abbott (nicknamed Abby), who became stepmother of the eight children to which the series\' title refers.\n', '

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