Meg Foster

Career

In 1968, Foster acted in a Cornell Summer Theatre production of John Brown's Body. Later in the same year, she was in the off-Broadway production of The Empire Builders.

When Loretta Swit was unable to reprise her television-film role of Detective Christine Cagney when the film was adapted into the Cagney & Lacey TV series, Foster took on the role for the short first season of only six episodes. Foster was replaced by Sharon Gless for the remainder of the series. Entertainment columnist Dick Kleiner wrote in August 1982 about Foster's being dropped from the show: "It isn't a pretty story, no matter who you talk to. Meg was so hurt and distraught that she still isn't talking. But she told friends that she felt as though she had been hit by a truck." Kleiner's story implied that Foster's dismissal from the show had cost her other opportunities. "Until that news spread," he wrote, "she was an in-demand actress." but they divorced sometime before 2013.

As to Foster's striking pale blue eyes being dubbed "the eyes of 1979" by Mademoiselle magazine, Foster stated she did not think her eyes were that distinctive. Some film and television producers had Foster wear contact lenses to change her eye color, as they considered her natural eyes distracting.