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"I'd rather share the glory of a hit than star by myself in a flop." Kate Jackson has definitely starred in some hits, and is most commonly remembered for her role as one of Charlie's Angels. But that's not all she's done in her long and varied career. She was also in the TV series Scarecrow and Mrs. King (1983-1987), and in the movies Making Love (1982) and Loverboy (1989). All the success she had as Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels, though, was what really propelled her career forward and saw her on the cover of Time magazine along with her co-stars.

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She won awards for her role as Mrs. King, and she also starred in TV movies like Quiet Killer (1992), Empty Cradle (1993), and Satan's School for Girls (2000). It's clear that Jackson has done a lot in her years in the spotlight, and she'll likely to even more. Although she doesn't act as much as she used to, she's moved in producing and directing projects that are important and meaningful to her. Overall, it's a great life. But how did Jackson get her start, and what led her to pursue her love of acting from an early age. We have the answers! Read on to find out more about Kate Jackson.

A Lucky Girl's Early Life and Career

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Jackson has often said, "I feel very lucky." But it's not just luck that brought her to the point in her career where she had the freedom to take on only the roles that mattered to her, and to move into roles that were behind the camera. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and her father was a business executive. Jackson lived in Mountain Brook for a time, and attended the Brooke Hill School for Girls. After that she enrolled at the University of Mississippi and her declared major was history. In her sophomore year, though, she transferred to Birmingham Southern College.

There, she majored in history of theater and speech. She apprenticed at Stowe Playhouse in Vermont when the academic year was over, and then moved to New York City so she could continue her studies at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She was a tour guide at Rockefeller Center and an NBC page, but eventually she received a role on Dark Shadows. Then a feature film based on that show, called Night of Dark Shadows (1971), cast her in the role of Tracy Collins. While it didn't do well at the box office, it did get Jackson noticed enough to keep her working in the acting field.

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She took the role of Jill Danko on The Rookies, which was a 1970s crime drama. She was part of the supporting cast, which gave her free time to study editing and directing. During that time, she was also in several made-for-TV movies. She hosted Saturday Night Live and took parts in independent films and television dramatizations of real events. Then, she was cast in the role that made her famous, and started working on Charlie's Angels in 1976. The series ran through 1979, and took Kate Jackson from just another actress to a household name. She remained with the show through the first three seasons.

Finding a Life Beyond Show Business

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"I'm married now, so I have a life. I had to get a life. That's one thing I really had to do, you know. You do that kind of work on television series after television series and you don't have a life. So, that's part of what I did while I was gone, I got a life," she said. There were many times in her career where she had to turn down a role she wanted to do because it conflicted with the schedule for another role. While unfortunate, it's the life of an actor and became what she was used to. But she worked so much that it also took her away from other pursuits, such as finding a mate and starting a family.

Eventually, Jackson moved away from acting for a time and, as she put it "got a life." In the late 1980s she was diagnosed with breast cancer and successfully treated. Then cancer was found again -- likely missed from the first operation -- and she was again treated successfully. She continued to work throughout that time, and also advocated for breast cancer awareness. In 1995 she was found to have a hole in her heart that had not been detected before. She had surgery to correct the problem, and spoke publicly about the health issues she had faced.

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She has been on Criminal Minds, filmed an episode of Behind the Camera about Charlie's Angels, and has been a guest judge on the hairdressing show Shear Genius. While she has been working on a memoir that was originally expected to be published in 2011, the new release date for it is now the end of 2020. Jackson has been married three times and has one child. Fans can expect that they haven't seen the last of this talented lady.