soup (Coach Leroy Fedders), and by being impaled on a pink bottle brush artificial Christmas tree (Garth Gimble). Mary Hartman had a nationally televised nervous breakdown on The David Susskind Show at the end of the first season. Mary then found herself in a psychiatric ward, where she was delighted to be part of their selected Nielsen ratings "family". One of her sanitarium mates, widowed Wanda Rittenhouse (Marian Mercer), would become more prominent later on when she married Merle Jeeter, the mayor of Fernwood. Cast Main cast Louise Lasser as Mary Shumway Hartman, the show's titular character. Greg Mullavey as Tom Hartman, Mary's unfaithful husband and Heather's father. Mary Kay Place as Loretta Haggers, Mary's best friend and neighbor, and aspiring country singer. Graham Jarvis as Charlie "Baby Boy" Haggers, Loretta's much older husband and Tom Hartman's best friend. Dody Goodman as Martha Shumway, Mary's often daft mother known for talking to her plants. Debralee Scott as Cathy Lorraine Shumway, Mary's vampish sister. Victor Kilian as Grandpa Raymond Larkin, Martha's father, who was revealed in the pilot episode to be the "Fernwood Flasher." Philip Bruns (and for a few episodes after the show was rebranded as Forever Fernwood, Tab Hunter) as George Shumway, Martha's husband and Mary and Cathy's father. He worked at an automobile assembly plant along with Tom and Charlie. Claudia Lamb as Heather Hartman, Tom and Mary's troubled daughter. Supporting cast Samantha Harper as Roberta Wolashek, Grandpa Larkin's young social worker, who falls in love with him. Salome Jens as Mae Olinski, Tom's Amazonian co-worker at the assembly plant and the payroll officer, with whom he had an affair. Bruce Solomon as Sgt. Dennis Foley, a Fernwood police officer who liked Mary and with whom she eventually ran off. (See Forever Fernwood, below.) Norman Alden as Coach Leroy Fedders, Tom's former high school coach. He died drowning in Mary's chicken soup. Reva Rose as Blanche Fedders, Coach Fedders' constantly protesting and militant wife. Martin Mull as wife-beater Garth Gimble, who died by being impaled by a star on an aluminum Christmas tree. Mull later played Garth's twin brother, talk show host Barth Gimble on Fernwood 2 Night and America 2-Night. Susan Browning as Garth's wife, Pat, the target of his abuse. Sparky Marcus as Jimmy Joe Jeeter, child evangelist, who died when a TV set he was watching fell into the bathtub, electrocuting him. Dabney Coleman as