Connie Sellecca, who enjoyed a glittering run of TV stardom in the 1970s and 1980s, looked nowhere near her 71 years when she surfaced this week.
After kicking off her career as a model, she transitioned to acting and earned a principal role on the CBS dramedy Flying High in the 1970s.
During the following decade, she cemented her celebrity on the genre series The Greatest American Hero and – most famously – the soap opera Hotel.
Sellecca and James Brolin ignited Hotel with their sizzling chemistry, playing managers of the titular establishment who become love interests.
While Brolin went on to become the second husband of Barbra Streisand, Sellecca has been happily married to veteran radio and TV presenter John Tesh since 1992.
Tesh and Sellecca were spotted on a sunlit couple’s outing a few days ago in Los Angeles, with the latter appearing closer to her 30s than her 70s.
Connie Sellecca, who enjoyed a glittering run of TV stardom in the 1970s and 1980s, looked nowhere near her 71 years when she surfaced this week; pictured in 1983
Sellecca and James Brolin ignited Hotel with their sizzling chemistry, playing managers of the titular establishment who become love interests
After kicking off her career as a model, she transitioned to acting; she is pictured in a 1991 publicity still for the short-lived TV program P.S.I. Luv U
Sellecca draped her impressively lithe frame in a black t-shirt and cardigan over a slim-fitted set of fashionably faded jeans.
Bringing out her luminously youthful complexion with makeup, the small screen veteran wore her still jet-black hair down with a thick fringe.
Meanwhile her husband, who was an early host of Entertainment Tonight and has also worked extensively as a composer, sported distinguished snowy locks.
He threw an NBA bomber jacket over a button-down shirt and a set of jeans, warding off the summertime rays with a large pair of dark sunglasses.
Sellecca, who was born Concetta Sellecchia in the Bronx in 1955, caught the acting bug when she was in high school in upstate New York.
By the end of her adolescence, she was so determined to pursue the profession that she eventually dropped out of Boston College to do so.
She modeled successfully in America and Europe and then broke into acting with the 1978 TV movie The Bermuda Depths starring Carl Weathers.
Sellecca then landed a short-lived series called Flying High, in which she played one of three flight attendants whose exploits serve as the focus of the storylines.
Despite the sudden loss of one of the main characters, the soap was able to thunder ahead, powered by the electric charge of Sellecca and Brolin’s sexual tension
In the 1970s Sellecca (left) landed a short-lived series called Flying High, in which she, Pat Klous (cneter) and Kathryn Witt (right) played flight attendants
Her hit show The Greatest American Hero starred William Katt as a high school special education teacher who acquires superpowers, with Sellecca in a supporting role as an attorney
Sellecca is pictured with her first husband, Buck Rogers and the 25th Century heartthrob Gil Gerard, whom she was married to from 1979 to 1987
The captain meanwhile was played by Howard Platt, who struck up a real-life romance with Sellecca and became her live-in fiancé.
Their romance petered out, and in 1979 she went down the aisle with TV heartthrob Gil Gerard, star of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Meanwhile Sellecca’s star continued to ascend, and she landed another regular TV role on The Greatest American Hero from 1981 to 1983.
William Katt led the cast as a high school special education teacher who acquires superpowers from space aliens, with Sellecca in a supporting role as an attorney.
The year that show ended, Sellecca began playing the role in which she left her most indelible mark on TV history – Christine Francis on Aaron Spelling’s show Hotel.
At the heart of the series was the frisson of romance between Christine and the James Brolin character Peter McDermott as they manage the St Gregory Hotel.
Its owner Victoria Cabot was played by Anne Baxter – best known for the title role in All About Eve – who died in 1985 in the midst of the show’s run.
Despite the sudden loss of one of the main characters, the soap was able to thunder ahead, powered by the electric charge of Sellecca and Brolin’s sexual tension.
When she was spotted this week, Sellecca draped her impressively lithe frame in a black t-shirt and cardigan over a slim-fitted set of fashionably faded jeans
Bringing out her luminously youthful complexion with makeup, the small screen veteran wore her still jet-black hair down with a thick fringe
Sellecca and her husband John Tesh were spotted on a sunlit couple’s outing a few days ago in Los Angeles, with the latter appearing closer to her 30s than her 70s
Meanwhile her husband, who was an early host of Entertainment Tonight and has also worked extensively as a composer, sported distinguished snowy locks
He threw an NBA bomber jacket over a button-down shirt and a set of jeans, warding off the summertime rays with a large pair of dark sunglasses
Hotel was also aided by a steady stream of celebrity guest stars like Elizabeth Taylor, Heather Locklear, Lorenzo Lamas, Liberace, Morgan Fairchild, Ginger Rogers, Shirley Jones, Louis Jourdan, Engelbert Humperdinck, Eva Gabor and Tippi Hedren.
George Clooney landed a guest shot on the show before becoming a star, as did Aaron Spelling’s then 10-year-old daughter Tori Spelling.
By 1987, Sellecca’s marriage to Gerard had fallen apart, but her career was at a height, with Hotel garnering her a Golden Globe nomination.
Hotel ended in 1988, and Sellecca spent the subsequent decade appearing in TV movies like Miracle Landing with Wayne Rogers; A Holiday to Remember with Randy Travis; Something Borrowed, Something Blue with Twiggy; and the Dominick Dunne adaptation People Like Us with Ben Gazzara and Eva Marie Saint.
She found love with John Tesh after running into him in a hotel gym in Palm Springs and then being awkwardly interviewed by him on the radio.
‘He had his friend ask me if I was alone, if I was seeing anyone and if I was naked,’ Sellecca told People in a 1992 cover interview with Tesh just before their wedding.
By the time their romance got off the ground, they were both born-again Christians, so they opted not to have sex until they were joined in holy matrimony.
They later welcomed a daughter called Prima into the world, in addition to whom Sellecca has a son called Gib by her marriage to Gerard.
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