Linda’s mother was diagnosed with cancer in 1989 after Linda completed the movie “Repossessed” with Leslie Nielsen the comedy spoof of “The Exorcist.” She was saddened by her mother’s illness but was scheduled to perform in her next play in San Francisco with Murray Langston – The Unknown Comic. Her mother requested Linda go and they would deal with the cancer as necessary. Linda‘s first launch on to the theater world was a play on the Sunset Strip, at the Roxy Theatre, called “Woman Behind Bars,” a huge feature play that ran for years. Limited back then by the industry that felt dramatic actors could not do comedy, Murray Langston, from the “Sonny and Cher” show and the”Gong Show” saw the comedic side of Linda and they did several comedy movies together and a play in San Francisco. After the play, Linda went back to Connecticut and took care of her mother till her final passing in June of 1993. Devastated, she went to Los Angeles with her dog “Peanut” and did projects that landed deals with the major studios in both film and TV. As she waited for the projects to move forward, her dog “Peanut” suddenly fell ill on July 4, 1996 and passed away from auto immune disease. Linda found herself crying after all her loss and had a vision of animals in the shelters, that were lonely, scared, abandoned and needed help! In 1996 she called the local shelter and asked if they had any Queensland Heeler’s. They gave her the name of a Queensland Heeler Rescue and she called them immediately. They asked her to drive to San Diego to save a dog from the shelter. And she did. Upon returning to Los Angeles, she realized the dog felt as lonely and lost as she did.‑ Linda continued working on her projects with her new rescue dog, her father fell ill and she went to Florida to care for him. She then landed the role of “Rizzo” in “Grease” on Broadway and she and her rescue dog set off for New York City. Upon returning to Los Angeles she took up residence in North Hollywood and a few weeks later a big black and brindle Pit Bull followed her home. The news media has done the world wrong in recent years, putting enormous fear in everyone’s mind that Pit Bulls are all killer dogs. As she looked out of her window the big black and brindle dog, gently entered her yard with his head and tail lowered in a defeated manner. She took a chance, trusting her instinct, that what the news says is wrong and that this dog was gentle and needed help. She was right. He became
her best friend, proving the breed friendly and now her newly named best friend became her “Sunny Boy.” He brought sunshine back to her life emotionally and showed her the path to live life again. She will be forever in his debt. “Sunny Boy” taught Linda everything she needed to learn about the Pit Bull breed. And he forged a new path in her life. She moved into Burbank with her horse, rescue chickens and turkeys, and had a magical life, until the Pit Bull ban reared its ugly head in Denver, Colorado. Linda reached out to the news media around her and told the story of the Pit Bull breed and the wrongdoing that the head of the Denver City Council was proposing (to round up all the Pit Bulls and ban them from Denver, Colorado or kill them). Thousands of animals lost their lives that year. She fought with many supporters but they could not win and reverse Denver’s breed ban. Linda was heartbroken at the loss, and the killing that took place. Suddenly, Senator Jackie Spiers of California, decided to propose a Breed Ban in California as well and Linda knew if this happened in California it would be the end of the Breed. She fought tooth and nail against Jackie Spiers and all of the Anti-Pit Bull folks around the nation. They were able to win and beat the ban against the Pit Bull Staffordshire Terrier, and potential bridge ban on such breeds as German Shepherds, Rottweilers, Dobermans and so on. What they could not stop was the BSL that was put into place. The legislation that has caused so many people in the state to give up their pets unknowingly to shelters causing thousands of animals to die wrongfully. She founded her organization called the “Linda Blair WorldHeart Foundation,” due to the lack of support from the large animal groups in Sacramento. They angered her. They didn’t fight beside her and they didn’t protest the possibility that the banning of one breed could lead to the banning of many breeds. Within a month and still reeling from the months of fighting against the breed bans in Denver and California, she turned on the TV to see Hurricane Katrina making landfall in Louisiana. As she explains, she just couldn’t breeze. She had to get on a plane, although no one would go with her and she flew to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She became temporarily licensed for search and rescue in Louisiana and set out to find the victims from the historical hurricane. This changed the course of her life forever. She was requested by the large groups to remove hundreds of animals out of the compound in Baton Rouge. Working with three other
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