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Anne-Marie Martin

Anne-Marie Martin’s screen career moves easily between science fiction, horror, daytime drama and offbeat television. Born Edmonda Benton in Toronto on November 11, 1957, the Canadian actress began in theatre, working with director Hrant Alianak and performing at Toronto’s Theatre Passe Muraille before turning to screen roles. Initially credited as Eddie Benton, Martin appeared in the 1978 pilot and telefilm Dr. Strange. She had previously auditioned for Princess Leia in Star Wars, and science fiction remained part of her early work: she appeared in the low-budget Canadian production The Shape of Things to Come and played Stella Breed, a woman with psychokinetic powers, in an episode of Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. Martin also became a familiar presence in early-1980s genre films. Her credits from that period include the slasher Prom Night, Savage Harvest, The Boogens and a cameo in Halloween II. Those projects placed her firmly in the era’s horror landscape, while television gave her room to take on a wider range of characters. She was a regular opposite Patrick McGoohan on the short-lived series Rafferty, appeared in Time Express and later guest-starred in a body-swapping episode of Highway to Heaven with Victor French. A longer television run came with Days of Our Lives, where Martin played attorney Gwen Davies from 1982 to 1985. Alan Spencer subsequently cast her as Dori Doreau in Sledge Hammer!, the role with which she is most closely associated. Martin appeared throughout the series’ 1986–1988 run, bringing a grounded counterpoint to its more exaggerated situations—including an episode in which Doreau impersonated Sledge Hammer. Martin is also associated with screenwriting, adding another dimension to a career shaped by theatre, genre filmmaking and distinctive television roles.