Jean Kasem

Jean Thompson Kasem is a former American actress. She is the widow of radio personality and actor Casey Kasem. Early life Jean Thompson was one of five children born to Irene Celia Thompson and Herbert Owens Thompson Sr. (deceased). She is of Norwegian heritage on her mother's side. She was born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, where she lived before her civil-servant father moved the family to Guam in 1963. She attended the University of Guam at age 16, but after marrying a U.S. Navy lieutenant when she was 17, she left to work as a waitress and saleswoman on U.S. military bases throughout the Pacific Ocean to which her husband was posted. The marriage lasted six years. She moved to California and unsuccessfully attempted to find work in broadcast journalism. Frustrated, she joined an acting workshop and soon found roles on such TV series as Matt Houston, Fantasy Island and Alice. Career Kasem played the recurring role of Loretta Tortelli, the wife of Nick Tortelli (Dan Hedaya) on Cheers and as a cast-member of the short-lived spinoff The Tortellis. She has also worked as voice actor for such animated television series as Darkwing Duck, 2 Stupid Dogs, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, Johnny Bravo, and Mother Goose and Grimm. She made guest appearances in several movies and television shows, including Growing Pains, Cybill, Hunter, Family Feud, Hollywood Squares, My Two Dads, Hope & Gloria and others. She holds twelve patents with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, all pertaining to crib and canopy design, developed for her crib business, Little Miss Liberty Round Crib Company.