You have questions. I have some answers.
What happened to Nancy O’Dell on “Entertainment Tonight”? She hasn’t been on for several weeks.
More like several months. In August, O’Dell announced she was leaving “ET” after nine years with the show. In a statement quoted by EW.com at the time, O’Dell said in part, “Not long ago, a dear friend told me to make a life list, writing down on one side career milestones, and on the other side, what I still want to accomplish. … As I take on that list of things still to come, it means leaving this position, but it does not mean I am leaving the genre.” (O’Dell also worked on “Access Hollywood” before joining “ET.”) She continued: “I’ll be back and it won’t be long. I’m going to enjoy some time off with the most wonderful gal in my life, my daughter, because they grow up way too fast. She is always my priority and then I’ll focus on my new project.”
Are these folks related: Barbara Billingsley of “Leave It to Beaver,” Jennifer Billingsley of the movie “White Lightning” and Peter Billingsley of “A Christmas Story”? I’ve been curious about this for years.
I cannot find any connection between Jennifer Billingsley and the other two actors. There is a connection, albeit a brief one, between Barbara and Peter Billingsley. As the Turner Classic Movies website explains it, Barbara’s first husband, Glenn Billingsley, “provided her with her surname as well as two sons, before their marriage ended in 1947 … (and) a familial connection to future child star and director Peter Billingsley, whose mother, Gail, was her first husband’s cousin.”