Lisa Eilbacher

Lisa Marie Eilbacher^[2] (born May 5, 1957)^[3] is an American former actress. She is best known for her role as Jeanette Summers in the Beverly Hills Cop film in 1984.

Born to American parents in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia^[4] (where her father was an executive at Aramco),^[5] Eilbacher is the second of five children born to Beverly and Robert Charles Eilbacher.^[4][6] With the exception of one summer (spent in Germany at age 4 with her mother and sisters), Eilbacher remained a Saudi resident for six years, after which, in early 1962, they commenced approximately one year's residence in Paris. The following year her father rejoined the family and brought it to the U.S., settling in Beverly Hills, where he quickly set up shop as a realtor,^[7][8][a] and where Eilbacher would spend the remainder of her formative years. An alumnus of both Beverly Hills Catholic School and Beverly Hills High, she never received any formal theatre training, her only coaching being that dispensed by her mother. In a 1987 interview, Eilbacher described exactly what that coaching entailed.

I really believe that no one can teach anyone to 'act.' You can only be taught to open up, and that she did for me. [...] She has a great ability to draw from you what you don't think is there.^[5]

Eilbacher is the older sister of former actress Cindy Eilbacher (with whom she appeared in the 1974 television movie Bad Ronald),^[9] and of former child actor, Bobby Eilbacher.^[4][10][11]

Eilbacher started acting as a child, appearing on such shows as My Three Sons and Gunsmoke. She later made a transition into adult roles on such shows as The Amazing Spider-Man.

Eilbacher starred as Callie Shaw in The Hardy Boys Mysteries in 1977. The same year she appeared in the episode "The Innocent" of the short-lived Logan's Run TV series. She also guest starred on the TV series Man from Atlantis in an episode where she played Shakespeare's Juliet. She also appeared alongside her sister Cynthia "Cindy" Eilbacher at least twice, most famously in the 1974 made-for-television horror film Bad Ronald, in which they portray two of the three teenage daughters of the family newly residing in the old Wilby house.^[9] Prior to that, they had appeared as sisters Bridget and Beth Jordan, onscreen daughters of guest star Vera Miles in the 1971 Alias Smith and Jones episode, "The Posse That Wouldn't Quit".^[12][13]

In 1981, she starred in the television film This House Possessed with Parker Stevenson, with whom she worked on The Hardy Boys Mysteries.

That year she acted in Lee Philips's film On the Right Track starring television star Gary Coleman. Some reviews concluded that it was sappy and capitalizing on Coleman's TV following, many found the film charming, well written, and well acted.^{[14][15][16][17][18][19]} Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times, felt she stood out by saying it "is Coleman's picture, but its unexpected pleasure is Eilbacher".^[20]

Eilbacher is best known for her roles in two 1980s films: An Officer and a Gentleman and Beverly Hills Cop. In An Officer and a Gentleman, she played Naval Aviation Officer Candidate Casey Seeger, a popular and charming woman who nearly flunked out of the program due to her inability to complete the obstacle course; however, she persevered and graduated. An amateur bodybuilder in real life, Eilbacher said the hardest aspect of this role was "pretending" to be out of shape.^[21] In Beverly Hills Cop, she played Jenny Summers, a childhood friend of Eddie Murphy's character who reunited with him to solve the murder of a mutual friend.^[22][23]

Eilbacher was also featured in the 1983 miniseries The Winds of War, playing Madeleine Henry.^[24]

In 1985, she co-starred with Holland Taylor in the ABC detective series Me and Mom.

She has been married to director and photographer Bradford May since 1988.^[25]

• Lisa Eilbacher at IMDb
• Lisa Eilbacher at TV Guide
• Lisa Eilbacher at Rotten Tomatoes