The first Miss America (1955) to pursue acting as a vocation, Lee Meriwether is best recalled as Betty Jones, the daughter-in-law and assistant to private investigator "Barnaby Jones" (CBS, 1973-1980). In 1996, she joined the venerable ABC daytime drama "All My Children" replacing the retiring Mary Fickett in the role of earth mother Ruth Brent Martin. Meriwether, who studied acting with Lee Strasberg, has been a regular or recurring character on nine previous TV series, including a stint as a women's editor on NBC's "Today" as well as playing Lily Munster on the syndicated "The Munsters
