Michelle Phillips: A Look at the Long Journey of the Mamas & the Papas Singer Turned Actress

With their catchy songs and gorgeous harmonies, the Mamas & the Papas were one of the most beloved bands of the '60s.

The four-person vocal group behind evocative hits like "California Dreamin'," "Monday, Monday" and "Dedicated to the One I Love" was composed of married couple John and Michelle Phillips along with Cass Elliot (known as "Mama Cass") and Denny Doherty. Sadly, only one member remains with us today — Michelle Phillips, who was known for her pure soprano voice and her crystalline blonde beauty.

In the '60s, Phillips was a hippie girl icon. Today, at 80, she's a true survivor who has lived many different lives. Here's a look at how Michelle Phillips became a star and what she's been up to since the Mamas & the Papas broke up in 1968.

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From model to hippie icon

Born Holly Michelle Gilliam in California in 1944, Michelle Phillips faced early tragedy, as her mother died when she was just 5 years old. Following this traumatic event, her family moved frequently, and they spent six years in Mexico.

As a teenager, Michelle's family moved back to California, where she became a model while falling into the burgeoning countercultural scene. She met John Phillips, who was then part of the folk group the Journeymen, in 1961. Scandalously, John was 25 and married with two children, while Michelle was still a teen, and after he divorced his wife, they married in 1962, when she was just 18.

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From there, a musical partnership arose, and they formed the Mamas & the Papas in 1965. While the band enjoyed much success, internal tensions were forever present, and in 1966 she was kicked out of the group, only to be brought back a few months later, after it was revealed that she had an affair with her bandmate, Denny Doherty.

The Mamas & the Papas called it quits in 1968, the same year Michelle gave birth to her and John's only child, Chynna Phillips (who would later become a musical star herself as part of Wilson Phillips) and Michelle and John divorced in 1969.

In 1971, the band was forced to release a final album, as a halfhearted means of fulfilling a contractual obligation, and Michelle was ready to strike out on her own and do something new.

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Michelle Phillips becomes an actress

Like many musicians before and since, Phillips sought out an acting career. She made her screen debut in The Last Movie, an experimental 1971 film directed by and starring the iconoclastic Dennis Hopper. Hopper and Phillips married in 1970, but their union notoriously lasted just eight days. She then had romances with Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty — two more of the quintessential bad boy actors of the era.

Phillips earned praise for her role in the 1973 thriller Dillinger, and in 1977, she costarred in the artsy biopic Valentino, playing the silent film star Rudolph Valentino's wife. That same year, she released her first and only solo album, Victim of Romance. While the album was well-reviewed, it wasn't a hit, and she decided to keep her focus on acting.

In 1983, Phillips joined the cast of the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, and as the decade continued she had multi-episode appearances in shows like Fantasy Island, The Love Boat and Hotel. Most notably, she starred in the primetime soap Knots Landing from 1987 to 1993, playing Nicollette Sheridan's wealthy and devious mother.

As the '90s came around, Phillips was in the cast of short-lived series like Second Chances and Malibu Shores and she had a nine-episode arc on Beverly Hills, 90210 from 1997 to 1998.

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Michelle Phillips today

In a 2022 Rolling Stone interview, Phillips admitted, "I enjoyed acting more than I enjoyed singing. Singing for me was so difficult." Today, she's retired from singing and last acted in 2009, though she says she'd love to return to acting but, "it’s very hard for older actresses."

Phillips told Rolling Stone that her dream project is making a film about the fascinating story of her former band. As she put it, "Now, mercifully, John is dead. So he can’t stand in the way of me doing it, and neither can Denny. Once you’ve taken the knife out of your heart, it makes for a wonderful story. We’re going to get this movie made, come hell or high water.”

Today, Phillips is singlehandedly keeping the California Dream alive, and whether or not her Mamas & the Papas biopic ever gets made, she remains a living legend of a bohemian era.