The real reason the George and Marsha Owens decided to hire a housekeeper was so that she could concentrate on getting back to studying law, which she has always wanted to do. But with the coming of the kids, she's had to set aside that dream for a moment to raise them.  Through the course of 6 seasons, we can steadily track her progress from being a simple housewife, to serious law student, to full fledged lawyer.   It was a bumpy road though. She almost didn't become one after being discouraged by the difficulties of being a housewife and a student at the same time. It was a good thing Mr. Belvedere was around to set her straight.

Ilene Graff, who plays the lawyer-housewife-mother in Mr. Belvedere, is a familiar figure on the Broadway stage. However, Ilene has put her Broadway career behind her-- "at least for 10 years" -- concentrating on broadening her character on Mr. Belvedere, eyeing additional film and television work, and returning to her musical roots.

"This is what I was born to do. I've never wanted to do anything else since I was old enough to make a rational decision", says the Brooklyn-born performer. " A five-year run for Mr. Belvedere is fullfilling an immediate dream of having the opportunity to work on the same thing, making it better and affording me the chance to sing again with a hopefully a somewhat more established name."

Music has always been a part of Graff's life. Her father is singer-arranger Jerry Graff, a featured singer with top vocal groups such as the Pied Pipers and The Beachcombers. Her mom, Judy, who died in 1988 of cancer, was a piano teacher. Though her mom's passing has left a void in Ilene's life, she has filled it somewhat by becoming the national spokesperson for the AMC Cancer Reasearch Center in Denver.

As a teenager, Graff worked as a studio singer doing background work and commercials. She attended Ithaca College in upstate New York, graduating in 1970 and immediately getting a job in the hot broadway musical "Promises, Promises", as a pit singer and understudy for the lead.

Graff returned to Broadway for two years as the first "Sandy" in "Grease" and then created the role of "Cleo" in "I love My Wife". It was during Grease that she met her future husband, musical director Ben Lanzarone. It was her husband who sparked the move to the West Coast.

Graff immediately started doing television pilots. "I felt strength in this area because I knew how to work fast to get a laugh. I knew there was room for me. It's just taken longer than anticipated to find the right one. " smiles Graff.

Though her television credits are many, including guest roles in "Three's Company" and "Remington Steele", Graff laughs when asked to compare stage and television.  "We're led to believe that Broadway is the toughest place to get a job. 'A Chorus Line' has done that. Well there's no comparison. It's much harder here (TV). The competition is greater and it takes a lot of adjusting. The hardest part is the time between jobs, even if you work steady."

Ilene Graff has another career...raising her five year old daughter, Nikka (who must be around 14 today). It just might be her toughest.

Ilene has since appeared in movies like Ladybugs and Abandoned and Deceived and is reportedly currently performing in musical plays.