Virgin River star Annette O’Toole is a total bombshell in this jaw-dropping throwback

Annette O’Toole is known and loved for portraying Hope McCrea in Virgin River, but long before she joined the cast, the actress had already become a household name, with over 90 acting credits to her name. 

After landing her first major film role in the 1975 satire Smile, Annette added to her early filmography with one-off appearances in Dan August, Hawaii Five-O and Police Woman, as well as various TV movies, including ABC’s Love for Rent (1979). Cast in the main role of Carol Martin, and starring opposite David Selby and Lisa Eilbacher, Annette rocked a completely different look for the film, and she looks incredible. 

While Annette was typically recognized as a brunette, the actress sported rich red locks for the flick, and she’s giving us major hair envy. Exuding Old Hollywood glamour, the Virgin River actress has a standout style moment in the film when she steps out in a plunging red midi dress that’s absolutely timeless. 

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Following Love for Rent, Annette continued to thrive, bagging roles in Hollywood blockbusters 48 Hours (1982), Superman III (1983) and Cross My Heart (1987). And as for TV, the 71-year-old became a main cast member on series including It (1990), Nash Bridges (1996-98) and Smallville (2001-2011). 

During a 2021 interview with the Daily Planet, Annette reflected on her decade-spanning career. “I fell in love with acting like falling in love with a person and it has only gotten deeper!” she said. “All I wanted to do was just work.” 

“I’ve worked with some not-so-wonderful people on projects that weren’t as good as I’d hoped but I just continued to work and meet more people and just continued to get better,” she added. 

It was in 2018 that Annette signed on for season one of Virgin River and the rest, as we know, is history! Reflecting on what made her join the show, Annette told Smashing Interviews: “Sue Tenney, our original showrunner, called my agent and wanted to have a discussion with me about this project,” she explained. 

“I think Tim [Matheson] was already onboard, and I’d worked with him three times in the past and have known him for a long time. So that was attractive, and she and I just talked about it.”

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Annette continued: “I liked the idea of making that relationship between Hope and Doc prominent because if you’re going to do a romantic story, older people also have romance in their lives or they have issues or relationship things they’re dealing with … or not. But I wanted there to be as much about that couple as there was about the younger people in the show, and Sue probably brought that idea up first. So that was great, and she kind of depended on me to give her insight of what I was thinking about this person.” 

Fans can watch Annette in season five of Virgin River, which is now streaming on Netflix.