Linda Atnip was born in Sewanee 70 years ago to a descendant of the Hawkins family who was one of five donors of the Sewanee land domain.
After meeting at a square dance in the fall of 1930, her mother, Louise Hawkins married Herman Atnip, a farmer from Paint Rock, Alabama, three months later. The couple had their only child 19 years later.
Under the tutelage of Margaret Sanders at Mary Sharp School and her drama teacher, Frieda Moore, Atnip showed a flair for literature and theatre at an early age. She was named Franklin County Junior Miss in 1967 performing, “The Button,” a dramatic reading. Later that spring, she won the Tennessee Jantzen Smile Girl contest in Nashville and became a Jantzen swimwear model appearing in the April 1968 issue of Mademoiselle magazine.
On her way to a stellar career at Florida State University where she received an honors degree in Broadcast Journalism, English and Theatre, the Tallahassee Advertising Federation selected Atnip as Miss January during her first quarter at FSU. Also, she was named Gymkana Princess and First runner up to Miss Smoke Signals. During her senior year, she won the first Florida Jewelry Queen competition over 800 coeds representing all the state of Florida campuses. She was featured in an ad campaign with Governor Kirk to promote the Moonstone as the official gemstone of Florida.
Linda received her degree from FSU and became the first female news and sports reporter for WPTV, the NBC affiliate, in Palm Beach. She created a series of special reports that aired each Friday where she did in-depth interviews with newsmakers. Among those subjects were Muriel Humphrey and Cornelia Wallace, prominent wives of candidates for the 1972 Democratic Presidential nomination.”Both women were unique and memorable,” recalls Linda. “Muriel wore white gogo boots and shared humorous anecdotes from the campaign trail while Cornelia sipped tea in white gloves in a makeshift set while explaining the grit it took to be a Southern politician's wife.”
In 1973, Atnip moved to Los Angeles where she won the pivotal role of Terry, the police dispatcher in the cult classic, “Macon County Line.” More than 25 film roles followed in the under-five category including “As Good as it Gets,” “Batman,” “Jackie Brown” and “Nixon.” She also appeared in Days of Our Lives as a dancer and Party of Five as a tai chi teacher.
In 1989, she was named as the Entertainment Editor for New Orleans Magazine where she interviewed the city’s hit makers. Articles followed in Variety, Music Connection and Offbeat. Her reputation soared as a music journalist and she would go on to write hundreds of interviews with music legends Dr. John, beat writer and poet Alan Ginsburg, Steven Halpern, a founder of New Age music, New Orleans greats Coco Robicheaux, Marva Wright, Charmaine Neville and Percussion Inc.
During 1989, Atnip began sharing her dream poetry at the True Brew and eventually got booked at the Cat’s Meow on Bourbon Street weekly.
Returning to Los Angeles in 1990, she collaborated with Robert Slap to produce her first album, “When the Heart Sings” and later produced 21 episodes of a cable TV show by the same name.
The live show earned rave reviews including Lucia Dewey of Drama-Logue who reported, “If you are looking for something positive in the general gloom-and-doom of performance art creations try Linda Atnip. She encourages a search for wholeness through spiritual growth. In one of her most evocative pieces she becomes one with the universe, but returns to earth to complete her duties. Her performance sparkles joyously.”
The live show led to touring for five years.
Atnip released a memoir, “Conversations with Mr. Kiki,” in 2011 which drew comparisons to Elizabeth Gilbert’s, “Eat, Pray, Love.” She is currently penning a follow up, “Born Shaman: Dancing at the Edge of Madness, The Heidi Hendrix Story.” Like the Victorian writers in England, Linda plans to serialize the tome which will reveal her near-death experience that was the catalyst for her transformation. Stay tuned!!
25/08/2020
14/07/2020