Blakely was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the daughter of American parents, Mary Louise, a former art teacher, and Colonel Larry Blakely, a career Army officer. After she attended University of Texas at El Paso, she moved to New York and studied acting with Warren Robertson, Lee Strasberg, Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse and later studied with Charles Conrad and Warner Loughlin in Los Angeles. She began a professional modeling career in 1967 at Ford Modeling Agency and in 1970 appeared in a television commercial for Dippity-Do, a hair styling gel.
Blakely arrived in Hollywood in the early 1970s, and began appearing in supporting roles in films including Savages, The Way We Were, and The Lords of Flatbush. Her first major role was as Patty Simmons in the 1974 disaster film The Towering Inferno. The following year, she played the female lead roles in films Report to the Commissioner alongside Michael Moriarty, and Capone opposite Ben Gazzara.
Blakely gained wide critical acclaim with her leading role in the 1976 ABC television miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man, based on the 1969 novel of the same name by Irwin Shaw. For her performance, Blakely won that year's Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama and earned a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie. She earned a second Emmy Award nomination the following year when she reprised her role in Rich Man, Poor Man Book II. After her television success, she played leading roles in two movies in 1979: the disaster film The Concorde ... Airport '79 opposite Alain Delon, and the sport drama Dreamer with Tim Matheson.

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