Elizabeth Gracen
Elizabeth Ward Gracen (born Elizabeth Grace Ward, April 3, 1961) is an American actress, film producer and director. She was a beauty pageant contestant, winning Miss America 1982 title.
Also recorded as Elizabeth Ward Gracen · Grace Elizabeth Ward
Elizabeth Gracen

Georges Seguin (Okki) · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Name
- Elizabeth Gracen
- Birth Name
- Elizabeth Grace Ward
- Born
- 3 April 1961
- Birthplace
- Ozark, Arkansas, U.S.
- Education
- HB Studios
- Occupation
- Actress
- Spouse
- * Adam Murphy (present)
- Nationality
- United States
- Languages
- English
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Elizabeth Ward Gracen (born Elizabeth Grace Ward, April 3, 1961) is an American actress, film producer and director. She was a beauty pageant contestant, winning Miss America 1982 title.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Elizabeth Gracen. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q448579 · wikipedia · Elizabeth Gracen
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Elizabeth Gracen • Birth Name — Elizabeth Grace Ward • Born — 3 April 1961 • Birthplace — Ozark, Arkansas, U.S. • Education — HB Studios • Occupation — Actress • Title — Miss Arkansas 1981 Miss America 1982 • Predecessor — Susan Powell • Successor — Debra Maffett • Spouse — * Adam Murphy (present) • Children — 1 • Website — http: www.flapperfilms.com
Early life and education
Early life and education
Elizabeth Grace Ward was born on April 3, 1961, in Ozark, Arkansas, the daughter of Patricia Hampe, a nurse, and Jimmy Young Ward, a poultry worker. She was raised in Booneville, Arkansas. The family later moved to Russellville, Arkansas, where Ward dated University of Arkansas trainer Mike Walker and graduated from Russellville High School in 1979. She was a junior accounting major at Arkansas Tech University at the time she entered the Miss America contest. Instead of returning to Arkansas Tech, she used her Miss America scholarship money to study acting at HB Studios in New York City.
Pageants and modeling
Pageants and modeling
• Illustration — Gracen as Miss America 1982 Gracen won the titles of Miss Arkansas in 1981 and Miss America in 1982. After her yearlong work as Miss America, she enrolled in acting classes then relocated to California to pursue a film and television career. Gracen posed nude for Playboy magazine's May 1992 issue.
Acting
Acting
Gracen made her professional feature film debut in Three for the Road with Charlie Sheen. Her film credits also include a featured role in Marked for Death, opposite Steven Seagal, Pass The Ammo with Tim Curry, and the CBS feature 83 Hours Till Dawn with Peter Strauss and Robert Urich. Gracen starred in Lower Level and Discretion Assured with Michael York. On television, Gracen has appeared in Shelley Duvall's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Sidney Sheldon's The Sands of Time, and The Death of the Incredible Hulk. She also appeared with a starring role in the series Extreme for NBC and the syndicated series Renegade and Queen of Swords. Gracen's best-known acting role has been as the recurring character Amanda, a 1,200-year-old immortal, in the series Highlander: The Series and its spin-off series Highlander: The Raven. In December 1999, Gracen filed for bankruptcy protection. After few television guest roles, and a supporting role in the made-for-television movie Interceptor Force 2, she took a long leave of absence from acting, beginning in 2002. Gracen began doing voiceover work for Blue Hours Productions, which has revived the classic radio anthology Suspense, airing on SiriusXM. In 2012, Gracen did a character voice-over in the Malaysian animated science fiction film War of the Worlds: Goliath.
Directing, producing, and writing
Directing, producing, and writing
• Illustration — Gracen, speaking about writing at TusCon 43 in Tucson, Arizona (2016) In 2012, Gracen formed Flapper Films. In 2014, she starred in Coherence, a sci-fi indie thriller. In January 2016, Gracen established Flapper Press and self-published Shalilly, a young adult fantasy novel. Gracen made her directorial debut with a documentary short, "The Damn Deal", about three young drag queens from Arkansas who compete in female impersonator beauty pageants.
Marriages and family
Marriages and family
Gracen married Jon Birmingham in 1982, and they divorced in 1984. In 1989, while filming Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat, she met actor Brendan Hughes, and they married soon after. They divorced in 1994. Gracen married Adam Murphy, and they have a daughter.
Affair with Bill Clinton
Affair with Bill Clinton
According to Gracen, some time in 1983, she had a one-night stand with future President Bill Clinton when he was Governor of Arkansas. She was married at the time, as was he. In 1992, rumors swirled that Gracen had had an affair with Clinton. At first, Gracen dismissed this claim (as requested by Clinton's campaign manager Mickey Kantor); however, in spring 1998 Gracen recanted her six-year-old denial and stated she had a one-night stand with Clinton in 1983. Gracen stated that "What I did was wrong, and I feel very, very bad about it now. My behavior was inappropriate -- that's just the bottom line" and publicly apologized to Hillary Clinton. After her claim, Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who was investigating Clinton in the Paula Jones lawsuit, issued a subpoena to have her testify to her claim in court. However, Gracen eluded the subpoena and was at one point able to avoid it because Highlander: The Raven was being filmed outside of the US. Paula Jones's legal team was also unable to track down Gracen because she had made unscheduled trips to Las Vegas and the Caribbean.
Filmography
Filmography
• Three for the Road (1987) Nadine • Pass the Ammo (1988) Christie Lynn • The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1989) • Lisa (1989) Mary • The Death of the Incredible Hulk (1990) Jasmin • Marked for Death (1990) Melissa • The Flash (1990 TV Series) 1 episode - Celia Wayne • 83 Hours 'Til Dawn (1990) Maria Ranfield • Sundown: The Vampire in Retreat (1991) Alice • Lower Level (1992) Hillary • The Sands of Time (1992) • Final Mission (1993) Caitlin Cole • Time Trax episode 7 (1993) Sydney • Discretion Assured (1993) Miranda • Highlander: The Series (1992–1998) Amanda • Renegade: The Series (1992–1997) Rikki Yeager • Murder, She Wrote (1994) Michelle Scarlotti • The Expert (1995) Liz Pierce • Extreme (1995) Callie Manners • Kounterfeit (1996) Bridgette • Highlander: The Raven (1998–1999) Amanda • Queen of Swords "Counterfeit Queen" (2000) Carlotta • Charmed "Bite Me" (2002) Vampire Queen • Interceptor Force 2 (2002) Adriana Sikes • War of the Worlds: Goliath (2012) Lt. Jennifer Carter (voice) • Coherence (2013) Beth
Works and production
Works and production
The following works and productions are recorded by name or by count. Institutional cataloguing adds that elizabeth Gracen is recorded with the occupation actor. Institutional cataloguing adds that elizabeth Gracen is recorded with the occupation television actor. The register further records that elizabeth Gracen is recorded with the occupation model. Recorded with the occupation beauty pageant contestant. Recorded with the occupation film director. Recorded as a citizen of United States. The register further records that elizabeth Gracen is recorded with the gender female. Born on 3 April 1961. It is also recorded that elizabeth Gracen is recorded with a height of 178. It is also recorded that true grace, distinguished from the experience of devils in a sermon, preached before the Synod of New-York, convened at Newark in New-Jersey, on September 28, N.S. (Printed by desire of the Synod.) By Jonathan Edwards, A.M. Pastor of the Church of Christ in Stockbridge in New-England. [Five lines from II. Institutional cataloguing adds that a guide to prayer: or, A free and rational account of the gift, grace, and spirit of prayer with plain directions how every Christian may attain them. The same evidence establishes that a monody, sacred to the memory of Elizabeth, Dutchess of Northumberland.

Autograph session with Elizabeth Gracen at Japan Expo 2010 (Paris, France).
Georges Seguin (Okki)

Photograph taken during the 11th edition of Japan Expo in 2010 organised at the 'Parc de expositions of Villepinte near Paris in France.
Esby (talk) 19:42, 22 July 2010 (UTC)
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Elizabeth Gracen was born at Ozark.
Birthplace
Russellville
Residences
Ozark.
Birth place
Primary material
Documents and archives
reference work
- “Elizabeth Gracen”, English Wikipedia, consulted as further reading
Reputable secondary · Wikipedia
authority record
- Wikidata, structured authority record Q448579: Elizabeth Gracen
Unverified · Wikidata
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Elizabeth Ward Gracen (1961–). Encyclopedia of Arkansas.
- 2.Thomas DeBlack. "A Century Forward: The Centennial History of Arkansas Tech University." Walsworth Publishing Company. 2016.
- 3.[Unknown]. Playboy. May 1992.
- 4.Palma, Claudia. Lineage Performing Arts Center to screen documentary highlighting dancing with Parkinson's classes. The Pasadena Star-News. 13 August 2015.
- 5.Barnard, Linda. Coherence: Comet shakes things up in thriller: review. thestar.com. 18 September 2016.
- 6.Keegan, Simon. Highlander star and Miss America Elizabeth Gracen launches new career as children's book author. mirror.co.uk. 13 April 2016.
- 7.Brendan Hughes. IMDb.
- 8.Beauty queen apologises for tryst. Gainesville Sun. Associated Press. 8A. April 26, 1998.
- 9.Kennedy, Helen. She hitched her star to a wagon for the love of Bill, Hillary put her goals on hold and move to Ark. stick. New York Daily News. February 8, 2000.
- 10.Elizabeth Gracen: the Clinton reign of terror. January 14, 1999.
- 11.All the President's Women – Elizabeth Ward Gracen. Comedy on Tap.
- 12.CNN. Former Miss America Apologizes To First Lady - April 25, 1998.
- 13.Big Year for the Bad News Bearers. The Washington Post. December 24, 1998.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedauthority record
Unverified
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
This entry is compiled from 5 catalogued sources across 5 independent registers. The registers consulted are Wikipedia, Wikidata, Internet Archive, Crossref registry and Wellcome Collection. Every statement above is held against the register that stated it; where the registers are silent, the entry is silent.
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 15 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Film memorabilia
37,408 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Elizabeth D'OnofrioPerson
- Elizabeth FarnsworthPerson
- Elizabeth FranzPerson
- Elizabeth GilliesPerson
- Elizabeth GutiérrezPerson
- Elizabeth Hawkins-WhitshedPerson
- Elizabeth HenstridgePerson
- Elizabeth HoPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Elizabeth Gracen?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.