[2] Jackson began her career in the late 1960s in summer stock, before landing major television roles in Dark Shadows (1970–71), Bonanza (1972), and The Rookies (1972–1976).

The huge success of her role as Sabrina Duncan on Charlie's Angels saw her appear on the front cover of Time magazine, alongside co-stars Farrah Fawcett and Jaclyn Smith, while her role as Mrs. King won her Germany's Bravo Golden Otto Award for Best Female TV Star three times (1986–1988).

[5] Initially, Jackson worked as an NBC page and tour guide at the network's Rockefeller Center before landing a role as the mysterious, silent ghost Daphne Harridge on the 1960s supernatural daytime soap opera Dark Shadows.

In 1971, Jackson had a starring role as Tracy Collins in Night of Dark Shadows, the second feature film based on the daytime serial.

In 1975, Jackson met with Rookies producers Aaron Spelling and Leonard Goldberg to discuss her contractual obligation to star in another television series for Spelling/Goldberg Productions upon that show's cancellation.

[11] The huge success of the show saw Jackson, Smith and Farrah Fawcett-Majors (who played Jill Munroe) appear on the front cover of Time magazine.

Because Jackson was considered the star of Charlie's Angels following her experience and four years on The Rookies, her original role of Kelly Garrett was featured prominently in the pilot film.

Jackson starred alongside Harry Hamlin and her Rookies co-star Michael Ontkean in the feature film Making Love (1982), directed by Arthur Hiller.

[18] After undergoing breast cancer treatment,[18] Jackson followed up on Scarecrow and Mrs. King by taking on the main role in Baby Boom, a 1988 TV sitcom version of a 1987 film of the same name.

[22] In 2004, the television film Behind the Camera: The Unauthorized Story of Charlie's Angels aired, with actress Lauren Stamile portraying Jackson.

[24] In 2007, Jackson played the mother of FBI agent Emily Prentiss on Criminal Minds, her last acting role to date.

In August 2008, she was a guest judge on an episode of Jaclyn Smith's Bravo reality series Shear Genius, presiding over a hairdressing competition to update the original trio's signature hairdos.

[28] She was then linked romantically to producer Robert Evans, stuntman Gary Quist and actors Dirk Benedict, Nick Nolte and Warren Beatty.

She married New York businessman David Greenwald in 1982, and they formed 'Shoot The Moon Productions' together, the company that produced Jackson's series Scarecrow and Mrs.

While recovering from her second bout with breast cancer and on vacation in Aspen, Colorado, in 1989, Jackson met Tom Hart, the owner of a Utah ski lodge, and the pair married in 1991.