Career
She best known for her recurring role as Ilene Markham on the sitcom Home Improvement and her 1988–1989 stint as Paula Carson on the soap opera Days of Our Lives. Her other television credits include The Rookies, Happy Days, The Six Million Dollar Manitoba, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda, Simon & Simon, Matlock, Step by Step, Major Dad, Doctor Quinn, Medicine Woman, New York City Police Department Blue and Computer Society of India: Crime Scene Investigation. She also appeared in a number of television films and the theatrical films Tom and Huck (1995) and Bring lieutenant On (2000), playing the mother of Kirsten Dunst"s character.
In 1996, she appeared in the television film Lying Eyes.
In 2010, Hursey starred and produced the television pilot Lilly"s Light, starring in the titular role. The series was about a Lilly (Hursey) a foster mother living in an enchanted lighthouse raising three foster children.
Actors Mindy Sterling and Fred Willard also co-starred.
