Annie Potts of “Young Sheldon” on Her Hot “Summer” with Mark Hamill

It’s hard to believe Annie Potts celebrates her 40th anniversary in showbiz this year. The ever-youthful actress has a plumb new role in CBS’ The Big Bang Theory spin-off Young Sheldon, playing “Meemaw” (grandma) to the title character.  It’s also hard to believe she’s playing a grandmother!  Potts (pictured at top with cast members and producers from Young Sheldon during its panel at the Summer 2017 Television Critics Association tour) may be best known to TV audiences as Mary Jo Shively on the groundbreaking CBS comedy Designing Women(1986-93), but in 1978 she made her feature film debut in the romantic comedy Corvette Summer where she found herself playing leading lady to none other than Mark Hamill.  Fresh from filming his intergalactic Star Wars adventures, Hamill had signed on to do the comedy before Star Wars’theatrical release, which made him at the time one of the best-known movie stars on the planet.  “Wow!” Potts proclaimed during our recent conversation.  “We shot [that movie] 40 years ago this year and that’s nuts! I don’t know where the time went.”