Kate Mulgrew, who plays the mother of the lead nurse (Taylor Schilling) in NBC's new "Mercy" medical show, wants us to know that at age 54, "I think I'm at the happiest period of my life. My perspective has shifted and I'm letting go of a lot of things. I've had profoundly intimate friendships, have loved and been loved. What is past is past. I buried my parents and if one can weather that...."

Her two grown sons, she says, "are up and well and healthy. I never taught them to view happiness as the ultimate goal. The only thing one can be sure of is love and passion."

Mulgrew, who's been married to Tim Hagen for a decade, spent years by her mother's side (while her mother fought a lengthy battle with Alzheimer's), and today serves on the National Advisory Committee of the Alzheimer's Association.

She says, "When my mother died a couple of years ago, my genesis happened. For too many years, I was the apple of her eye, and my every moment was to please her. With her death came a release from that approval. I led a life of real discipline. Now, I want my life to be other things besides acting.

"I'm leading a band of scientists in Minnesota who are well on their way to find a cure for Alzheimer's. I also teach acting at Fordham -- with the goal of instilling the same passion in the field Stella Adler instilled in me."