She also took major acting roles in a handful of made-for-TV movies. She starred with Bottoms in the Christmas TV movie "The Gift of Love," based on storyteller O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi."

She played the role of her own mother in a TV movie about the Osmond family. She starred in another TV movie, "I Married Wyatt Earp." And she co-starred in a big-screen movie with Donny, "Goin' Cocoanuts."

About the same time, she turned down the lead role in "Grease" because the character — played by Olivia Newton John instead — turns "bad" to win over the boy at the end of the movie.

And she became a stage actress, on and off Broadway, playing the part of Anna in "The King and I" and Maria in "The Sound of Music."

And Osmond's career continued to morph — extending beyond the entertainment world.

She started her own line of "Marie Osmond Fine Porcelain Collector Dolls," a carryover from her lifelong hobby of collecting dolls from around the world during her travels. (She has 700 in her personal collection.) There are hundreds of models for sale, including a limited-edition model she says will be available only at the Christmas-tour venues.

She has written two books — one about her battles with postpartum depression and the other about beauty and health. She made a video of exercises for pregnant women. She co-founded the Children's Miracle Network charity, which has raised millions of dollars for sick and injured children. She hosted a short-lived radio talk show — "Marie and Friends" — from a studio within walking distance of her Provo home.

She also started her own line of embroidery machines, sewing machines and embroidery designs.

She has her own line of clothing patterns.

And, of course, she is mother and wife in a large family.

Osmond and Blosil are raising eight children, six of whom still live at home. They adopted five of the children (if you ask her how many were adopted, she will say she can't remember, her point being that she makes no such distinctions).

All of this in half of a lifetime?

"It's nuts, isn't it?" she says. "I love to be busy."

After learning to sing on stage — "It's a new way of singing," she says — she told her manager that she wanted to learn opera "whether I ever do it or not." She is going to take college courses, beginning next month, "to continue learning." One of them will be a course in geometry because "it's good for your brain and to help with kids' homework."

She shares domestic duties with Blosil, her husband of 20 years, and with a nanny. After alternating between homes in Provo and California for years, they now live year round in Provo.