Bernadette Peters BIOGRAPHY
1948 FEBRUARY 28
Mini Bio (1)
Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and eight Drama Desk Awards, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards. Recently, she has been starring on Broadway as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the hit musical, Hello, Dolly!
Bernadette was born Bernadette Lazzara on February 28, 1948 in Queens, New York City, to Marguerite (Maltese) and Peter Lazzara, a bread delivery truck driver. She is of Sicilian descent.
Bernadette first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenage actor in the 1960s, and in film and television in the 1970s. She was praised for this early work and for appearances on The Muppet Show (1976), The Carol Burnett Show (1991) and in other television work, and for her roles in films like Silent Movie (1976), The Jerk (1979), Pennies from Heaven (1981) and Annie (1982). In the 1980s, she returned to the theatre, where she became one of the best-known Broadway stars over the next three decades. She also has recorded six solo albums and several singles, as well as many cast albums, and performs regularly in her own solo concert act. Peters is particularly noted for her starring roles in stage musicals, including "Song and Dance", "Sunday in the Park with George", "Into the Woods", "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Gypsy", becoming closely associated with composer Stephen Sondheim.
Peters continues to act in films and on television, where she has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, winning once. Her career boasts an impressive list of television credits, which includes Amazon Prime's highly popular, Mozart in the Jungle, which won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best TV Comedy or Musical series. She also co-stars in the new CBS All Access series, The Good Fight, a spin-off of the network's popular series, The Good Wife. One of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers, Peters has won numerous accolades including being the recipient of three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, three Grammy nominations, three Emmy nominations and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Peters' albums include the Grammy nominated I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Sondheim, Etc.: Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall, and Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein, in addition to numerous Grammy Award winning Broadway Cast recordings. Peters devotes her time and talents to numerous events that benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Her "pet project" Broadway Barks, co-founded with Mary Tyler Moore, is an annual, star-studded dog and cat adoption event that benefits shelter animals throughout the New York City area. She is a New York Times bestselling author who has penned three children's books, Broadway Barks, Stella Is a Star and Stella and Charlie: Friends Forever. All of her proceeds from the sale of these books benefit Broadway Barks.
She had a four-year romantic relationship with comedian Steve Martin and was married to investment adviser Michael Wittenberg for over nine years until he was killed in a helicopter crash on September 26, 2005. Peters is known for her charitable work, including as a founder of the Broadway Barks animal charity. Peters resides in New York with her rescue dogs, Charlie and Rosalia.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Anonymous and Amazon Video X-Ray
Family (2)
Trade Mark (3)
Voluptuous bombshell figure
Red hair and brown eyes
Lisp, breathless voice
Trivia (25)
Created the roles of Dot in "Sunday in the Park with George", Mabel Normand in "Mack and Mabel" and The Witch in "Into the Woods" in the original Broadway productions.
Has won two "Best Leading Actress in a Musical" Tony Awards for "Song and Dance" and "Annie Get Your Gun".
Has two siblings: Joseph Lazarra and Donna DeSeta.
Awarded the President's Award at the 11th Annual 'Mr. Abbott' Awards Dinner.
Is the youngest performer to be inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.
Is a member of the MTC Board of Directors.
Inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2002.
Daughter of Margaret (Maltese) and Peter Lazzara, who drove a bread truck.
Is of Italian/Sicilian ancestry, and changed her last name to Peters (after her father's first name) because at the time, non-Anglo stage names were discouraged.
Has won two Tony Awards as Best Actress (Musical): In 1986 for "Song and Dance" and in 1999 for a revival of "Annie Get Your Gun". In addition, she has received five other Tony nominations: one as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) in 1972 for a revival of "On the Town"; and four other Best Actress (Musical) nominations: in 1975 for "Mack and Mabel"; in 1984 for "Sunday in the Park with George", a performance she recreated in the television version with the same title, American Playhouse: Sunday in the Park with George (1986); in 1993 for "The Goodbye Girl"; and in 2003 for a revival of "Gypsy".
Is the youngest of three children of Peter and Marguerite Lazarra.
Her husband, Michael Wittenberg died in a helicopter crash in Montenegro, Europe on September 26, 2005. An investment advisor, he was reportedly on a business trip.
Was on Broadway in the revival of "Gypsy" in 2003-2004. She performed in the show for a year and did over 500 performances. Peters was offered a national tour of the show, but bowed out saying, "I love this show and the role of Rose, but after playing her for a year she has worn me totally out!" The role of Mama Rose is considered one of the greatest and most difficult roles for a musical theater actress.
On The 57th Annual Tony Awards (2003), she performed the climactic song "Rose's Turn" from "Gypsy", in which she was nominated that year for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. However, she had been suffering from a severe respiratory infection and had missed several performances of the show. Originally, the producers did not want her to perform live at the Tony Awards for fear of her damaging her vocal chords. She refused to cancel and insisted on performing live. She got through the song and received a 2-minute standing ovation, one of the longest in Tony history.
She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theater at 6706 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 23, 1987.
Although she has many Tony nominations and two wins, she is the only actress to not win a Tony Award for a revival of the musical, "Gypsy". Angela Lansbury, Tyne Daly and Patti LuPone all received Tony Awards as best actress in a musical for their performances in "Gypsy" revivals, but neither Peters nor the role's originator, Ethel Merman, ever received the award.
Received the Drama League Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre in May 2013 in recognition of her contribution to the musical theatre.
Is an animal rights activist.
Is one of 20 actresses who did not receive an Oscar nomination for their Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Golden Globe-winning performance; hers being for Pennies from Heaven (1981). The others, in chronological order, are: June Allyson for Too Young to Kiss (1951), Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam (1953), Jean Simmons for Guys and Dolls (1955), Taina Elg and Kay Kendall for Les Girls (1957), Marilyn Monroe for Some Like It Hot (1959), Rosalind Russell for A Majority of One (1961) and Gypsy (1962), Patty Duke for Me, Natalie (1969), Twiggy for The Boy Friend (1971), Raquel Welch for The Three Musketeers (1973), Barbra Streisand for A Star Is Born (1976), Kathleen Turner for Romancing the Stone (1984) and Prizzi's Honor (1985), Miranda Richardson for Enchanted April (1991), Jamie Lee Curtis for True Lies (1994), Nicole Kidman for To Die For (1995), Madonna for Evita (1996), Renée Zellweger for Nurse Betty (2000), Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), and Amy Adams for Big Eyes (2014).
Personal Quotes (27)
You gotta be original, because if you're like someone else, what do they need you for?
I don't smoke, I don't drink much, I don't eat red meat. I stay out of the sun.
Getting plenty of sleep is always great. It really is. I have a girlfriend who's sending me a slant board.
You'd look out and there'd be little babies watching the show, and boys and girls. They loved the cowboys, and they loved Annie. There were young people seeing the show for the first time. I stayed for two years because I enjoyed it so much.
"No One Is Alone" by Stephen Sondheim is all about thinking for yourself and being your own person.
I love pasta with the homemade marinara sauce I had as a kid.
The challenge of film is making it right there at that moment, and then you get to move on.
I'd like to one day play Amanda, the mother, in "The Glass Menagerie".
I love "Some Enchanted Evening", and "If I Loved You". And as I sing them more and more, I find new favorites.
I know Mama Rose is a great role and I love having a chance to do it.
I feel strongly for gay marriage to be accepted.
When there's a terrible illness like AIDS sweeping through, you help people.
When something isn't done, you want to do something about it.
We've been listening to Wagner, which is so great.
The first Broadway show I ever heard was the recording of "Carousel", and it was a very vivid experience.
The first big lead that I had on Broadway was in a show called "La Strada".
Animals speak with pure affection. It's important to me to get something going in New York so we can get to be a no-kill city, and give the animals homes and more attention and love.
Working on behalf of companion animals is so important. We start to realize how healing they are.
In my career, there have been three things that were challenging: playing gay; playing a Jewish woman; and playing Chekhov. The scariest part was playing Chekhov!
I lost a very dear friend who lived with AIDS for about 17 years. Rejecting early treatments that were iffy, he thought he saved himself. I really miss him a lot.
George M. is where I met my dear friend Joel Grey. We connected at rehearsal one day during a five-minute break. We were both looking out the same window and we knew in five minutes that we'd made a connection.
Stephen Sondheim told me that Oscar Hammerstein believed everything that he wrote. So there's great truth in the songs, and that's what was so wonderful to find.
Sondheim writes the music and lyrics, and because he's so smart and goes so deep with his feelings, there's a lot to explore, get involved with and learn about.
It was one of the most exciting, perfect evenings of my life, my solo debut at Carnegie Hall. And knowing we were all there to raise money for Gay Men's Health Crisis made the evening an extraordinary experience.
"It Might as Well Be Spring"... I used to sing that as a young girl in my voice lessons. Then I picked it up again and it spoke to me in a whole new way.
"Into the Woods" was... a lot of running around in the woods! I can't wait to see the show again. People didn't realize it back then, but kids still come up to me-young people-and they talk about it. It really made its mark.
[her condition for 'Sunday in the Park With George'] I don't do nude.
No comments:
Post a Comment