Bernadette Peters

Native New Yorker Bernadette Peters has been a star of stage and screen since her breakthrough role of Ruby in the 1968 Off-Broadway hit "Dames at Sea". She began her career as a child performer appearing on such TV shows as "Juvenile Jury" and "The Horn and Hardart's Children's Hour". Peters made her stage debut at age 10 in a revival of "The Most Happy Fella" and three years later toured as one of the Hollywood Blondes in "Gypsy". After completing high school, she concentrated fully on her career, landing a series of roles in several Broadway and Off-Broadway shows (e.g., "Curly McDimple" 1967). The petite voluptuous singer-actress first gained a measure of attention as Josie Cohan in the short-lived musical "George M!" before finally attaining stardom with "Dames". Since the late 60s, Peters has lent her unique and considerable talents to a variety of roles. She earned her first Tony nomination in the supporting category for her turn in the 1971 revival of "On the Town". Her performance as silent screen comedienne Mabel Normand opposite Robert Preston as Mack Sennett in Jerry Herman's flawed but fascinating "Mack and Mabel" (1974) brought her a second nomination, this time as Best Actress. In 1984, she appeared in the first of two Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musicals, the experimental "Sunday in the Park With George". Playing a dual role as a the lover of artist Georges Seurat (played by Mandy Patinkin) and her elderly descendent, Peters proved incandescent. Three years later, she portrayed the Witch in "Into the Woods". (Both performances were captured in television versions that aired in 1986 and 1991, respectively.) Sandwiched in-between, Peters won a Tony and a host of other accolades for her portrayal of an English girl adrift in America in Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Song and Dance" (1985). Onstage alone for the first act, she delivered a tour-de-force, singing nearly 20 numbers that depict various stories and aspects of the character's life. Peters returned to Broadway in the ill-fated stage version of Neil Simon's "The Goodbye Girl" (1994) and garnered her second Tony as Annie Oakley in the 1999 Broadway revival of "Annie Get Your Gun".

Peters has also proved a capable performer on both the large and small screens, generally in comedies. She played off her sexy image as the warden's secretary who falls prey to Burt Reynolds' wiles in "The Longest Yard" (1974). Mel Brooks tapped her as his leading lady in "Silent Movie" (1976) and she performed the same duties for Steve Martin in "The Jerk" (1979). Peters gave what is perhaps her best feature performance as the frustrated schoolteacher in love with a traveling salesman (Steve Martin) in Herbert Ross' stylish and underrated "Pennies From Heaven" (1981). She seemed miscast as the hat designer in the Merchant-Ivory production "Slaves of New York" but fared better opposite Clint Eastwood in "Pink Cadillac" (both 1989). Peters was fine as the imperious mistress of Franz Liszt in James Lapine's "Impromptu" (1990) and voiced the character of Sophie in the animated hit "Anastasia" (1997). She offered a terrific performance as the eccentric matriarch of a Jewish family in the independent feature "Let It Snow" (2001; premiered at Sundance in 1999 as "Snow Days").

For much of her career, Peters has been a staple guest on variety programming like "The Carol Burnett Show" and award shows, picking up a 1978 Emmy nod for a guest appearance on "The Muppet Show" (syndicated). She has also continued a flourishing concert and recording career. Peters, however, has demonstrated her dramatic capabilities on the small screen. Her breakthrough came as the mother of a kidnapped child in the based-on-fact "David" (ABC, 1988), and she won critical kudos for her turn as televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (opposite Kevin Spacey as her husband) in the biopic "Fall From Grace" (NBC, 1990) and as a patient dying from cancer befriended by her psychologist (Mary Tyler Moore) in "The Last Best Year" (ABC, 1990). From 1992 to 1999, she lent her distinctively breathy vocal talents to the character of Rita the Cat in the animated children's series "Steven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs". Additionally, Peters was Circe in the NBC miniseries "The Odyssey" (1997), the stepmother in "Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella" (ABC, 1997) and a country and western singer in "Holiday in Your Heart" (ABC, 1997). For her 2001 recurring role as a woman seeking a divorce after her husband paid someone to seduce her on Fox's "Ally McBeal" Peters earned her second Emmy nomination.

• Also Credited As:
  Bernadette Lazzara, Bernandette Peters
• Born:
  February 28, 1948 in Ozone Park, New York, USA
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Singer, Voice actor

Family

• Brother: Joseph Lazzara.
• Father: Peter Lazzara. owned bread business
• Mother: Marguerite Lazzara.
• Sister: Donna Lazzara.

Significant Others

• Husband: Michael Wittenberg. born c. 1961; married on July 20, 1996 at the upstate New York home of Mary Tyler Moore; died September 26, 2005 at the age of 43, in a helicopter crash in Montenegro
• Husband: Michael Wittenberg. married on July 20, 1996 at the upstate New York home of Mary Tyler Moore; born c. 1961
• Companion: Steve Martin. met during the filming of The Jerk (1979); together from 1979 until 1982

Milestones

• 1953 At age five, appeared on Juvenile Jury and The Horn & Hardart Children s Hour
• 1958 New York stage debut in The Most Happy Fella
• 1965 Moved to NYC at age 17 to pursue a stage career
• 1967 Broadway debut, understudied leading role in The Girl in the Freudian Slip
• 1967 Made actual Broadway performing debut in Johnny No-Trump
• 1968 Part in the pre-Broadway tour of A Mother s Kisses was written out
• 1968 Played featured role of Josie Cohan in short-lived musical George M! , starring Joel Grey
• 1969 First starring role on Broadway in La Strada ; musical closed on opening night
• 1970 Appeared in the out of town tryout of W.C. , a musical biography of W C Fields
• 1970 Recreated her stage role of Josie Cohan in the NBC telecast of George M!
• 1971 Co-starred in the revival of On the Town ; garnered first Tony nomination
• 1972 Supported Carol Burnett in the CBS telecast of the musical Once Upon a Mattress
• 1973 Film acting debut in Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies
• 1974 Co-starred as silent screen actress Mabel Normand opposite Robert Preston as Mack Sennett in the Jerry Herman musical Mack and Mabel
• 1976 Appeared in the film biography W C and Me
• 1978 Netted first Emmy nomination for an appearance on the syndicated The Muppet Show
• 1979 First screen collaboration with Steve Martin, The Jerk
• 1980 Played featured role in the NBC miniseries The Martian Chronicles
• 1981 Had one of her best screen roles as the schoolteacher girlfriend of Steve Martin in Herbert Ross Pennies from Heaven
• 1982 Had rare non-musical stage role in Off-Broadway play Sally and Marsha
• 1982 Played the role of Lily in John Huston s film version of Annie
• 1986 Recreated stage role of Dot in TV version of Sunday in the Park with George (Showtime)
• 1988 Made dramatic acting debut in the ABC TV-movie David , playing the mother of a boy set afire by his father
• 1989 Had lead in the Merchant-Ivory production Slaves of New York
• 1989 Was leading lady to Clint Eastwood in Pink Cadillac
• 1990 Portrayed televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker (opposite Kevin Spacey) in the NBC biopic Fall From Grace
• 1991 Played supporting role in the feature Impromptu , directed by James Lapine
• 1991 Recreated stage role of the Witch in PBS TV version of Into the Woods
• 1993 Provided voice of Rita the cat on Steven Spielberg Presents the Animaniacs
• 1993 Starred in ill-fated musical version of The Goodbye Girl ; played opposite Martin Short
• 1996 Solo concert debut at Carnegie Hall (December); concert was recorded
• 1997 Played the Wicked Stepmother in ABC remake of Rodgers and Hammerstein s Cinderella
• 1997 Voiced character of Sophie in the animated feature Anastasia
• 1998 Made Australian concert debut
• 1999 Appeared as an overprotective Jewish mother in the independent feature Let It Snow (formerly Snow Days ); premiered at Sundance; released theatrically in 2001
• 1999 Headlined a revival of Irving Berlin s Annie Get Your Gun ; won second Tony award
• 1999 Starred in the PBS special Bernadette Peters in Concert , videotaped in London
• 2001 Had recurring role on Fox s Ally McBeal ; received Emmy nomination
• 2002 Co-starred in the TNT production Prince Charming
• 2003 Portrayed Michael Douglas wife in the film It Runs in the Family, co-starring Kirk Douglas
• 2003 Undertook role of Mama Rose in Broadway revival of Gypsy , staged by Sam Mendes
• 2006 Guest-starred as Karen s sister on NBC s Will & Grace
• Appeared in the Off-Broadway shows The Penny Friend (1966) and Curly McDimple (1967)
• Had star-making role in Off-Broadway production of Dames at Sea
• Had starring role as Charlotte Drake on TV sitcom All s Fair (CBS)
• Occasionally filled in as guest co-host on Live With Regis
• Reteamed with Sondheim and Lapine for the stage musical Into the Woods , based on fairy tales; Peters portrayed the Witch
• Starred opposite Rachel Ward, playing a lesbian couple who adopt a child in Bobbie s Girl (lensed 2001); set to air on Showtime
• Starred with Mandy Patinkin in the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical Sunday in the Park with George
• Toured in Gypsy ; understudied the role of Dainty June; played a Hollywood Blonde in production numbers; first professional collaboration with Stephen Sondheim
• Won Tony Award for role of Emma in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Song and Dance ; Peters appeared alone onstage in the first act