Bernadette Peters: Star of the Many Avenues of Show Business
by Vinod Suresh, 2002
Rarely is there an entertainer who has a career that spans thirty years. For an actor or actress to be popular and still relevant to current entertainment for so long is no small feat. Bernadette Peters is one actress who has continued to impress audiences and remain a presence of stage, film, and television for an entire five decades and counting. Starting her career long ago in the 1950s as a child, Peters has seen an immense amount of success and garnered fame in numerous avenues of entertainment. Even after decades of diligent work in acting and singing, she has remained to keep her youthful vigor, good looks, and talent. The versatile Bernadette Peters has established herself as an actress of profound skill and recognition, and her reputation can only become further tremendous from here on.
Bernadette Peters was born as Bernadette Lazzara in Queens, New York in February 28, 1948 to her parents Peter and Marguerite. She has two siblings, Joseph and Donna. When she was a child of only three and a half years, she appeared on the show Juvenile Jury. Her mother Marguerite was the one who secured her place on this show and launched her on the path to stardom. Following that Bernadette appeared on Name That Tune where she was one of the foremost child contestants on the program. She did impersonations of Sophie Tucker, a Vaudeville comedian, on the The Horn And Hardart Children's Hour. When she was five, Bernadette took tap-dancing lessons. At nine, she received an equity card for her own finances, and also changed her last name to Peters. Her mother felt this would help her receive more acting jobs without the bias towards Italians or being typecast; the name came from her father's first name. It is evident that Ms. Peters was about to launch on her own independent incursion into entertainment.
Bernadette Peters' theatrical debut came in the production of This is Goggle, starring James Daly and Kim Hunter, and directed by the famed Otto Preminger of film and theatre. But before major plays, Bernadette was lively in with school and friends in her teenage years. During school she acted in a few shows, including The Most Happy Fella in 1959, The Penny Friend in 1966, and The Girl in the Freudian Slip in 1967. A notable part of her early career was being part of the national touring company of the production Gypsy in 1961. But what was at first an ardent hobby became a professional career for the young thespian. Bernadette realized that musical theatre was the route she wanted to take in her life, and she wasted no time in grabbing the opportunities set before her.
When she was 19, Bernadette made her debut on Broadway in the musical Johnny No-Trump. The year was 1968, and she starred alongside Oscar winner Joel Grey, father of Jennifer Grey of Dirty Dancing fame. The performance garnered her a Theatre World Award for her role as Josie Cohan. Her off-Broadway performance of Dames at Sea the same year earned her first Drama Desk Award. Bernadette played the offbeat role of Ruby, the 1930s-style chorus girl protagonist. The play, a spoof of musicals from the Depression, was a tremendous hit, and transformed this budding actress into a highly wanted star in musical theatre. Although initially it seemed that Bernadette could be typecast as a dumb, squeaky-voiced blonde, she quickly proved the public and critics wrong in 1969, when she starred in the Joel Grey musical George M.
The following year Bernadette created the character Mabel Romand for the musical Mack and Mabel written by Jerry Herman, and subsequently received a Tony Award nomination for it. Although the production was a failure on Broadway financially, it has become a staple of community theatres, which love to impersonate her rendition. Bernadette Peters achieved her first Tony nomination in 1971 for her part as Brunehilde Esterhazy in the musical On The Town.
Her first appearance on the silver screen was in the movie Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies. Following that she had numerous supporting roles in movies such as The Longest Yard in 1974, and Vigilante Force and W.C. Fields And Me in 1976. That same year, Silent Movie, with the acclaimed Mel Brooks, acquired her a Golden Globe Nominee as a nonsense cabaret entertainer. In 1979 Bernadette appeared in the hilarious movie The Jerk with comedian Steve Martin, playing the dense-headed wife who had suffered many years from Martin's antics. Strangely enough, as it was quite a departure from the musical roles she had played most of her life, Bernadette starred as the female robot "AquaCon 89045" in the campy movie Heartbeats, about two household robots that decide to run away. Her cyborg love interest in the B-quality film was none other than Andy Kaufman from Taxi. Pennies From Heaven was another movie Bernadette did with Steve Martin, and this one actually won her the Golden Globe award for her stunning performance. Bernadette plays the innocent schoolteacher whom Martin seduces, and Pennies introduced her as a singer besides the stage, as she recorded her first record, the song "Now Playing." The movie Annie in 1982, inspired by the huge Broadway musical about a red-haired orphan, featured Bernadette in the role as "Lily St. Regis."
Bernadette returned to the stage in 1983. What a better return than to be in the play Sunday in the Park with George, in which Bernadette played the role of Dot in Stephen Sondheim's Pulitzer Prize winning musical. Bernadette was also the princess to Christopher Reeve's prince, as she was the lead in Sleeping Beauty, a Shelley Duval Faerie Tale Theatre movie. Two years later, in 1985, Bernadette received her first Tony award as "Best Leading Actress in a Musical" in Song and Dance, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in which she played a British girl looking for love. She was completely alone for the first act, a job of an intimidating nature, and her role as Emma also earned her a Drama Desk Award and Drama League Award. A former New York Times critic, Frank Rich, had this to say about her performance: "As an actress, singer, comedienne, and all-around warming presence, Bernadette Peters has no peer in the musical theatre right now" (www.bernadettepeters.com). Another musical, Into the Witch, saw Bernadette winning another Drama Desk Award 1987 for her breathtaking performance as "The Witch". The musical has characters from different fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella, intertwined to create a fairy tale about growing up. Not satisfied to stay in one area of show business for too long, Bernadette returned to movies with her role as "Lou-Ann" opposite Clint Eastwood in Pink Cadillac for 1989. Slaves of New York was the second movie she did that same year.
Bernadette Peters has also been a phenomenon on the small screen, making guest appearances or having major roles in numerous television shows. She entered the TV realm in the late 1970s when Bernadette was seen in several television shows, including The Circus of Stars in 1977, The Islander in 1978, and The Martian Chronicles in 1979. She played Tammy Faye Bakker, the televangelist adulteress with lavish make-up, in the movie Fall From Grace. She has been in quite a few performing arts specials such as PBS' Evening at Pops and The Kennedy Center Honors. Bernadette has been no stranger to variety shows, with her multi-faceted talent bringing her to The Carol Burnette Show and The Muppet Show, for which she picked up an Emmy.
PBS was once again an outlet for Bernadette's talents when she was in the highly commendable Great Masterpieces series; she performed in Sondheim: A Celebration of Carnegie Hall and was a diva with imminent nervous breakdown in Terrance McNally's The Last Mile. In the mid-90s, Bernadette provided her voice as "Rita the Cat" for the popular animated show The Animaniacs. She additionally has played several roles in TV-movies, including David, Fall from Grace with Oscar winner Kevin Spacey, and The Last Best Year with Mary Tyler Moore, whom she became good friends with.
In 1997 Bernadette played the wicked stepmother in a TV movie of Disney's classic with an interracial twist Cinderella. The cast was chock full of stars, including R&B singer Brandy as the lead, Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother, and performances by Jason Alexander of Seinfeld and Whoopi Goldberg. Other TV movies in which Bernadette has appeared in include Holiday In Your Heart with country singer Leann Rimes; What the Deaf Man Heard; and The Odyssey with actor. In addition, she has been featured in specials such as PBS's Hey Mr. Producer: The World of Cameron Mackintosh, and the ABC-TV special Quincy Jones: The First 50 Years.
The 1990s saw numerous more opportunities for Bernadette Peters to shine on the big screen as well as on the small screen. She had a role in the movie Impromptu, a period piece, as well as the Woodie Allen movie Alice. In the 1992 movie The Goodbye Girl, written by Marvin Hamlisch, Bernadette played alongside comic Martin Short, and was once again nominated for a Tony. Not long after this, Bernadette was the youngest thespian to be inducted into the "Theatre Hall of Fame." In 1996, she received the President's Award at the 11th Annual "Mr. Abbott" Awards Dinner. A busy life for an entertainer deserves a chance to settle down and enjoy life with a partner; this happened in Bernadette's personal life occurred when she married senior portfolio manager Michael Wittenberg at the Duchess County farm of Mary Tyler Moore on July 20th, 1996.
Also in 1996, the socially conscious Bernadette Peters made an appearance at Carnegie Hall to raise money for the Gay Men's Health Crisis. Bernadette has shown enthusiasm in raising money towards those with AIDS by working with organizations like Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and God's Love We Deliver. Her contribution to philanthropy is also exhibited each year in New York's Schubert Alley, when she works the project she started with Mary Tyler Moore called Broadway Barks, an annual, celebrity-filled dog adoption event that benefits animal shelters in the New York area. Bernadette's involvement in the community does not stop there. The Police Athletic League, an organization which heads 84 youth centers and 150 summer camps for New York's most underprivileged children, named her Woman of the Year for 1999. Bernadette was recently awarded the Special Advocate Award from the City of New York for her contributions to the gay and lesbian community.
In 2000 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, who produces the Grammy Awards, bestowed Ms. Peters with the annual New York Heroes Award. For her contribution to the arts through her theatre and music, The Actors Fund of America honored Bernadette with the 1999 Artistic Achievement Award, and her star can be seen on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Theatricals of Harvard University gave her the Woman of the Year Award for her "lasting and impressive contribution to the world of entertainment," an award that this year was given to Sarah Jessica Parker and Bruce Willis. In May of 2002, Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York, granted Bernadette an honorary doctorate degree.
Bernadette's most significant Broadway performance of the 1990s has to be her role as Annie Oakley in the Irving Berlin classic Annie Get Your Gun. The show features one of the most famous songs in all of musical theatre, "There's No Business Like Show Business." Songs like "Doin' What Comes Naturally" and "You Can't Get a Man with a Gun" make Bernadette look adorable in the western love story, and she appears born to play the part of Annie. Her beautiful singing voice and amazing stage presence won Bernadette her second Tony Award, third Drama Desk Award, and an Outer Critics Circle Award. Annie Get Your Gun went on to garner several Tony's that year.
Showing that Bernadette could reap achievements in various fields of entertainment, Bernadette has seen many Grammy nominations and awards in her career. The cast recording of Anne Get Your Gun won a Grammy because of her contributions. Bernadette was nominated for a Grammy for the live recording of the evening of the Gay Men's Health Crisis Concert called "Sondheim, Etc" on CD. Stephen Sondheim, the famed lyricist and composer who has been notable ever since his contribution to The West Side Story in 1957, has been the genius behind many of Bernadette's musicals and recordings. Bernadette performed a similar performance in the UK for Live at Festival Hall.
Bernadette is proud to be able to resonate her talents in singing to a public that may not be too familiar with her acting work. Her musical talents of Broadway have crossed over into popular music success, ever since she released her first solo albums "Bernadette Peters in 1980" and "Bernadette" in 1992. In 1996 she also released a second solo album called "I'll Be Your Baby Tonight," which received a Grammy nomination. The album features songs originally written by Stephen Sondheim and Rodgers and Hammerstein, as well as music idols Lyle Lovett, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Paul McCartney. This year she is garnering praise with her album "Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers and Hammerstein," with songs from musicals like The King and I and Carousel (the first record of Broadway Bernadette had ever heard) and much of the compositions arranged and conducted by Jonathan Tunick.
Most recently, Bernadette Peters made a guest appearance on the law comedy and drama Ally McBeal in March and April of 2001. After the talk show lost Kathy Lee Gifford, Bernadette has appeared on "Live! With Regis Philbin" many times as a co-host. In her usual fashion of garnering awards, she was given the Emmy for "Best Guest Actress in a Comedy" for the performances. In 1999, Bernadette made a foray into the world of independent films, when she starred in the movie Let It Snow, which premiered at the American Film Institute's Los Angeles International Film Festival. To add to the list of celebrated actors she has worked with, Bernadette has just finished filming a movie entitled A Few Good Years with Michael Douglas. In the film, Bernadette plays Douglas' wife, a psychologist and a mother of two sons. The drama touches upon the relations between family as well as the impending mortality of a patriarch. Bernadette was thrilled to work with three generations of the Douglases, including Kirk Douglass and Michael's son Cameron, who appear in the film. Bernadette also worked with a fellow Tony Award winner, Audra McDonald, in the movie, McDonald playing a patient of Bernadette's. The movie should be released sometime in December of 2002.
On June 19 of this year, Bernadette made her concert premiere at the Radio City Music Hall, backed by full orchestra. For her efforts in acting and music, Bernadette Peters was inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame on June 28. At the gala, she performed 3 songs from her "Rodgers and Hammerstein" album and was accompanied by the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, she is preparing for the revival of the Sondheim musical Gypsy, which is slated to begin production in January 2003. Bernadette plays Mama Rose in the show, a mother struggling to pay rent, and wanting to involve herself too much in her daughters, one of which becomes a burlesque stripper named Gypsy Lee Rose. The part has been played in the past by Ethel Merman and Angela Landsbury, and has brought most of its actresses a Tony Award. The first performance of Gypsy is set to premiere in New York on Broadway, and then relocate across the Atlantic to London.
Bernadette has practically seen and done it all in her lifetime of entertaining. This star of stage, big and small screen, and music has dazzled audiences the world over. Her mark on Broadway has been indelibly made, and she has become a legend in her own right. From productions such as Dames at Sea, Song and Dance, Sunday in the Park with George, and Annie Get Your Gun, Bernadette has earned a name as a trademark in theatre and musicals. Her performances in movies have been as broad as comedy, biography, and fairy tales. Her appearances on TV always delight viewers, and her philanthropy and community involvement is characteristic of her good nature. Furthermore, she has garnered just about every major award in entertainment, from Tony's and Drama Desk Awards, to Grammy's and an Emmy. Not one to ever settle down, she is starring in a major movie to be released as well as begin production in a revival of the Broadway show Gypsy in 2003.
Few actors ever dream of making it big in stage, screen, and record; even fewer can imagine being a phenomenon in all three of these fields. Yet Bernadette Peters has seen the achievements of numerous entertainers combined in over fifty years She continues to work relentlessly to amuse audiences for years to come, while still maintaining the beauty, stage presence, and beautiful singing voice she had when she entered into show business.
Works Cited
Katz, Judy. Bernadette's Biography. 13 Dec 2002. Official Website of Bernadette Peters. 5 Dec 2002. <http://www.bernadettepeters.com/biography.htm>.
Lux, Kevin. Bernadette Peters: Broadway's Best. 5 Dec. 2002. 12 Dec 2002. <http://www.bernadette-peters.com>.
Reynolds, Maggi. Biography. 2 Dec 2002. Bernadette Peters: Doin' What Comes Naturally. 5 Dec 2002. <http://members.tripod.com/~BernadettePeters/index.html>.