Adrienne Jo Barbeau (born
June 11, 1945) is an American
television, film, character and musical theatre actress, as well as the
author of two books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s
as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical
Grease,
Bea
Arthur's divorced daughter Carol Traynor in the
sitcom Maude, and in several early 1980s
horror and science fiction films. A
sex
symbol during that era, her more notable film work includes
The Fog,
Creepshow,
Swamp Thing and
Escape from New York. During the
1990s, Barbeau became known for providing the voice of
Catwoman on
Batman: The Animated Series
and subsequent
Batman cartoon series. More
recently, she has starred in the
HBO series
Carnivàle.
Biography
Early life
Barbeau
was born in Sacramento, California
, the daughter of Armen (née Nalbandian) and Joseph
Barbeau, who was a public relations executive for Mobil Oil. Barbeau's father was
French-Canadian and her mother
Armenian-American.
She attended Del Mar High
School
in San Jose, California
. In her autobiography, Barbeau says that she
first caught the show business bug while entertaining troops at
army bases throughout Southeast Asia, touring with the San Jose
Civic Light Opera. She has a sister Jocelyn and a half brother on
her father's side, Robert Barbeau, who still resides in the
Sacramento area.
Career
In the
late 1960s Barbeau moved to New York City
and worked, "for the mob," as a go-go dancer, as well as appeared Off-Broadway in a, "nudie musical," called,
Stag Movie, before making her Broadway
debut in
Fiddler on the Roof,
playing Tevye's daughter, Hodel, alongside Bette Midler. Adrienne has since starred
in over 25 musicals and plays, among them,
Women Behind
Bars,
The
Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and of course,
Grease, as tough-girl
"Rizzo", for which she received a Theater Guild Award and a 1972
Tony Award nomination.
During the 1970s Barbeau starred as the daughter of Bea Arthur's
title character in the comedy series
Maude which ran from 1972 to 1978. In
her autobiography
There Are Worse Things I Could Do she
remarked: "What I didn't know is that when I said [my lines] I was
usually walking down a flight of stairs and no one was even
listening to me. They were just watching my breasts precede me."
During the last 2 seasons of
Maude, she did not appear in
the majority of the episodes, after her name became a celebrity
status. In a 2009
Entertainment Tonight TV
interview, Barbeau mentioned that she had an on- and off-camera
chemistry with Arthur. She also told
Entertainment
Tonight, the two stayed close until Arthur's death on April
25, 2009. Barbeau and Arthur reunited on camera during a 2008
taping of
The View, reminiscing
about their long-running friendship and their years as costars on
Maude.
Barbeau was cast in numerous television films and shows such as
The Love Boat,
Fantasy Island,
Valentine Magic on
Love Island, and
Battle of the Network
Stars. In her autobiography she claimed: "I actually
thought
CBS asked me to be on
Battle of the
Network Stars because they thought I was athletic. My husband
clued me in: who cared if I won the race, as long as I bounced when
I ran?"
The popularity of Barbeau's 1978
cheesecake poster confirmed her status as a
sex symbol. Barbeau's popularity stemmed
partly from what critic
Joe Bob
Briggs referred to as the "two enormous talents on that woman,"
and her typecasting as a "tough broad". Barbeau refused offers to
appear
topless in
Playboy, although shots from an
early nude shoot (in which she appeared topless) appeared in
High Society in July 1980. In one
Off-Broadway play (early in her career), and in
several movies, she has appeared topless as well.
Despite her initial
success, she said at the time that she thought of Hollywood
as a "flesh market", and that she would rather
appear in films that "explore the human condition" and "deal with
issues".
Barbeau was cast by her then-husband, director
John Carpenter, in his 1980 horror film,
The Fog, which was her first
theatrical film appearance.
The film was released in on February 1, 1980
and was a theatrical success, grossing over $21 million in the
United
States alone, and establishing Barbeau as a genre film
star. She subsequently appeared in a number of early-1980s
horror and science fiction films, a number of which have now become
cult film classics, including
Escape from New York (also from
Carpenter),
Creepshow and
Swamp Thing.
She also appeared in the high grossing
Burt Reynolds comedy
The Cannonball Run in 1981 and as
the shrewish wife of
Rodney
Dangerfield in
Back to
School (1986). Barbeau also starred along with talk show
host
Bill Maher and
Shannon Tweed in
Cannibal Women in
the Avocado Jungle of Death.
Recent career
Barbeau continues to explore new fields ranging from a one-woman
Off-Broadway show and hosting a talk show to releasing an album of
folk songs.
In the 1990s, Barbeau mostly appeared in made-for-television films
such as
Scott Turow's
The Burden of Proof in 1992,
as well as playing Oswald's mother on
The Drew Carey Show and gaining
new-found fame among animation fans as
Catwoman on
Batman: The Animated Series
and
Gotham Girls.
She also
worked as a television talk show host and a weekly book reviewer
for KABC talk radio
in Los
Angeles
. In 1999, she guest starred in the
Star Trek: Deep Space
Nine episode "
Inter
Arma Enim Silent Leges" as
Romulan
Senator Kimara Cretak.
In 1998, Barbeau released her debut album as a folk singer, the
self-titled
Adrienne
Barbeau. She starred in the cartoon series
Totally Spies! doing the voice of
villainess Helga Von Guggen in seasons 1, 2 and 4.
From 2003 to 2005, she starred on the
HBO series
Carnivàle. From March to May
2006, she starred as
Judy Garland in
the off-Broadway play
The Property Known as Garland.
Barbeau played a cameo role in
Rob
Zombie's
Halloween, a "reimagining" of the 1978
film of the same name, written
and directed by her first husband, John Carpenter. Her scene was
cut from the theatrical version of the film but is included in the
DVD version.
Barbeau's autobiography
There Are Worse Things I Could Do
was published in 2006 by Carroll & Graf, rising to #11 on the
Los Angeles Times
best-sellers list. In July 2008, her first novel,
Vampyres of
Hollywood, was published by
St.
Martin's Press. The novel was co-written by Michael Scott. The
sequel hits bookstores in 2010.
In 2009, Barbeau was cast as "The Cat Lady" in the family comedy
The Dog Who Saved Christmas, as Scooter's Mom in the 3D
animated feature
Fly Me to the Moon and as a hospice
patient in the love-story
Rescue Me.
Also in 2009, Barbeau has guest-spots in the first episode of
Showtime's hit series
Dexter (season 4), as well as on
Grey's Anatomy.
Personal life
Barbeau was married to director
John
Carpenter from January 1, 1979 to 1984. The two met on the set
of his 1978 TV movie,
Someone's Watching Me! The couple
had a son, John Cody (born May 7, 1984) shortly before they
separated. During their marriage, the couple remained "totally
outside Hollywood's social circles."
Barbeau married actor/playwright/producer
Billy Van Zandt on December 31, 1992. The
two met in 1991 when Barbeau was cast in the west coast premiere of
his play,
Drop Dead! Billy is
the brother of musician/actor
Steven
Van Zandt. She gave birth to twin boys, Walker Steven and
William Dalton Van Zandt, on March 17, 1997, at age 51, claiming
she was the only one on the
maternity
ward who was also a member of
AARP.
Selected filmography
Television
Film
Popular culture references
Captain Murphy, a character from the animated television series
Sealab 2021, has an obsession
with Barbeau and mentions her in several episodes. In the episode
"I Robot" he ponders becoming an "Adrienne Barbeaubot" with laser
beam eyes and "D-Cups Full of Justice." In the episode "I Robot
Really" Captain Murphy succeeds in having his brain placed inside a
robot body which he calls The Barbeau-bot. The Barbeau-bot not only
has "D-Cups of Justice" but also chainsaw hands with laser
targeting. Barbeau was mentioned in Adult Swim cartoons by the same
people as far back as Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode 32.
Also, an episode of
Sabrina
the Teenage Witch is focused on Miles' obsession with Adrienne
Barbeau. He buys a cardboard cut-out of her, and she guest stars at
the end of the episode. Upon meeting her,
Sabrina compliments Barbeau for her
performance as Senator Cretak in the aforementioned
Star
Trek episode.
In the
Mystery Science
Theater 3000 episode featuring the movie "
The Thing That Couldn't Die"
Mike Nelson (portrayed by comedian Mike
Nelson playing a man who is trapped on an orbiting satellite and
forced to watch B-Grade movies) is being sent people he's thinking
of by a race of omnipotent beings in one of the "host segments."
The person appears and begins to beat up Mike in a manner similar
to Finnegan in the classic "
Star Trek"
episode "
Shore Leave". Mike thinks of
Adrienne Barbeau at the insistence of one of his robot companions.
Adrienne is played by Mike Nelson's real-life wife Bridget Jones
Nelson.
References
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