Adrienne Barbeau Adrienne Jo Barbeau (born June 11, 1945) is an American television, film, and musical theater actress. She came to prominence through her roles in the sitcom Maude and in several early 1980s horror and science fiction films. Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Recent career 1.4 Personal life 2 Selected filmography 3 References 3.1 Footnotes 3.2 Interviews 3.3 Web sites Biography Early life Barbeau was born in Sacramento, California to a French-Canadian father and an Armenian-American mother; she has a sister, Jocelyn Jo.[1] During her late teenage years, Barbeau attended Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, sang with the San Jose Civic Light Opera, and performed for soldiers on army bases in Southeast Asia. Career In the late 1960s, Barbeau moved to New York City and worked as a go-go dancer, as well as appeared in a "nudie musical" play called Stag Movie, before making her Broadway debut in Fiddler on the Roof, playing Tevye's daughter, Hodel. She has since starred in over 25 musicals and plays, among them Pump Boys & Dinettes, Women Behind Bars, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, and Grease, as tough-girl Rizzo, for which she received a Theater Guild award and a 1972 Tony Award nomination. During the 1970s, Barbeau had a thriving career on television, first appearing as the daughter of Bea Arthur's character on the series, Maude, which ran from 1972 to 1978. In her autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do she remarks "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". She was subsequently cast in numerous made-for-television films and guest appearances, including The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Battle of the Network Stars. In her autobiography she claims, "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, which rivaled the popularity of Farrah Fawcett's iconic poster, confirmed her status as a sex symbol. While critical reviews of her acting ability were mixed[1], most viewers could appreciate critic Joe Bob Briggs' assessment of the "two enormous talents on that woman".[2] Barbeau refused offers to appear topless in Playboy, although she has appeared nude in High Society (July 1980), in Off Broadway plays and in films. 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".[3] The cover of Barbeau's autobiography, which was also the picture on her 1978 poster Barbeau was then cast by her then-husband, director John Carpenter, in one of the lead roles of 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,[4] 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 classics, including Creepshow and Swamp Thing. She also appeared in the high-grossing comedy, The Cannonball Run (1981). Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, Barbeau mostly starred in low-budget, direct-to-video films, like the spoof Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death co-starring Bill Maher. In 1986, she starred in Tomes & Talismans, a library skills series presented as a serialized science-fiction story. Recent career In the 1990s, Barbeau mostly appeared in made-for-television films, as well as played Oswald's mother on The Drew Carey Show and voiced Catwoman on Batman: the Animated Series. In 1999, she guest starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges". In 1998, Barbeau released her debut album as a folk singer, Adrienne Barbeau. From 2003 to 2005, Barbeau starred on the HBO series Carnivale. From March 2006 to May 2006, she starred as Judy Garland in the off-Broadway play The Property Known as Garland, written by husband Billy Van Zandt. Personal life Barbeau was married to director John Carpenter from January 1, 1979 to 1984; the two met on the set of his 1978 television movie, Someone's Watching Me! and Barbeau later appeared in his films, "The Fog" and Escape from New York. The couple have a son, John Cody (born May 7, 1984). During their marriage, the couple remained "totally outside Hollywood's social circles".[3] Barbeau married her current husband, Billy Van Zandt, in 1994. She gave birth to twins, Walker Steven and William Dalton, on March 11, 1997 at the age of 52. Barbeau's autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do (ISBN 0786716371) was published in March 2006. Selected filmography Barbeau in The Fog Year Title Role Notes 1991 Two Evil Eyes Jessica Valdemar 1982 Creepshow Wilma "Billie" Northrup Swamp Thing Alice Cable 1981 Escape from New York Maggie The Cannonball Run Marcie Thatcher 1980 The Fog Stevie Wayne References Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Adrienne Barbeau Footnotes ^ Gene Siskel "terrible actress". "Escape from New York" review. Retrieved on May 2, 2006. ^ JoeBobBriggs.com/. "The Fog" Intro. Retrieved on April 6, 2006. ^ a b http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/. Roger Ebert interview. Retrieved on March 9, 2006. ^ http://www.boxofficemojo.com/. Box Office Mojo gross tally. Retrieved on March 9, 2006. There Are Worse Things I Could Do. Carroll and Graf Publishers. 2006. Interviews Playbill interview (March 10, 2006) Publishers Weekly.com interview (February 27, 2006) Zap2It interview (October 10, 2003) Post Gazette interview (June 16, 2002) HorrorWeb interview Roger Ebert interview (February 3, 1980) Adrienne Barbeau interview by Daniel Robert Epstein Web sites Adrienne Barbeau website A thorough fansite Adrienne Barbeau at the Internet Movie Database Adrienne Barbeau article at Memory Alpha, the Star Trek wiki Search Term: "Adrienne_Barbeau" Categories: 1945 births | Actor-singers | American film actors | American folk singers | American stage actors | American television actors | Armenian-Americans | Batman actors | B-movie actors | French Americans | Living people | Sacramentans | Sliders actors | Star Trek actors