adrienne barbeau

Born Adrienne Jo Barbeau

June 11, 1945 (1945-06-11) (age 63)

Sacramento, California Spouse(s) John Carpenter (1979–1984)

Billy Van Zandt (1992–)

Adrienne Jo Barbeau (born June 11, 1945) is an American television, film, character and musical theater actress, as well as the author of two recently published books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, Bea Arthur's divorced daughter Carol Trainer in the hit sitcom Maude, and in several early 1980s horror and science fiction films. A popular 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 sultry voice of Catwoman on Batman: The Animated Series and subsequent Batman cartoon series. More recently, she has starred in the acclaimed HBO series Carnivàle. Contents [hide] 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Recent career 1.4 Personal life 2 Selected filmography 3 Pop culture references 4 References 5 External links //

Biography

Early life

Barbeau was born in Sacramento, California, the daughter of Arman and Joseph Barbeau, who was a public relations executive for Mobil Oil.[1] Barbeau's father was French-Canadian and her mother Armenian-American.[2] 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.[3]

Career

In the late 1960s Barbeau moved to New York City and worked "for the mob"[3] as a go-go dancer as well as appearing 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 fellow co-star 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."

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?"[3]

The popularity of Barbeau's 1978 cheesecake poster confirmed her status