Betty Lynn Buckley is an American stage, film and television actress, and singer.
She starred from 1977 to 1981 on the ABC series Eight is Enough, before going on
to win the 1983 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her
role as Grizabella in the original Broadway production of Cats. Her other
musical roles include playing Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard from 1994 to
1996, in both London and New York, receiving an Olivier Award nomination.
She is a 2012 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee.
Buckley made her Broadway debut in the 1969 musical 1776. Other Broadway
musical credits include Pippin and Drood. She played gym teacher Ms.
Collins in the 1976 Brian de Palma film Carrie and went on to star in the
short-lived Broadway musical version of Carrie in 1988, this time playing
Carrie's mother, Margaret White. She received a Tony Award nomination for the
1997 musical Triumph of Love, and Grammy Award nominations for The Diaries of
Adam and Eve and Stars and the Moon: Live at the Donmar. Her other film roles
include Dixie Scott in Tender Mercies, Sondra Walker in Frantic, Kathy in
Another Woman and Mrs. Jones in The Happening. She also had a recurring role
in the HBO series Oz. In the 2010s, her stage work includes Dear World in
London, and The Old Friends and Grey Gardens in New York.
Early life Betty Lynn Buckley was born in Big
Spring, Texas and raised in Fort Worth, the daughter of Betty Bob, a dancer and
journalist, and Ernest Lynn Buckley, a retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S.
Air Force and former dean of engineering at South Dakota State University. She is
the oldest of their four children. She has three brothers—Norman Buckley is a
film editor and TV director, and Patrick and Michael Buckley are engineers. While
a student at Texas Christian University, she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha and
crowned "Miss Fort Worth" in 1966 and was runner-up in the Miss Texas
competition. Buckley was then invited to perform at the Miss America pageant in
Atlantic City, and it was there that she was spotted by a talent scout. After
returning to TCU to earn her college degree, she toured Asia to visit
soldiers wounded in the Vietnam War. After this, she worked for a time as a
reporter for the Fort Worth Press, but went to New York City in 1969, where she
landed the role of Martha Jefferson in 1776 her first day in town.
Career = Stage and screen career =
Buckley made her Broadway debut in 1969 in the original production of the
musical 1776; she has been called "The Voice of Broadway" by New York magazine.
She is perhaps best known for the 1977–81 TV dramedy Eight Is Enough. She
joined the show in its second season when the original star, Diana Hyland,
died after the first four episodes of season one. Hyland's character died, and
Buckley was cast as the widower's new romantic interest, Sandra Sue Abbott,
who became stepmother of the eight children to which the series' title
refers. Buckley appeared in the original movie
version of Carrie in 1976, playing Miss Collins, Carrie's gym teacher. She would
go on to appear as Margaret White in the 1987 musical adaptation of the film on
Broadway. In 1977, she recorded an uncredited solo
on the song "Walking in Space", in the movie Hair.
In 1982, Buckley starred as Grizabella in the original Broadway production of
the musical Cats, which features the song "Memory". She would stay with the
production for eighteen months. For this role, she won a Tony Award for Best
Featured Actress in a Musical. Screen roles during the 1980s include
Bruce Beresford's film Tender Mercies, where she played a country singer and
sang the Academy Award nominated song "Over You". She also appeared in the
Woody Allen film Another Woman, Roman Polanski's Frantic, Lawrence's Kasden's
Wyatt Earp and M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. On television, she received
two Daytime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Performer in a Children's
Program/Special, for NBC Special Treat - Bobby and Sarah and ABC Afterschool
Special - Taking a Stand. Buckley starred in both London and New
York as Norma Desmond in the musical Sunset Boulevard. For her role in the
London production, she received an Olivier Award nomination for Best
Actress in a Musical. In 1997, she starred as Hesione in the Broadway
musical Triumph of Love and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress
in a Musical. In 2001–03, she played a role in seasons
4–6 of the HBO series Oz. She also has guest-starred in a number of television
series, including Without a Trace, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Monk.
She guest-starred in a Christmas special of the TV series Remember WENN, in which
she sang "You Make It Christmas". Buckley sang "Memory" from Cats at the
Kennedy Center Honors in December 2006 as part of the tribute to Andrew Lloyd
Webber. In 2007, Buckley appeared with Quintessence at Lincoln Center in its
Great American Songbook series. In 2008, Buckley played "Mrs. Jones" in
M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening opposite Mark Wahlberg and Zooey
Deschanel. She appeared as "Marion Leckie", mother of Robert Leckie in the
HBO series The Pacific, produced by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks, which
aired in 2010. Buckley appeared in the 18th episode of
Melrose Place in 2010 as a food critic cast by her brother Norman Buckley, who
directed the episode. She also guest starred in an episode of the new Fox
series The Chicago Code. She was a recurring guest star on Pretty Little
Liars as Regina Marin, also directed by her brother Norman.
Buckley participated in a reading of the musical Ruthless! in September, 2010,
playing the role of Sylvia St. Croix/Ruth DelMarco. She then played
Mrs. White in the off-Broadway comedy White's Lies from March–May 2010. In
2011, Buckley starred in the Dallas Theater Center production of Arsenic and
Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring with Tovah Feldshuh.
On January 28, 2013 Buckley was inducted into The American Theater Hall of Fame.
From January–March 2013, she starred in the London Premiere of Jerry Herman's
Dear World, receiving rave reviews. The musical was directed and choreographed
by Gillian Lynne, who Buckley had previously worked with on Cats. In
September 2013, she starred in the World Premiere of Horton Foote's The Old
Friends at the Signature Theatre off-Broadway. She repeated her
performance in 2014 at Houston's famed Alley Theatre.
In May 2015, it was announced that Buckley would appear as Big Edie in the
musical, "Grey Gardens" at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY.
= Music career = Buckley has recorded 16 solo albums, and
performs in concert across the U.S. each year. She is also a composer; her first
recording contains mostly songs she wrote. She is also featured on many
Broadway compilation recordings, and on the original cast recording of 1776, the
Original Broadway recording of Cats, the London recording of Promises, Promises,
Triumph of Love and The Mystery of Edwin Drood.
In 2002, Buckley was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Traditional Pop
Vocal Album Category, for her album Stars and the Moon: Live at the Donmar,
which was recorded at the Donmar Warehouse Theatre in London. This was
her second Grammy nomination, she had previously been nominated in 2000, in
the Best Spoken Word Album category for The Diaries of Adam and Eve.
Her albums Quintessence and 1967 were released by Playbill Records in February
2008. Quintessence features jazz arrangements of standards by her
longtime collaborator, jazz pianist Kenny Werner; while 1967 is a recording
produced by T-Bone Burnett, and made when Buckley was just 19.
Her album Bootleg: Boardmixes From the Road was released in 2010, and her
recording of her hit show at Feinstein's at the Regency with pianist Christian
Jacob, entitled Ah, Men: The Boys of Broadway debuted on 28 August 2012.
Her most recent album Ghostlight was produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett
and was released on September 16, 2014. Personal life
Buckley was married to Peter Flood in 1972, divorced in 1979, and has no
children. She lives on a ranch in Texas and
participates in NCHA cutting horse competitions while continuing to appear
in films, television and theater and to sing concerts in a wide variety of
venues. Buckley has also taught song
interpretation and scene study for over 40 years. She conducts master classes in
Fort Worth, New York City, Los Angeles and other cities around the country.
Buckley's official website contains her concert and theater schedule, a detailed
biography and timeline, and summaries of her singing and acting accomplishments.
Filmography Discography
Awards and nominations Honorary awards
2004 Legend of Cabaret Award 2007 Texas Film Hall of Fame Inductee
2012 American Theater Hall of Fame Inductee
References External links
Betty Buckley's Official web site Official Website for Carrie The Musical
Betty Buckley at AllMovie Betty Buckley at the Internet Broadway
Database Betty Buckley at the Internet
Off-Broadway Database Betty Buckley at the Internet Movie
Database TonyAwards.com Interview with Betty
Buckley AMC Interview with Betty Buckley about
The Happening Sony BMG Masterworks Betty Buckley
Podcast