Adrienne Barbeau
Birth name	Adrienne Jo Barbeau
Born	June 11, 1945 (1945-06-11) (age 62) Sacramento, California U.S.
Spouse(s)	John Carpenter, Billy Van Zandt

Adrienne Jo Barbeau (born June 11, 1945) is an American television, film, character and musical theater actress.

A natural brunette, Barbeau came to prominence through her roles as Bea Arthur's divorced daughter, Carol Trainer, in the 1970s sitcom, Maude, and in several early 1980s horror and science fiction films. She is arguably most famous for her roles in "The Fog", "Creepshow" and "Swamp Thing" and for being a sex symbol.

Biography

Early life

Barbeau was born in Sacramento, California to a French-Canadian father and an Armenian-American mother.[1] In her autobiography, Barbeau says that she first caught the showbiz bug while entertaining troops at army bases throughout Southeast Asia touring with the San Jose Civic Light Opera.[2]

Career

In the late 1960s, Barbeau moved to New York City and worked "for the mob"[2] 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. She has since starred in over 25 musicals and plays, among them 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. On the series, more attention was given to her breasts than to her acting ability, earning her the vulgar nickname "Adrienne Barboobs" in the media. 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."

She was also cast in numerous made-for-television films and guest appearances on cleavage-propelled 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?"[2]

The popularity of Barbeau's 1978 cheesecake poster confirmed her status as a sex symbol. While reviewers have sometimes criticized her acting ability,[3] Barbeau's popularity stemmed partly from what critic Joe Bob Briggs referred to as the "two enormous talents on that woman".[4] 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 (July 1980). In some Off Broadway plays (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".[5]

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,[6] 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 for Carpenter), Creepshow and Swamp Thing. She also appeared in the high-grossing comedy, The Cannonball Run in 1981. Throughout the remainder of the 1980s, Barbeau mostly starred in low-budget fare, 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

Barbeau continues to expose her talents in new fields ranging from a one-woman Off-Broadway show, to hosting a talk show, to releasing an album of folk songs. In the 1990s, Barbeau mostly appeared in made-for-television films, as well as playing Oswald's mother on The Drew Carey Show and 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 Kimara Cretak.

In 1998, Barbeau released her debut album as a folk singer, Adrienne Barbeau. From 2003 to 2005, Barbeau starred on the HBO series Carnivàle. From March 2006 to May 2006, she starred as Judy Garland in the off-Broadway play The Property Known as Garland.

She played Barbara Florentine in Rob Zombie's Halloween (2007 film) a "reimagining" of the 1978 classic 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.

Personal life

Barbeau was married to the director John Carpenter from January 1, 1979 to 1984. The two met on the set of his 1978 TV movie, Someone's Watching Me!. Barbeau later appeared in two of his movies, The Fog and Escape from New York. The former couple has a son, John Cody (born May 7, 1984) shortly before they separated. During their marriage, the couple remained "totally outside Hollywood's social circles".[5]

Barbeau married her current husband, Billy Van Zandt, in 1993. He is the brother of musician/actor Steven Van Zandt, also known as Little Steven or Miami Steve. She gave birth to twin boys, Walker Steven and William Dalton Van Zandt on March 17, 1997, at the remarkable age of 51 years.[7]

Selected filmography

Pop 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."

Footnotes

• Barbeau, Adrienne (March 2006). There Are Worse Things I Could Do. Carroll & Graf. ISBN 0-7867-1637-1. 

External links

• Adrienne Barbeau article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• Adrienne Barbeau website
• Adrienne Barbeau at the Internet Movie Database
• Adrienne Barbeau at the Internet Broadway Database
• 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)