Amanda Bearse
Encyclopedia
Amanda Bearse is an American
actress, director
and comedienne best known for her role as wacky neighbor Marcy D'Arcy (formerly Marcy Rhoades) on Married... with Children
, a sitcom that ran in the United States
between 1987 and 1997, and for her performance in the 1985 horror film
Fright Night
opposite William Ragsdale
.
under instructor Sanford Meisner
. Her initial success came with the role of Amanda Cousins on the soap opera
All My Children
between 1981 and 1984. During and after that time she appeared in a string of independent and B-movies, including Protocol
(1984), Fright Night
and Fraternity Vacation
(both 1985). Her big break came in 1987, when she was cast as Marcy Rhoades (later Marcy D'Arcy) on the hit Fox TV sitcom Married... with Children
. She played the role until the show's end in 1997, and became known to television audiences all over the world. In the mid-1990s, Bearse also appeared in the films The Doom Generation
and Here Come the Munsters
.
Bearse took up the challenge of television
and film directing while appearing on Married... with Children. Between 1991 and 1997, she helmed over 30 episodes of the show. She also directed episodes of Reba
, Mad TV
, Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher
, Malcolm & Eddie
, Pauly, The Tom Show, The Jamie Foxx Show
, Dharma & Greg
, Veronica's Closet
, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, Jesse
(starring her former Married... with Children co-star Christina Applegate
), and Ladies Man. In 2005, she directed The Sperm Donor, a pilot for NBC
starring Maggie Wheeler
and In 2006, Bearse teamed with Rosie O'Donnell
to direct The Big Gay Sketch Show
, that debuted on Logo
on April 24, 2007.
, and was also raised in Atlanta, Georgia
. She attended Birmingham Southern College. She has been publicly out as a lesbian
since 1993 (though it was only alluded to on Married...With Children in an episode where Marcy's cousin, Mandy [played by Bearse in a dual role], comes to visit and reveals to Al Bundy that she's a lesbian). It was additionally referenced to in another episode of Married...With Children titled "Breaking Up is Easy to Do (Part 2)" where Al and Peggy were separated and in the process of a divorce. In this episode the first instance occurs when Marcy bursts into the house after the initial separation and starts to sing about Al leaving, ending her song in "I've never felt so gay." The second reference came soon after as she sat next to Peg who was suffering from being alone. Peg looks to Marcy and comments about how much she likes her boyish haircut with a sly smile.
Bearse married her partner Carrie Schenken in 2010, and the couple now spend their time between homes on the East and West coasts of the US. They have two daughters.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress, director
Television director
A television director directs the activities involved in making a television program and is part of a television crew.-Duties:The duties of a television director vary depending on whether the production is live or recorded to video tape or video server .In both types of productions, the...
and comedienne best known for her role as wacky neighbor Marcy D'Arcy (formerly Marcy Rhoades) on Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
, a sitcom that ran in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
between 1987 and 1997, and for her performance in the 1985 horror film
Horror film
Horror films seek to elicit a negative emotional reaction from viewers by playing on the audience's most primal fears. They often feature scenes that startle the viewer through the means of macabre and the supernatural, thus frequently overlapping with the fantasy and science fiction genres...
Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
opposite William Ragsdale
William Ragsdale
Robert William Ragsdale is an American actor.-Life and career:Ragsdale was born in El Dorado, Arkansas. He attended Hendrix College, where he appeared in plays with Sling Blade actress and fellow Arkansan Natalie Canerday....
.
Career
Bearse studied acting at New York City's Neighborhood PlayhouseNeighborhood Playhouse
The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre is an actor training school at 340 East 54th Street in New York City, generally associated with the Meisner technique of Sanford Meisner.-History:...
under instructor Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner
Sanford Meisner , also known as Sandy, was an American actor and acting teacher who developed a form of Method acting that is now known as the Meisner technique....
. Her initial success came with the role of Amanda Cousins on the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
All My Children
All My Children
All My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
between 1981 and 1984. During and after that time she appeared in a string of independent and B-movies, including Protocol
Protocol (film)
Protocol is a 1984 comedy film that starred Goldie Hawn and Chris Sarandon. The screenplay was by Buck Henry and it was directed by Herbert Ross....
(1984), Fright Night
Fright Night
# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
and Fraternity Vacation
Fraternity Vacation
Fraternity Vacation is a 1985 low-budget American sex comedy starring Stephen Geoffreys as a nerdy pledge to the Theta Pi Gamma fraternity at Iowa State, with Tim Robbins and Cameron Dye as egregious Theta Pi Gamma frat boys...
(both 1985). Her big break came in 1987, when she was cast as Marcy Rhoades (later Marcy D'Arcy) on the hit Fox TV sitcom Married... with Children
Married... with Children
Married... with Children is an American surrealistic sitcom that aired for 11 seasons that featured a dysfunctional family living in Chicago, Illinois. The show, notable for being the first prime time television series to air on Fox, ran from April 5, 1987, to June 9, 1997. The series was created...
. She played the role until the show's end in 1997, and became known to television audiences all over the world. In the mid-1990s, Bearse also appeared in the films The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation
The Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
and Here Come the Munsters
Here Come the Munsters
Here Come the Munsters is a telefilm that aired on Fox October 31, 1995. It starred Edward Herrmann, Christine Taylor and Veronica Hamel. It included cameos from original Munsters surviving cast members Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick, and Pat Priest...
.
Bearse took up the challenge of television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film directing while appearing on Married... with Children. Between 1991 and 1997, she helmed over 30 episodes of the show. She also directed episodes of Reba
Reba (TV series)
Reba is an American sitcom starring Reba McEntire, which ran from 2001 to 2007. For the show's first five seasons, it ran on The WB, with the show transitioning to The CW in its last year.-Synopsis:...
, Mad TV
MADtv
MADtv is an American sketch comedy television series. It licensed the name and logo of Mad, but otherwise had no connection with the humor magazine outside the animated Spy vs. Spy and Don Martin cartoon shorts and images of Alfred E. Neuman that the show featured during the late 1990s. Its first...
, Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher
Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher
Nick Freno: Licensed Teacher is an American sitcom which aired on the WB from 1996 until 1998. The executive producers of the program, Dennis Rinsler and Marc Warren, drew on their own experiences as former teachers in New York and actually based the character that Mitch Mullany played on their...
, Malcolm & Eddie
Malcolm & Eddie
Malcolm & Eddie is an American television sitcom that premiered August 26, 1996 on the UPN Network, and ran for four seasons. This series starred Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Eddie Griffin in the lead roles. This show was canceled after its fourth season, and aired its final episode on May 22, 2000...
, Pauly, The Tom Show, The Jamie Foxx Show
The Jamie Foxx Show
The Jamie Foxx Show is an American television sitcom that aired on the WB Network from August 28, 1996 to January 14, 2001. The series starred Jamie Foxx, Garcelle Beauvais, Christopher B. Duncan, Ellia English, and Garrett Morris.-Synopsis:...
, Dharma & Greg
Dharma & Greg
Dharma & Greg is an American television sitcom that aired from September 24, 1997, to April 30, 2002.It starred Jenna Elfman and Thomas Gibson as Dharma and Greg Montgomery, a couple who married instantly on their first date despite being complete opposites...
, Veronica's Closet
Veronica's Closet
Veronica's Closet is a sitcom which aired on NBC from September 25, 1997, to June 27, 2000.The show starred Kirstie Alley as Veronica “Ronnie” Chase, the head of her own lingerie company.- Season one :...
, Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place, Jesse
Jesse (TV series)
Jesse is an American sitcom which ran on NBC from September 1998 to May 2000. The show was created by Ira Ungerleider. It aired on Trouble in the UK.-Synopsis:...
(starring her former Married... with Children co-star Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate
Christina Applegate is an American actress. She is best known for playing Kelly Bundy on the Fox sitcom Married... with Children. Since then, she has established a film and television career, winning a Primetime Emmy and earning Tony and Golden Globe nominations...
), and Ladies Man. In 2005, she directed The Sperm Donor, a pilot for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
starring Maggie Wheeler
Maggie Wheeler
Maggie Wheeler is an American actress, best known for her role as Janice on the TV show Friends.-Personal life:Wheeler was born Margaret Emily Jakobson in Manhattan...
and In 2006, Bearse teamed with Rosie O'Donnell
Rosie O'Donnell
Roseann "Rosie" O'Donnell is an American stand-up comedian, actress, author and television personality. She has also been a magazine editor and continues to be a celebrity blogger, LGBT rights activist, television producer and collaborative partner in the LGBT family vacation company R Family...
to direct The Big Gay Sketch Show
The Big Gay Sketch Show
The Big Gay Sketch Show is an LGBT-themed sketch comedy program that debuted on Logo on April 24, 2007. The series is produced by Rosie O'Donnell and directed by Amanda Bearse. The program was originally titled "The Big Gay Show" but was renamed during production. As the name indicates, the show...
, that debuted on Logo
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
on April 24, 2007.
Personal life
Bearse was born in Winter Park, FloridaWinter Park, Florida
Winter Park is a suburban city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 24,090 at the 2000 census. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2006 estimates, the city had a population of 28,083. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, and was also raised in Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
. She attended Birmingham Southern College. She has been publicly out as a lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
since 1993 (though it was only alluded to on Married...With Children in an episode where Marcy's cousin, Mandy [played by Bearse in a dual role], comes to visit and reveals to Al Bundy that she's a lesbian). It was additionally referenced to in another episode of Married...With Children titled "Breaking Up is Easy to Do (Part 2)" where Al and Peggy were separated and in the process of a divorce. In this episode the first instance occurs when Marcy bursts into the house after the initial separation and starts to sing about Al leaving, ending her song in "I've never felt so gay." The second reference came soon after as she sat next to Peg who was suffering from being alone. Peg looks to Marcy and comments about how much she likes her boyish haircut with a sly smile.
Bearse married her partner Carrie Schenken in 2010, and the couple now spend their time between homes on the East and West coasts of the US. They have two daughters.
Filmography
- All My ChildrenAll My ChildrenAll My Children is an American television soap opera that aired on ABC from January 5, 1970 to September 23, 2011. Created by Agnes Nixon, All My Children is set in Pine Valley, Pennsylvania, a fictitious suburb of Philadelphia. The show features Susan Lucci as Erica Kane, one of daytime's most...
as Amanda Cousins (TV, 2 seasons, 1982–1984) - First AffairFirst AffairFirst Affair is an album by The Four Freshmen. It was released in 1960 by Capitol Records.# “Please Be Kind” # “I Hadn't Anyone Till You” # “At Last”...
(1983) (TV) as Karen - ProtocolProtocol (film)Protocol is a 1984 comedy film that starred Goldie Hawn and Chris Sarandon. The screenplay was by Buck Henry and it was directed by Herbert Ross....
(1984) as Soap Opera Actor - Fraternity VacationFraternity VacationFraternity Vacation is a 1985 low-budget American sex comedy starring Stephen Geoffreys as a nerdy pledge to the Theta Pi Gamma fraternity at Iowa State, with Tim Robbins and Cameron Dye as egregious Theta Pi Gamma frat boys...
(1985) as Nicole Ferret - Fright NightFright Night# "Fright Night" – 3:45# "You Can't Hide from the Beast Inside" – 4:14# "Good Man in a Bad Time" – 3:41# "Rock Myself to Sleep" – 2:57# "Let's Talk" – 2:52# "Armies of the Night" – 4:34...
(1985) as Amy Peterson - HotelHotel (TV series)Hotel is an American prime time drama series which aired on ABC from September 21, 1983 to May 5, 1988 in the timeslot following Dynasty....
as Jean Haywood (TV, 1 episode, 1986) - Goddess of LoveGoddess of LoveGoddess Of Love is the sixth album by American Soul singer-songwriter Phyllis Hyman. It was released by Arista Records in 1983 ....
(1988) (TV) as Cathy - Likely Suspects (TV, 1 episode, 1992)
- Out There 2 (1994) (TV) as Host
- The Doom GenerationThe Doom GenerationThe Doom Generation is a film by director Gregg Araki. Released in 1995, it stars Rose McGowan, James Duval and Johnathon Schaech as two teenagers and a 21-year-old punk drifter who become involved in a ménage à trois. It is the second of a trilogy of films known as the Teenage Apocalypse Trilogy,...
(1995) as Barmaid - Here Come the MunstersHere Come the MunstersHere Come the Munsters is a telefilm that aired on Fox October 31, 1995. It starred Edward Herrmann, Christine Taylor and Veronica Hamel. It included cameos from original Munsters surviving cast members Yvonne De Carlo, Al Lewis, Butch Patrick, and Pat Priest...
(1995) (TV) as Mrs. Pearl - Married with Children as Marcy Rhoades (1987–1990), Marcy D'Arcy (1990–1997) Cousin Mandy (1997)
- NikkiNikki (TV series)Nikki is an American sitcom that aired on The WB from 2000 to 2002. Nikki was a starring vehicle for Nikki Cox, who had previously starred in another WB sitcom, Unhappily Ever After, which ran for five seasons...
as Marcy Rhoades (1 episode, 2001) - Give or Take an Inch (2003) as Charlotte
- Here! Family (2005) TV series (unknown episodes)