Betty Buckley
Encyclopedia
Betty Lynn Buckley is an American theater, film and television actress and singer. She is a Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

 winner and Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

 nominee.

Early life

Betty Lynn Buckley was born in Big Spring, Texas
Big Spring, Texas
Big Spring is a city in and the county seat of Howard County, Texas, United States, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 87 and Interstate 20. With a population of 25,233 at the 2000 census, it is the largest city between Midland to the west, Abilene to the east, Lubbock to the north, and San Angelo...

 and raised in Fort Worth
Fort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...

, the daughter of Betty Bob (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....

 Diltz), a dancer and journalist, and Ernest Lynn Buckley, a retired lieutenant colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 in the U.S. Air Force
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the American uniformed services. Initially part of the United States Army, the USAF was formed as a separate branch of the military on September 18, 1947 under the National Security Act of...

 and former dean
Dean (education)
In academic administration, a dean is a person with significant authority over a specific academic unit, or over a specific area of concern, or both...

 of engineering at South Dakota State University. She is the oldest of their four children. She has three brothers—Norman Buckley
Norman Buckley
Norman L. Buckley is an American television director and editor best known for his work on The O.C., Chuck, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.-Early life:...

 is a film editor and TV director. While a student at Texas Christian University (TCU)
Texas Christian University
Texas Christian University is a private, coeducational university located in Fort Worth, Texas, United States and founded in 1873. TCU is affiliated with, but not governed by, the Disciples of Christ...

, she was a member of Zeta Tau Alpha
Zeta Tau Alpha
Zeta Tau Alpha is a women's fraternity, founded October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School in Farmville, Virginia. The Executive office is located in Indianapolis, Indiana...

 and crowned "Miss Fort Worth" in 1966 and was runner-up in the Miss Texas
Miss Texas
The Miss Texas competition was founded in 1936 as a scholarship contest for young women. The winner represents Texas in the Miss America pageant; three winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America ....

 competition. Buckley was then invited to perform at the Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...

 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
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

 to visit soldiers wounded in the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

. After this, she worked for a time as a reporter for the Fort Worth newspaper, but went to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1969, where she landed the role of Martha Jefferson in 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...

 her first day in town.

Stage and screen career

Buckley made her Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...

 debut in 1969 in the musical 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...

; she has been called "The Voice of Broadway" by New York
New York (magazine)
New York is a weekly magazine principally concerned with the life, culture, politics, and style of New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to The New Yorker, it was brasher and less polite than that magazine, and established itself as a cradle of New...

 magazine. Her rendition of "Memory" in Andrew Lloyd Webber's
Andrew Lloyd Webber
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

 Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

 established her reputation. She is perhaps best known for the 1977–81 TV dramedy Eight is Enough
Eight Is Enough
Eight Is Enough is an American television comedy-drama series which ran on ABC from March 15, 1977 until August 29, 1981. The show was modeled after syndicated newspaper columnist Thomas Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who wrote a book with the same name...

. She joined the show in its second season when the original star, Diana Hyland
Diana Hyland
Diana Hyland was an American actress best known for her television appearances and occasional films.-Career:Hyland made her acting debut in 1955 in an episode of Robert Montgomery Presents...

, died after the first four episodes of season one. Hyland's character (Joan Bradford) died, and Buckley was cast as the widower's new romantic interest, Sandra Sue Abbott (nicknamed Abby), who would become stepmother of the eight children to which the series' title refers.

Buckley also appeared in the original movie version of Carrie in 1976. She played Miss Collins
Rita Desjardin
Miss Rita L. Desjardin is a fictional character created by Stephen King for his horror novel Carrie. In the film versions, she was portrayed by Betty Buckley and Rena Sofer. She was portrayed in the musical by Darlene Love .-Novel:In the book, she at first feels the same disgust everyone feels...

, Carrie's gym teacher; in 1987, she appeared as Margaret White
Margaret White
Margaret White is a fictional character created by Stephen King in his first published novel, Carrie. She was the abusive, mentally ill, fanatically religious mother of Carrie White, who has the power of telekinesis...

 in the musical adaptation of the film
Carrie (musical)
Carrie: The Musical is a musical with a book by Lawrence D. Cohen, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, and music by Michael Gore. Adapted from Stephen King's novel Carrie, it focuses on an awkward teenage girl with telekinetic powers whose lonely life is dominated by an oppressive religious fanatic mother...

. In 1977, she recorded an uncredited solo on the song "Walking in Space", in the movie Hair
Hair (film)
Hair is a 1979 American film adaptation of the 1968 Broadway musical of the same name about a Vietnam war draftee who meets and befriends a tribe of long-haired hippies on his way to the army induction center...

.

She played the role of a country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...

 singer in Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford
Bruce Beresford is an Australian film director who has made more than 30 feature films over a 40-year career.-Early life:...

's film Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies
Tender Mercies is a 1983 American drama film directed by Bruce Beresford. The screenplay by Horton Foote focuses on Mac Sledge, a recovering alcoholic country music singer who seeks to turn his life around through his relationship with a young widow and her son in rural Texas...

 (1982), in which she sang the song "Over You".

She also appeared in the Woody Allen
Woody Allen
Woody Allen is an American screenwriter, director, actor, comedian, jazz musician, author, and playwright. Allen's films draw heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema...

 film Another Woman
Another Woman
Another Woman is a 1988 film written and directed by Woody Allen. It stars Gena Rowlands and Mia Farrow and does not feature Allen in an acting role.-Plot:...

 (1988) and in Roman Polanski's
Roman Polanski
Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

 Frantic
Frantic (film)
Frantic is a 1988 thriller film directed by Roman Polanski and starring Harrison Ford and Emmanuelle Seigner.- Synopsis :Harrison Ford plays Dr. Richard Walker, a surgeon visiting Paris with his wife Sondra for a medical conference. At their hotel, she is unable to unlock her suitcase, and Walker...

 (1988). In 2001–03, she played a role in seasons 4–6 of the HBO series Oz
Oz (TV series)
Oz is an American television drama series created by Tom Fontana, who also wrote or co-wrote all of the series' 56 episodes . It was the first one-hour dramatic television series to be produced by premium cable network HBO. Oz premiered on July 12, 1997 and ran for six seasons...

. She also has guest-starred in a number of television series, including Without a Trace
Without a Trace
Without a Trace is an American television drama which originally ran on CBS from September 26, 2002 to May 19, 2009. The series was set in New York City and concerned a fictitious FBI Missing Persons Unit.-Premise:...

, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit is an American police procedural television drama series set in New York City, where it is also primarily produced...

, and Monk
Monk (TV series)
Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...

. She guest-starred in a Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

 special of the TV series Remember WENN
Remember WENN
Remember WENN is a comedy-drama television series that aired from 1996 to 1998 on the cable channel American Movie Classics. Created and written by Rupert Holmes and set at the fictional Pittsburgh radio station WENN in the early 1940s, it depicted events in the personal and professional lives of...

, in which she sang "You Make It Christmas".

Buckley sang "Memory" from Cats at the Kennedy Center Honors
Kennedy Center Honors
The Kennedy Center Honors is an annual honor given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. The Honors have been presented annually since 1978 in Washington, D.C., during gala weekend-long events which culminate in a performance for—and...

 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
Great American Songbook
The Great American Songbook is a hypothetical construct that seeks to represent the best American songs of the 20th century principally from Broadway theatre, musical theatre, and Hollywood musicals, from the 1920s to 1960, including dozens of songs of enduring popularity...

 series.

In 2008, Buckley played "Mrs. Jones" in M. Night Shyamalan's
M. Night Shyamalan
Manoj Nelliyattu Shyamalan,known professionally as M. Night Shyamalan, is an Indian-born American screenwriter, film director, and producer known for making movies with contemporary supernatural plots that climax with a twist ending. He is also known for filming his movies in and around...

 The Happening
The Happening (2008 film)
The Happening is a 2008 science fiction thriller film written, co-produced and directed by M. Night Shyamalan that follows a woman, her husband, the husband's best friend, and the friend's daughter as they try to escape from an inexplicable natural disaster. The plot revolves around a mysterious...

 opposite Mark Wahlberg
Mark Wahlberg
Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg is an American actor, film and television producer, and former rapper. He was known as Marky Mark in his earlier years, and became famous for his 1991 debut as a musician with the band Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch. He was named No. 1 on VH1's 40 Hottest Hotties of...

 and Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Deschanel
Zooey Claire Deschanel is an American actress, musician, and singer-songwriter. In 1999, Deschanel made her film debut in Mumford, followed by her breakout role as young protagonist William Miller's troubled older sister Anita in Cameron Crowe's 2000 semi-autobiographical film Almost Famous...

. She appeared as "Marion Leckie", mother of Robert Leckie
Robert Leckie (author)
Robert Leckie was an American author of popular books on the military history of the United States. As a young man, he served in the Marine Corps with the 1st Marine Division during World War II...

 in the HBO series The Pacific
The Pacific (miniseries)
The Pacific is a 2010 television series produced by HBO, Seven Network Australia, Sky Movies, Playtone and DreamWorks that premiered in the United States on March 14, 2010....

, produced by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

 and Tom Hanks
Tom Hanks
Thomas Jeffrey "Tom" Hanks is an American actor, producer, writer, and director. Hanks worked in television and family-friendly comedies, gaining wide notice in 1988's Big, before achieving success as a dramatic actor in several notable roles, including Andrew Beckett in Philadelphia, the title...

, which aired in 2010.

Buckley also appeared in the 18th episode of Melrose Place in 2010 as a food critic cast by her brother Norman Buckley
Norman Buckley
Norman L. Buckley is an American television director and editor best known for his work on The O.C., Chuck, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars.-Early life:...

, who directed the episode. She has recently filmed a guest star appearance in an episode of the new Fox series The Chicago Code." Most recently she appeared on "Pretty Little Liars" as Regina Marin, also directed by her brother Norman.

Buckley participated in a reading of the musical Ruthless!
Ruthless!
Ruthless! The Musical is an all female musical with music by Marvin Laird and book and lyrics by Joel Paley that spoofs Broadway musicals, like Gypsy and Mame, and movies such as The Bad Seed and All About Eve...

 in September, 2010, playing the role of Sylvia St. Croix/Ruth DelMarco.

In 2011 Buckley starred in the Dallas Theater Center
Dallas Theater Center
The Dallas Theater Center is a major regional theater in Dallas, Texas . It produces classic, contemporary and new plays. The theater was based in the Kalita Humphreys Theater, a building designed by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, from 1959 to 2009...

 production of Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace
Arsenic and Old Lace may refer to:*Arsenic and Old Lace , by Joseph Kesselring*Arsenic and Old Lace , a 1944 film adaptation directed by Frank Capra...

 by Joseph Kesselring
Joseph Kesselring
Joseph Otto Kesselring was an American writer and playwright known best for his play Arsenic and Old Lace, written in 1939 and originally entitled "Bodies in Our Cellar." He was born in New York City to Henry and Frances Kesselring. His father's parents were immigrants from Germany. His mother was...

 with Tovah Feldshuh
Tovah Feldshuh
Tovah Feldshuh is an American actress, singer and playwright.-Early life:Terri Sue Feldshuh was born to a Jewish family in New York City, the daughter of Lillian and Sidney Feldshuh, who was a lawyer. She was raised in Scarsdale, New York, an affluent community in Westchester County and graduated...

.

Music career

Buckley has recorded 12 solo albums and gives concerts and makes guest solo appearances 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 recordings of 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...

, Cats
Cats (musical)
Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

, the Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises
Promises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore directed and David Merrick produced...

 London recording, Triumph of Love
Triumph of Love
Triumph of Love is a musical with a book by James Magruder, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, and music by Jeffrey Stock.Resembling a chamber musical more than a traditional book musical, it is based on the 1732 Pierre de Marivaux commedia dell'arte play Le Triomphe de l'Amour and centers on Spartan...

 and The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Mystery of Edwin Drood is the final novel by Charles Dickens. The novel was left unfinished at the time of Dickens' death, and his intended ending for it remains unknown. Though the novel is named after the character Edwin Drood, the story focuses on Drood's uncle, choirmaster John Jasper, who...

. She has been twice nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

.

Her albums, Quintessence and 1967, were released by Playbill Records in February 2008. Quintessence features jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 arrangements of standards by her longtime collaborator, jazz pianist Kenny Werner
Kenny Werner
Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Kenny Werner is a world-class pianist and composer. His prolific output of compositions, recordings and publications continue to impact audiences around the world....

. 1967 is a recording made when Miss Buckley was just 19, produced by T-Bone Burnett
T-Bone Burnett
Joseph Henry Burnett , widely known as T-Bone Burnett, is an American musician, songwriter, and soundtrack and record producer.He was a guitarist in Bob Dylan's band on the Rolling Thunder Revue...

.

Her new album "Ghostlight" was produced by the legendary T Bone Burnett and will be released in 2012.

Personal life

Buckley was married in 1972, divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...

d 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. "No matter what your career, to communicate at your best is absolutely vital, whether it's to one person, a group or an entire audience. But most people get nervous, forgetful and too fearful to express themselves," says Buckley. "I'll help you redefine that fear and use it to your advantage. We'll talk about the dynamics of communication, the essence of common respect, and training your mind to focus on your behalf."

Buckley's official website contains her concert and theater schedule, a detailed biography and timeline, and summaries of her singing and acting accomplishments.

Broadway credits

  • 1776
    1776 (musical)
    1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...

     (1969)—her Broadway debut as Martha Jefferson.
  • Promises, Promises
    Promises, Promises
    Promises, Promises is a musical based on the 1960 film The Apartment. The music is by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Hal David, and book by Neil Simon. Musical numbers for the original Broadway production were choreographed by Michael Bennett; Robert Moore directed and David Merrick produced...

     (London) (1970)
  • Pippin
    Pippin (musical)
    Pippin is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Roger O. Hirson. Bob Fosse, who directed the original Broadway production, also contributed to the libretto...

     (1972)
  • Cats
    Cats (musical)
    Cats is a musical composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot...

     (1982)—Tony Award
    Tony Award
    The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...

     for featured actress in a musical in 1983 for playing Grizabella
    Grizabella
    Grizabella is the "Glamour Cat" in the musical production Cats. She does not appear in T. S. Eliot's work Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, but she is a prominent character in the stageplay. It appears that she is the feline version of the woman mentioned in T.S...

  • The Mystery of Edwin Drood
    The Mystery of Edwin Drood (musical)
    Drood is a musical based on the unfinished Charles Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood. It is written by Rupert Holmes, and was the first Broadway musical with multiple endings . Holmes received Tony Awards for Best Book and Best Original Score...

     (1985) as Miss Alice Nutting/Edwin Drood/Dick Datchery
  • Song and Dance
    Song and Dance
    Song and Dance is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a love story.The first part is Tell Me On A Sunday, with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, about a young British woman's romantic misadventures in New York...

     (1986)
  • Carrie - The Musical (1988) as Carrie's mother Margaret White
    Margaret White
    Margaret White is a fictional character created by Stephen King in his first published novel, Carrie. She was the abusive, mentally ill, fanatically religious mother of Carrie White, who has the power of telekinesis...

  • Sunset Boulevard
    Sunset Boulevard (musical)
    Sunset Boulevard is a musical with book and lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Based on the 1950 film of the same title, the plot revolves around Norma Desmond, a faded star of the silent screen era, living in the past in her decaying mansion on the...

     (1994)—In Andrew Lloyd Webber
    Andrew Lloyd Webber
    Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer of musical theatre.Lloyd Webber has achieved great popular success in musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway. He has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of...

    's adaptation of the film, as Norma Desmond, the aging silent screen diva in London and on Broadway
  • Triumph of Love
    Triumph of Love
    Triumph of Love is a musical with a book by James Magruder, lyrics by Susan Birkenhead, and music by Jeffrey Stock.Resembling a chamber musical more than a traditional book musical, it is based on the 1732 Pierre de Marivaux commedia dell'arte play Le Triomphe de l'Amour and centers on Spartan...

     (1997)—Tony Nomination for Best Actress in a Musical

External links

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