Blair Brown
Encyclopedia
Bonnie Blair Brown is an American
theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen
on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
, which ran from 1987 to 1991. Brown currently plays Nina Sharp in the television series Fringe
, which is broadcast on Fox
.
, the daughter of Elizabeth Ann (née
Blair), a teacher, and Milton Henry Brown, a U.S. intelligence agent. She graduated from The Madeira School
in Mclean, Virginia before going on to pursue acting at the National Theatre School of Canada. She gained notice as a participating actor at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and spent several years honing her work on the stage.
Brown had a relationship with actor Richard Jordan
, whom she met while filming the miniseries Captains and the Kings
in 1976. The couple lived together from 1976 to 1985; they had one son, Robert Anson Jordan III, born in 1983.
in 1977. Among her other film credits were Altered States
(opposite William Hurt
), One Trick Pony, the film Stealing Home
(opposite Mark Harmon) and A Flash Of Green (1984). Her arguably highest profile film role to date was the romantic lead opposite John Belushi
in Continental Divide
for which she received her first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the category of Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy/Musical.
Other film roles include: And I Alone Survived (1978), Strapless
(1989), The Astronaut's Wife
(1999), Clint Eastwood
's Space Cowboys
(2000), Lars von Trier
's Dogville
, the Kevin Bacon
-directed Loverboy (2005) and The Sentinel
(2006).
Kennedy earned her a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as a BAFTA nomination. She also appeared in several other programs about the Kennedys, including the 1996 miniseries A Season in Purgatory
, which was a thinly veiled portrait of the family, as well as an appearance as Anna Roosevelt in a telefilm about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt
.
Brown is perhaps best known for her five-year run (1987–1991) on the Emmy Award-nominated comedy-drama
series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
. Brown played the title role, and she, and the show, earned a small but dedicated following. Brown received five consecutive Emmy Award
nominations for each season, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, but never won. The show spent two years on NBC
, then moved to the Lifetime cable channel for the remainder of its run.
Brown also appeared in other prime-time series including The Rockford Files
, Kojak
, Frasier
, Smallville
, Touched by an Angel
, ER
, and Ed
.
Beginning in 2008, Brown starred as Nina Sharp in the television series Fringe
, which premiered on September 9, 2008, on Fox
, and is starting its fourth season in September 2011.
& Weill's
The Threepenny Opera
, produced by Joe Papp and directed by Richard Foreman
. She left the production for film work, but after being away from the production for eight months, Ellen Greene
, who was playing the part of Jenny, fell ill. Brown astounded the stage manager of the production by coming in and, with one hour of rehearsal, put on a "brilliant" performance as Jenny. Her first major appearance on the Broadway
came in 1989, in the play Secret Rapture, written by David Hare
.
Once "Molly Dodd" concluded, Brown became a prolific Broadway actress, appearing in a number of roles. Among them were roles in Tom Stoppard
's Arcadia at Lincoln Center, two separate runs as Frau Schneider in the revival of Cabaret
, and The Comedy of Errors
for the New York Shakespeare Festival. She won a Tony Award
in the category of Best Featured Actress in a Play, in 2000, for her role in the play Copenhagen
. She played the role of the wife of physicist Niels Bohr
. Brown played the lead role in The Clean House
, by playwright Sarah Ruhl
in 2006 at Lincoln Center.
's The Client
, Lois Lowry
's Number the Stars
, Stephen King
's Rose Madder
, Kevin Henkes
' Olive's Ocean
, Sue Miller
's 2005 novel Lost in the Forest, and Isabel Allende
's Inés of My Soul.
Brown has narrated numerous documentaries, especially for PBS
's American Experience
series. She narrated the 2007 PBS series The Mysterious Human Heart. Other documentary narrations include the scientific series The Secret Life of the Brain, a documentary on Aimee Semple McPherson
, which aired in April 2007, and a 2006 PBS documentary about Marie Antoinette
. In April, 2010, she co-narrated the PBS special, The Buddha, with Richard Gere
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theater, film, and television actress. She has had a number of high profile roles, including a Tony Award-winning turn in the play Copenhagen
Copenhagen (play)
Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It debuted in London in 1998...
on Broadway, as well as a run as the title character in the television comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
, which ran from 1987 to 1991. Brown currently plays Nina Sharp in the television series Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
, which is broadcast on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
.
Personal life
Brown was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, the daughter of Elizabeth Ann (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....
Blair), a teacher, and Milton Henry Brown, a U.S. intelligence agent. She graduated from The Madeira School
The Madeira School
The Madeira School is a private, non-denominational preparatory boarding school for girls located in McLean, Virginia, United States. Originally located on 19th Street near Dupont Circle in Washington, D.C., it was founded by Lucy Madeira Wing in 1906 and moved to the Northern Virginia suburb of...
in Mclean, Virginia before going on to pursue acting at the National Theatre School of Canada. She gained notice as a participating actor at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, and spent several years honing her work on the stage.
Brown had a relationship with actor Richard Jordan
Richard Jordan
Richard Jordan was an American stage, screen and film actor. A long-time member of the New York Shakespeare Festival, he performed in many Off Broadway and Broadway plays...
, whom she met while filming the miniseries Captains and the Kings
Captains and the Kings
Captains and the Kings is a 1972 historical novel by Taylor Caldwell chronicling the rise to wealth and power of an Irish immigrant, Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh, who arrives penniless as a teenager in the United States of America...
in 1976. The couple lived together from 1976 to 1985; they had one son, Robert Anson Jordan III, born in 1983.
Film
Brown's first feature film role was in the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Paper Chase; her first major starring role was in The ChoirboysThe Choirboys (film)
The Choirboys is a 1977 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Aldrich, written by Christopher Knopf and Joseph Wambaugh based on Wambaugh's novel. It features an ensemble cast including Randy Quaid and James Woods...
in 1977. Among her other film credits were Altered States
Altered States
Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C...
(opposite William Hurt
William Hurt
William McGill Hurt is an American stage and film actor. He received his acting training at the Juilliard School, and began acting on stage in the 1970s. Hurt made his film debut as a troubled scientist in the science-fiction feature Altered States , for which he received a Golden Globe nomination...
), One Trick Pony, the film Stealing Home
Stealing Home
Stealing Home is a 1988 movie, starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, and Harold Ramis. The film is directed by Steven Kampmann and William Porter.-Plot summary:...
(opposite Mark Harmon) and A Flash Of Green (1984). Her arguably highest profile film role to date was the romantic lead opposite John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
in Continental Divide
Continental Divide (film)
Continental Divide is a 1981 American romantic comedy. It was directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and produced by Steven Spielberg and stars John Belushi and Blair Brown; the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.An attempt was made during...
for which she received her first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the category of Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy/Musical.
Other film roles include: And I Alone Survived (1978), Strapless
Strapless
Strapless is a 1989 film written and directed by David Hare.-Plot summary:An expatriate American doctor in London allows herself to lighten up when her freewheeling younger sister and a mysterious man enter her life. Her inhibitions released, the beautiful doctor learns that freedom has its own...
(1989), The Astronaut's Wife
The Astronaut's Wife
The Astronaut's Wife is a 1999 science fiction/thriller film directed and written by Rand Ravich. It stars Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron.-Plot:...
(1999), Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
's Space Cowboys
Space Cowboys
Space Cowboys is a 2000 science fiction film directed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood also stars in the film alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as four older "ex-test pilots" who are sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite...
(2000), Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier
Lars von Trier is a Danish film director and screenwriter. He is closely associated with the Dogme 95 collective, although his own films have taken a variety of different approaches, and have frequently received strongly divided critical opinion....
's Dogville
Dogville
Dogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan...
, the Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
-directed Loverboy (2005) and The Sentinel
The Sentinel (2006 film)
The Sentinel is a 2006 action thriller film about a veteran United States Secret Service bodyguard who is suspected as a traitor after an attempted assassination of the president reveals that someone within the Service is providing information to the assassins...
(2006).
Television
Brown appeared in several television movies and miniseries, primarily during the 1980s. A high-profile role as Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1983 TV miniseriesMiniseries
A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term...
Kennedy earned her a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as a BAFTA nomination. She also appeared in several other programs about the Kennedys, including the 1996 miniseries A Season in Purgatory
A Season in Purgatory
A Season in Purgatory is a 1993 novel by Dominick Dunne. It was inspired by the 1975 murder of Martha Moxley, for which Michael Skakel, the nephew of Ethel Skakel Kennedy, eventually was convicted...
, which was a thinly veiled portrait of the family, as well as an appearance as Anna Roosevelt in a telefilm about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt
Eleanor Roosevelt
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was the First Lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945. She supported the New Deal policies of her husband, distant cousin Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and became an advocate for civil rights. After her husband's death in 1945, Roosevelt continued to be an international...
.
Brown is perhaps best known for her five-year run (1987–1991) on the Emmy Award-nominated comedy-drama
Comedy-drama
Comedy-drama is a genre of theatre, film and television programs which combines humorous and serious content.-Theatre:Traditional western theatre, beginning with the ancient Greeks, was divided into comedy and tragedy...
series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd
The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:...
. Brown played the title role, and she, and the show, earned a small but dedicated following. Brown received five consecutive Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nominations for each season, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, but never won. The show spent two years on 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...
, then moved to the Lifetime cable channel for the remainder of its run.
Brown also appeared in other prime-time series including The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
, Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
, Frasier
Frasier
Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, Smallville
Smallville (TV series)
Smallville is an American television series developed by writers/producers Alfred Gough and Miles Millar based on the DC Comics character Superman, originally created by Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster. The television series was initially broadcast by The WB Television Network , premiering on October...
, Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel
Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della...
, ER
ER (TV series)
ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television...
, and Ed
Ed (TV series)
Ed is an NBC television program co-produced by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated, NBC Productions, and Viacom Productions that aired from 2000 to 2004....
.
Beginning in 2008, Brown starred as Nina Sharp in the television series Fringe
Fringe (TV series)
Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security...
, which premiered on September 9, 2008, on Fox
Fox Broadcasting Company
Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
, and is starting its fourth season in September 2011.
Stage
Brown has been involved with theater since the beginning of her career. Among her earlier roles was a run as Lucy Brown in the 1976 production of BrechtBertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was a German poet, playwright, and theatre director.An influential theatre practitioner of the 20th century, Brecht made equally significant contributions to dramaturgy and theatrical production, the latter particularly through the seismic impact of the tours undertaken by the...
& Weill's
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill was a German-Jewish composer, active from the 1920s, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht...
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
, produced by Joe Papp and directed by Richard Foreman
Richard Foreman
Richard Foreman is an American playwright and avant-garde theater pioneer. He is the founder of the Ontological-Hysteric Theater.-Life :...
. She left the production for film work, but after being away from the production for eight months, Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene
Ellen Greene is an American singer and actress. Greene has had a long and varied career as a singer, particularly in cabaret, as an actor and singer in numerous stage productions, particularly musical theatre, as well as having performed in many films – notably Little Shop of Horrors...
, who was playing the part of Jenny, fell ill. Brown astounded the stage manager of the production by coming in and, with one hour of rehearsal, put on a "brilliant" performance as Jenny. Her first major appearance on the 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...
came in 1989, in the play Secret Rapture, written by David Hare
David Hare (dramatist)
Sir David Hare is an English playwright and theatre and film director.-Early life:Hare was born in St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex, the son of Agnes and Clifford Hare, a sailor. He was educated at Lancing, an independent school in West Sussex, and at Jesus College, Cambridge...
.
Once "Molly Dodd" concluded, Brown became a prolific Broadway actress, appearing in a number of roles. Among them were roles in Tom Stoppard
Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard OM, CBE, FRSL is a British playwright, knighted in 1997. He has written prolifically for TV, radio, film and stage, finding prominence with plays such as Arcadia, The Coast of Utopia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, Professional Foul, The Real Thing, and Rosencrantz and...
's Arcadia at Lincoln Center, two separate runs as Frau Schneider in the revival of Cabaret
Cabaret (musical)
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit and spawned a 1972 film as well as numerous subsequent productions....
, and The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors
The Comedy of Errors is one of William Shakespeare's earliest plays. It is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. The Comedy of Errors is one of only two of Shakespeare's...
for the New York Shakespeare Festival. She won 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...
in the category of Best Featured Actress in a Play, in 2000, for her role in the play Copenhagen
Copenhagen (play)
Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn, based around an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941, a meeting between the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. It debuted in London in 1998...
. She played the role of the wife of physicist Niels Bohr
Niels Bohr
Niels Henrik David Bohr was a Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum mechanics, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr mentored and collaborated with many of the top physicists of the century at his institute in...
. Brown played the lead role in The Clean House
The Clean House
The Clean House is a play by Sarah Ruhl, which premiered in 2004 at Yale Repertory Theatre and has since been produced in many American cities. The play is a whimsical romantic comedy centered on Matilde, a Brazilian cleaning woman who would rather be a comedian.-Plot summary:The play opens with...
, by playwright Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship.-Biography:Ruhl was born in Wilmette, Illinois. Originally, she intended to be a poet. However, after she studied under Paula Vogel at Brown University , she was convinced to switch to playwrighting...
in 2006 at Lincoln Center.
Voice
In the 1990s, Brown expanded her career from performance into voiceover work. Brown has narrated a number of books, as well as being a narrator in films and documentaries. She has narrated a number of audiobooks, including John GrishamJohn Grisham
John Ray Grisham, Jr. is an American lawyer and author, best known for his popular legal thrillers.John Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University before attending the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981 and practiced criminal law for about a decade...
's The Client
The Client
The Client is a legal thriller written by American author John Grisham, set mostly in Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana...
, Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry
Lois Lowry is an American author of children's literature. She began her career as a photographer and a freelance journalist during the early 1970s...
's Number the Stars
Number the Stars
Number the Stars is a work of historical fiction about the Holocaust of the Second World War by award-winning author Lois Lowry. The story centers around ten-year-old Annemarie Johansen, who lived in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1943 and was caught up in the events surrounding the rescue of the Danish...
, Stephen King
Stephen King
Stephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
's Rose Madder
Rose Madder (novel)
Rose Madder is a 1995 novel by Stephen King. It deals with the effects of domestic violence and, unusually for a King novel, relies for its fantastic element on Greek mythology...
, Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes
Kevin Henkes is a successful children's book illustrator and author known for winning both the Caldecott Medal for illustration and the Newbery Honor for writing...
' Olive's Ocean
Olive's Ocean
Olive's Ocean is a 2003 book by Kevin Henkes that won the 2004 Newbery Honor. The story's idea was taken from Kevin Henkes' question, "What was it like for authors growing up?"-Plot:...
, Sue Miller
Sue Miller
Sue Miller is an American writer who has authored a number of best-selling novels. Her duties as a single mother left her with little time to write for many years, and as a result she did not publish her first novel until 1986, after spending almost a decade in various fellowships and teaching...
's 2005 novel Lost in the Forest, and Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende
Isabel Allende Llona is a Chilean writer with American citizenship. Allende, whose works sometimes contain aspects of the "magic realist" tradition, is famous for novels such as The House of the Spirits and City of the Beasts , which have been commercially successful...
's Inés of My Soul.
Brown has narrated numerous documentaries, especially for PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
's American Experience
American Experience
American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history...
series. She narrated the 2007 PBS series The Mysterious Human Heart. Other documentary narrations include the scientific series The Secret Life of the Brain, a documentary on Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson
Aimee Semple McPherson , also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian-American Los Angeles, California evangelist and media celebrity in the 1920s and 1930s. She founded the Foursquare Church...
, which aired in April 2007, and a 2006 PBS documentary about Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette
Marie Antoinette ; 2 November 1755 – 16 October 1793) was an Archduchess of Austria and the Queen of France and of Navarre. She was the fifteenth and penultimate child of Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa and Holy Roman Emperor Francis I....
. In April, 2010, she co-narrated the PBS special, The Buddha, with Richard Gere
Richard Gere
Richard Tiffany Gere is an American actor. He began acting in the 1970s, playing a supporting role in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and a starring role in Days of Heaven. He came to prominence in 1980 for his role in the film American Gigolo, which established him as a leading man and a sex symbol...
.
Films
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | House of Lovers | George Thacker | |
| 1973 | Dracula | Television film | |
| The Paper Chase | Miss Farranti | ||
| 1977 | Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years | Anna Roosevelt | Television film |
| Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging | Charity | Television film | |
| The 3,000 Mile Chase The 3,000 Mile Chase The 3,000 Mile Chase is a NBC Action TV movie, starring Glenn Ford - Cliff De Young and directed by Russ Mayberry-Plot summary:The Secret Agent Matt Considine accepts a dangerous mission to protect witnesses Dvorak and his wife Emma from the state of San Francisco to a trial in New York City... |
Rachel Kane | Television film | |
| The Quinns | Millicent Priestley | Television film | |
| The Choirboys The Choirboys (film) The Choirboys is a 1977 American comedy-drama film directed by Robert Aldrich, written by Christopher Knopf and Joseph Wambaugh based on Wambaugh's novel. It features an ensemble cast including Randy Quaid and James Woods... |
Kimberly Lyles | ||
| 1978 | And I Alone Survived | Lauren Elder | Television film |
| 1979 | The Child Stealer | Jan Rodman | Television film |
| 1980 | One Trick Pony | Marion | |
| Altered States Altered States Altered States is a 1980 American science fiction-horror film adaptation of a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky. It was the only novel that Chayefsky ever wrote, as well as his final film. Both the novel and the film are based on John C... |
Emily Jessup | ||
| 1981 | Continental Divide Continental Divide (film) Continental Divide is a 1981 American romantic comedy. It was directed by Michael Apted from an original screenplay by Lawrence Kasdan and produced by Steven Spielberg and stars John Belushi and Blair Brown; the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe for her performance.An attempt was made during... |
Nell Porter | Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy |
| 1983 | The Skin of Our Teeth | Sabina | Television film |
| 1984 | A Flash of Green | Kat Hubble | |
| 1985 | The Bad Seed | Christine Penmark | Television film |
| 1987 | Hands of a Stranger | Diane Benton | Television film |
| 1988 | Stealing Home Stealing Home Stealing Home is a 1988 movie, starring Mark Harmon, Jodie Foster, Jonathan Silverman, and Harold Ramis. The film is directed by Steven Kampmann and William Porter.-Plot summary:... |
Ginny Wyatt | |
| 1989 | Strapless Strapless Strapless is a 1989 film written and directed by David Hare.-Plot summary:An expatriate American doctor in London allows herself to lighten up when her freewheeling younger sister and a mysterious man enter her life. Her inhibitions released, the beautiful doctor learns that freedom has its own... |
Dr. Lillian Hempel | |
| 1990 | Extreme Close-Up | Margaret Toll | Television film |
| 1991 | The Good Policeman | ||
| Lethal Innocence | Sally Hatch | Television film | |
| 1992 | Those Secrets | Neille Banesh | Television film |
| Passed Away Passed Away Passed Away is an American ensemble comedy film from 1992.- Cast :*Bob Hoskins - Johnny Scanlan*Jack Warden - Jack Scanlan*William Petersen - Frank Scanlan*Diana Bellamy - BJ*Don Brockett - Froggie*Helen Lloyd Breed - Aunt Maureen... |
Amy Scanlan | ||
| Majority Rule | Gen. Katherine Taylor | Television film | |
| 1993 | Rio Shannon | Elizabeth Cleary | Television film |
| The Day My Parents Ran Away | Mrs. Judy Miller | Television film | |
| 1994 | Moment of Truth: To Walk Again | Carol Keating | Television film |
| The Gift of Love | Helen Porter | Television film | |
| 1996 | The Ultimate Lie | Joan 'Joanie' McGrath | Television film |
| A Season in Purgatory | Grace Bradley | Television film | |
| 1997 | Convictions | Zalinda Dorcheus | Television film |
| 1999 | The Astronaut's Wife The Astronaut's Wife The Astronaut's Wife is a 1999 science fiction/thriller film directed and written by Rand Ravich. It stars Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron.-Plot:... |
Shelly McLaren | |
| 2000 | Space Cowboys Space Cowboys Space Cowboys is a 2000 science fiction film directed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood also stars in the film alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as four older "ex-test pilots" who are sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite... |
Dr. Anne Caruthers | |
| 2000 | In His Life: The John Lennon Story | Mimi Smith | Television film |
| Hamlet | Gertrude | Television film | |
| 2001 | Follow the Stars Home | Hannah Parker | Television film |
| 2002 | Grasp | Jean Malcheck | |
| 2003 | Dogville Dogville Dogville is a 2003 drama written and directed by Lars von Trier, and starring Nicole Kidman, Lauren Bacall, Chloë Sevigny, Paul Bettany, Stellan Skarsgård, Udo Kier, and James Caan... |
Mrs. Henson | |
| 2004 | Dark Shadows | Elizabeth Collins Stoddard | Television film |
| Copshop | Frances Harding | Television film | |
| 2005 | Loverboy | Jeanette Rawley | |
| 2006 | The Sentinel The Sentinel (2006 film) The Sentinel is a 2006 action thriller film about a veteran United States Secret Service bodyguard who is suspected as a traitor after an attempted assassination of the president reveals that someone within the Service is providing information to the assassins... |
National Security Advisor | |
| The Treatment The Treatment (2006 film) The Treatment is an American romantic comedy film released in 2006 starring Chris Eigeman and Famke Janssen and produced and directed by Oren Rudavsky.It is based on a novel with the same title by Daniel Menaker.-Plot:... |
Miss Callucci | ||
| Griffin & Phoenix | Eve | ||
| 2007 | Dark Matter Dark Matter (film) Dark Matter is the first feature film by opera director Chen Shi-zheng, starring Liu Ye, Aidan Quinn and Meryl Streep. It won the Alfred P. Sloan Prize at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival.... |
Hildy | |
| First Born | Laura's Mother | ||
| 2011 | The Speed of Thought The Speed of Thought The Speed of Thought is a 2011 thriller film written and directed by Evan Oppenheimer. The film stars Nick Stahl, Taryn Manning, and Mia Maestro.-Synopsis:... |
Bridger | Post-Production |
TV series
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Police Surgeon | Dulcy | |
| 1972 | The Whiteoaks of Jalna The Whiteoaks of Jalna The Whiteoaks of Jalna was a 1972 Canadian television drama miniseries, based on the novel by Mazo de la Roche. At CAD 2 million, it set a record expense at the time for a Canadian television miniseries. The series was exported internationally including the United Kingdom and France... |
Pheasan Vaughan | |
| 1975 | Performance | ||
| Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus Welby, M.D. Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell... |
|||
| The Rockford Files The Rockford Files The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah... |
Dep. DA Kate Doyle / Kate Flanders | ||
| 1976 | The Oregon Trail | Jessica Thorpe | |
| Captains and the Kings Captains and the Kings Captains and the Kings is a 1972 historical novel by Taylor Caldwell chronicling the rise to wealth and power of an Irish immigrant, Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh, who arrives penniless as a teenager in the United States of America... |
Elizabeth Healey | Miniseries | |
| Kojak | Stella | ||
| 1977 | Family | Miss Jessup | |
| 1978 | Wheels | Barbara Lipton | Miniseries Miniseries A miniseries , in a serial storytelling medium, is a television show production which tells a story in a limited number of episodes. The exact number is open to interpretation; however, they are usually limited to fewer than a whole season. The term "miniseries" is generally a North American term... |
| 1983 | Kennedy Kennedy (TV Miniseries) Kennedy is a five-hour miniseries written by Reg Gadney and directed by Jim Goddard. The miniseries was produced by Central Independent Television and originally aired in the United States starting on 20 November 1983 around the time of the twentieth anniversary of the Kennedy assassination.The... |
Jacqueline Kennedy | Miniseries Nominated – British Academy Television Award for Best Actress British Academy Television Award for Best Actress - 1950s :*1955 Googie Withers*1956 Virginia McKenna*1957 Rosalie Crutchley*1958 Gwen Watford*1959 Catherine Lacey- 1960s :*1960 Catherine Lacey*1961 Billie Whitelaw*1962 Ruth Dunning*1963 Brenda Bruce*1964 Vivien Merchant*1965 Katherine Blake... Nominated – Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film |
| 1985 | Space Space (miniseries) Space is a television mini-series created by CBS in 1985. It is based on a novel of the same name by James A. Michener published in 1982. The program is also called "James A. Michener's Space". Like the novel, the mini-series is a fictionalised history of the United States space program... |
Penny Hardesty Pope | Miniseries |
| ABC Afterschool Special ABC Afterschool Special The ABC Afterschool Special is an American television anthology series that aired on ABC from 1972 to 1996, usually in the late afternoon on week days. Most of the episodes were dramatic presentations of situations, often controversial, of interest to children and teenagers. Several episodes were... |
Joan Stewart | ||
| 1986 | Comedy Factory | Valerie Arnold | |
| 1987-1991 | The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd is an NBC/Lifetime comedy-drama that aired from 1987 to 1991. It was created by Jay Tarses and starred Blair Brown in the title role.-Premise:... |
Molly Dodd / Lorna LaSalle | Nominated – Emmy Award Emmy Award An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various... for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series |
| 1995 | Frasier Frasier Frasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars... |
Jill | |
| 1997 | Feds Feds (TV series) Feds was a short-lived television series that aired on CBS from March 5, 1997 to April 9, 1997. It was created by Dick Wolf, the creator of Law & Order, and starred Blair Brown and Dylan Baker. Michael S. Chernuchin was also an executive producer for the project... |
Erica Stanton | |
| 2001 | Touched by an Angel Touched by an Angel Touched by an Angel is an American drama series that premiered on CBS on September 21, 1994 and ran for 211 episodes and nine seasons until its conclusion on April 27, 2003. Created by John Masius and produced by Martha Williamson, the series stars Roma Downey, as an angel named Monica, and Della... |
Victoria | |
| 2002 | Smallville Smallville Smallville is the hometown of Superman in comic books published by DC Comics. While growing up in Smallville, the young Clark Kent attended Smallville High with best friends Lana Lang, Chloe Sullivan and Pete Ross... |
Rachel Dunleavy | |
| Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin (TV miniseries) Benjamin Franklin is a 1974 American television miniseries that chronicles the life of Benjamin Franklin. It was broadcast by CBS. It won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Limited Series.-Cast:*Willie Aames as Franklin at age 12... |
Jane Franklin Mecom | Miniseries documentary | |
| Young Dr. Freud | Narrator | Documentary | |
| CSI: Miami CSI: Miami CSI: Miami is an American police procedural television series, which premiered on September 23, 2002 on CBS. The series is a spin-off of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.... |
Margie Winters | ||
| 2003 | Law & Order Law & Order Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,... |
Virginia Masters | |
| 2003-2004 | Ed Ed (TV series) Ed is an NBC television program co-produced by David Letterman's Worldwide Pants Incorporated, NBC Productions, and Viacom Productions that aired from 2000 to 2004.... |
Mary Burton | |
| 2004 | ER ER (TV series) ER is an American medical drama television series created by novelist Michael Crichton that aired on NBC from September 19, 1994 to April 2, 2009. It was produced by Constant c Productions and Amblin Entertainment, in association with Warner Bros. Television... |
Dr. Vicki Ford | |
| 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... |
Attorney Lynne Riff | ||
| 2005 | Missing | Emma Roderick | |
| 1995-2007 | American Experience American Experience American Experience is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service Public television stations in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American history... |
Narrator / Evelyn Nesbit | Documentary |
| 2008-Present | Fringe Fringe (TV series) Fringe is an American science fiction television series created by J. J. Abrams, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The series follows a Federal Bureau of Investigation "Fringe Division" team based in Boston, Massachusetts under the supervision of Homeland Security... |
Nina Sharp | Main cast |
| 2011 | Falling Skies Falling Skies Falling Skies is an American science fiction dramatic television series created by Robert Rodat and produced by Steven Spielberg. The series picks up six months into a world devastated by an alien invasion... |
Sonya |
External links
- Performance Working in the Theatre video, by the American Theatre Wing, September 1989
- Blair Brown Downstage Center radio interview, by the American Theatre Wing, December 2006
- Leading Ladies Working in the Theatre video, by the American Theatre Wing, December 2006