Adrienne Barbeau Biography
(pronounced AdriENNE BarBO, born June 11, 1945) is an American actress and the author of three books. Barbeau came to prominence in the 1970s as Broadway's original Rizzo in the musical Grease, and as Carol Traynor, the divorced daughter of Maude Findlay (played by Beatrice Arthur) in the sitcom Maude. In the early 1980s, Barbeau was a sex symbol, starring in several horror and science fiction films, including The Fog, Creepshow, Swamp Thing, and Escape from New York. During the 1990s, she became known for providing the voice of Catwoman on Batman: The Animated Series and subsequent Batman cartoon series. In the 2000s, she appeared in the HBO series Carnivàle as Ruthie the snake dancer.
Barbeau was born in Sacramento, California, the daughter of Armene (née Nalbandian) and Joseph Barbeau, who was a public relations executive for Mobil Oil.[1] Barbeau's father was French-Canadian and her mother Armenian-American.[2] She has a sister Jocelyn and a half brother on her father's side, Robert Barbeau, who still resides in the Sacramento area.[3] She attended Del Mar High School in San Jose, California. In her autobiography, Barbeau says that she first caught the show business bug while entertaining troops at army bases throughout Southeast Asia, touring with the San Jose Civic Light Opera.
In the 1990s, Barbeau mostly appeared in made-for-television films such as Scott Turow's The Burden of Proof in 1992, as well as playing Oswald's mother on The Drew Carey Show and gaining new-found fame among animation fans as Catwoman on Batman: The Animated Series and Gotham Girls. Coincidentally, Barbeau's on-screen son on The Drew Carey Show, Diedrich Bader, would go on to perform the voice of Batman on the animated series Batman: The Brave and the Bold.
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 Senator Kimara Cretak. In 1994, she also appeared in the Babylon 5 episode "A Spider in the Web" as Amanda Carter.
In 1998, Barbeau released her debut album as a folk singer, the self-titled Adrienne Barbeau. She starred in the cartoon series Totally Spies! doing the voice of villainess Helga Von Guggen in seasons 1, 2 and 4.
From 2003 to 2005, she starred in the HBO series Carnivàle. From March to May 2006, she starred as Judy Garland in the off-Broadway play The Property Known as Garland.[8]
Barbeau played a cameo role in Rob Zombie's Halloween, a "reimagining" of the 1978 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 but is included in the DVD version.
Barbeau's autobiography There Are Worse Things I Could Do was published in 2006 by Carroll & Graf, rising to #11 on the Los Angeles Times best-sellers list. In July 2008, her first novel, Vampyres of Hollywood, was published by St. Martin's Press. The novel was co-written by Michael Scott. The sequel hits bookstores in 2010.
In 2009, Barbeau was cast as "The Cat Lady" in the family comedy The Dog Who Saved Christmas, as Scooter's Mom in the 3D animated feature Fly Me to the Moon and as a hospice patient in the love-story "Reach For Me" .[citation needed]
Also in 2009, Barbeau has guest-spots in the first episode of Showtime's hit series Dexter (season 4), as well as on Grey's Anatomy.
She voiced the Greek goddess Hera in the video game God of War III released for the PlayStation 3 in March 2010. In August 2010 she began a role on the long running ABC daytime drama General Hospital.
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