Bebe Neuwirth

Beatrice "Bebe" Neuwirth (/ˌbiːətrɪs ˌbiːbiː ˈnjuːwɜːrθ/; born December 31, 1958)^[1] is an American actress, singer and dancer. On television, she is known for her portrayal of Dr. Lilith Sternin, Dr. Frasier Crane's wife (later ex-wife), on both the TV sitcom Cheers (in a starring role), and its spin-off Frasier (in a recurring guest role). The role won her two Emmy Awards. On stage, she is known for her Tony Award winning roles of Nickie in the revival of Sweet Charity (1986), and Velma Kelly in the revival of Chicago (1996). Other Broadway musical roles include Morticia Addams in The Addams Family (2010). Since 2014, she has starred as Nadine Tolliver in the CBS drama Madam Secretary.

Early life

Neuwirth was born in Newark, New Jersey,^[1] the daughter of Sydney Anne Neuwirth,^[1] a painter,^[2] and Lee Paul Neuwirth,^[1] a mathematician.^[3] She has an older brother Peter, an actuary.^[4] Neuwirth is Jewish.^[5]

After graduating from Princeton High School in 1976,^[6]having studied ballet from the age of five, she chose it as her field of concentration when she attended Juilliard in New York City in 1976 and 1977,^[7] during which time she performed with the Princeton Ballet Company in Peter and the Wolf, The Nutcracker, and Coppélia, also appearing in community theater musicals.

Career

Theatre work

At the Annual Flea Market and Grand Auction hosted by Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, September 26, 2006.

Neuwirth made her Broadway debut in the role of Sheila in A Chorus Line in 1980. She later appeared in revivals of Little Me (1982) Sweet Charity (1986), for which she won the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical, and Damn Yankees (1994). 1996 saw her play Velma Kelly in the Broadway revival of Chicago. That role brought her her greatest stage recognition to date, and several awards including the Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Neuwirth would later return to the still-running revival of Chicago in 2006, this time as Roxie Hart.^[8]

She appeared in a musical revue Here Lies Jenny, that featured songs by Kurt Weill, sung and danced by Neuwirth and a four-person supporting cast, as part of an unspoken ambiguous story in an anonymous seedy bar possibly in Berlin in the 1930s. The show ran from May 7 through October 3, 2004, in the Zipper Theater in New York City.^[9] Here Lies Jenny was also presented by Neuwirth in San Francisco in 2005. In 2009, Neuwirth toured a one-woman cabaret show with pianist Scott Cady. The cabaret included music by Kurt Weill, Stephen Sondheim, Tom Waits, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, John Kander and Fred Ebb amongst others. In 2010, she returned to Broadway to create the role of Morticia Addams in the original production of The Addams Family opposite Nathan Lane.^[8][10]

Film and television

Her screen credits include Green Card, Bugsy, Say Anything..., Jumanji, Summer of Sam, Liberty Heights, Tadpole, The Associate, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Malice, The Big Bounce, The Faculty and Woody Allen's Celebrity.

At the Governor's Ball after winning the back-to-back Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series at The 43rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards, August 25, 1991

On television, from 1986 to 1993 Neuwirth played Dr. Lilith Sternin, who married Dr. Frasier Crane in the hit comedy series Cheers. From the fourth to the seventh season, Neuwirth portrayed Lilith in a regular recurring role, and she appeared on the show as a main star from season eight to the final season, season eleven. Like Kelsey Grammer when he started on the show as Frasier Crane, she was not immediately given star billing in the opening credits, but at the end for seasons eight and nine; she appeared in the opening credits with her own portrait in seasons ten and eleven. She auditioned for this role with her arm in a sling, following a fall a week earlier. She won two Emmy Awards for the role, in 1990 and 1991. The character also made an appearance in the series Wings and in 12 episodes of the Cheers spin-off Frasier, which earned her a 1995 Emmy Award nomination as Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series.

Other small-screen credits include a guest appearance in the second season of NewsRadio, a small role on The Adventures of Pete and Pete (episode: "The Call"), Deadline (2000), Hack (2003), Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999 as a modeling agent/suspect; 2005 as A.D.A Tracey Kibre), and the miniseries Wild Palms and the fourth season Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, First Contact, as Lanel.

She appeared as herself in episodes of Will and Grace, Strangers with Candy and Celebrity Jeopardy!. In 2009, she co-starred as Ms. Kraft in the remake of Fame. She recently had a recurring role as Caroline, the literary editor of Jonathan Ames, on the HBO series Bored to Death. She is currently a member of the cast in Madam Secretary on CBS.

In 1996, Neuwirth starred in a pilot for a TV series called Dear Diary for ABC which was not picked up.^[11] The producers had it edited slightly and put into a single theater for a single weekend in November 1996, and it became one of only two TV pilots to be nominated for an Oscar and the only one to win.^[12]

Personal life

Neuwirth's 1984 marriage to Paul Dorman ended in divorce.^[13] In 2009, she married Chris Calkins at the Players Club in Manhattan, in a ceremony officiated by actor Peter Coyote.^[13]

In May 2006, she had hip replacement surgery.^[14][15]

Filmography

Film

Television

Stage

Awards and nominations

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bebe Neuwirth.

External links

• Bebe Neuwirth at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Bebe Neuwirth at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• Bebe Neuwirth at the Internet Movie Database
• Bebe Neuwirth – Downstage Center interview at American Theatre Wing.org