Brenda Vaccaro
{{short description|American actress (born 1939)}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2020}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2020}}
{{Infobox actor
| image = Brenda Vaccaro.JPG
| caption = Vaccaro in Where It's At (1969)
| birthname = Brenda Buell Vaccaro
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1939|11|18}}
| birth_place = Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| education = Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre
| occupation = Actress
| yearsactive = 1961–present
| spouse = {{plainlist|
- {{marriage|Martin Fried|1965|1970|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|William Bishop|1977|1978|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Charles Cannizzaro|1981|1982|end=divorced}}
- {{marriage|Guy Hector|1986}}
}}
| partner = Michael Douglas (1971–1976)
}}
Brenda Buell Vaccaro (born November 18, 1939){{cite web |title=Vaccaro, Brenda 1939- |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/vaccaro-brenda-1939 |website=Encyclopedia.com |publisher=Cengage |access-date=January 21, 2023}} is an American stage, film and television actress. In a career spanning over half a century, she received one Academy Award nomination, three Golden Globe Award nominations (winning one), four Primetime Emmy Award nominations (winning one), and three Tony Award nominations.
Early life
Vaccaro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian-American parents Christine M. Pavia and Mario A. Vaccaro, a restaurateur.{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800014473/bio|title=Brenda Vaccaro profile|publisher=Yahoo! Movies|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110522100527/http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800014473/bio|archive-date=May 22, 2011}} She was raised in Dallas, Texas, where her parents, in 1943, founded Mario's Restaurant,{{cite web|url=https://texasalmanac.com/index.php?q=topics/obituaries/u-v|title=Texas Obituaries July 1999 - July 2001: Vaccaro, Christine Pavia|publisher=TexasAlmanac.com|access-date=July 3, 2018}} and where she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School.{{cite web|url=http://www.projo.com/sharedcontent/movies/movienews2/081706ccdrMOVIESvaccaro.b7a539d.html|publisher=The Dallas Morning News via The Providence Journal|title='Boynton' star Brenda Vaccaro's still got the sass|date=August 17, 2006|first=Philip|last=Wuntch|access-date= August 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060903181848/http://www.projo.com/sharedcontent/movies/movienews2/081706ccdrMOVIESvaccaro.b7a539d.html|archive-date=September 3, 2006}}
At 17, she returned to New York City to study acting under the guidance of Sanford Meisner at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre, and made her Broadway debut in the short-lived 1961 comedy Everybody Loves Opal, for which she won a Theatre World Award.{{cite web| url = http://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html |title= Past Recipients| publisher=Theatre World Awards| access-date= May 3, 2015|archive-date=October 4, 2015 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20151004022514/http://www.theatreworldawards.org/past-recipients.html| url-status=live}}
Career
Vaccaro's Broadway credits include The Affair (1962), Cactus Flower (1965), the musical How Now, Dow Jones (1967), The Goodbye People (1968), the female version of The Odd Couple (1985), and Jake's Women (1992).{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Daryl H. |date=March 22, 1998 |title=Vivacious With a Capital 'V' |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-mar-22-ca-31359-story.html |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=May 3, 2015}} The husky-voiced actress is a three-time Tony Award nominee, for Best Featured Actress in a Play (Cactus Flower), Best Actress in a Musical (Dow Jones), and Best Actress in a Play (The Goodbye People).{{cite news |title=Brenda Vaccaro |url=https://www.playbill.com/person/brenda-vaccaro-vault-0000044084 |work=Playbill |access-date=May 3, 2015}} She was featured on the May 29, 1970 cover of Life magazine.{{cite magazine |title=The Mayor, The Mob and The Lawyer |magazine=Life |date=May 29, 1970}}
Vaccaro appeared with Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy, for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. She played Ethel Rosenberg in Stanley Kramer's Judgment: The Trial of Julius and Ethel Rosenberg in 1974, and for her performance in the 1975 film adaptation of Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough, she gained an Academy Award nomination and won the Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.{{Cite web|last=Talk|first=Film|date=2015-04-20|title=Brenda Vaccaro: "Actors can bring so much that you never even thought about"|url=https://filmtalk.org/2015/04/20/brenda-vaccaro-actors-can-bring-so-much-that-you-never-even-thought-about/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=FILM TALK|language=en}}{{cite web |url=https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/jacqueline-susanns-once-not-enough |title=Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough, Golden Globes |publisher=Golden Globe Awards |access-date=February 17, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217030938/https://www.goldenglobes.com/film/jacqueline-susanns-once-not-enough |archive-date=February 17, 2019 }}
Additional screen credits include Airport '77; Capricorn One; The Pride of Jesse Hallam, Supergirl; The Mirror Has Two Faces; Heart of Midnight; Zorro, The Gay Blade; and Death Weekend, also known as House by the Lake.
Her television credits include the title role in the 1976 series Sara, a number of television movies, and a regular role in the short-lived 1984 series Paper Dolls, in addition to guest appearances on Banacek, The Fugitive, The Defenders, Coronet Blue, The Name of the Game, Marcus Welby, M.D., McCloud, The Streets of San Francisco, The Love Boat, St. Elsewhere, Murder, She Wrote, The Golden Girls, Columbo, Touched by an Angel, Friends (as the mother of Matt LeBlanc's "Joey"), The King of Queens, and Nip/Tuck. She was nominated for an Emmy Award three times and won for Best Supporting Actress in Comedy-Variety, Variety or Music for The Shape of Things in 1974.{{cite web |url=https://www.emmys.com/shows/shape-things |title=The Shape Of Things, Television Academy |publisher=Television Academy |access-date=February 17, 2019 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190217034213/https://www.emmys.com/shows/shape-things |archive-date=February 17, 2019}}
Vaccaro was lampooned by Andrea Martin on SCTV for a groundbreaking 1980 commercial appearance for feminine hygiene products.{{Cite web|title=Brenda Vaccaro is having a good time|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/brenda-vaccaro-is-having-a-good-time/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=www.cbsnews.com|date=March 28, 2021 |language=en-US}}
She supplied the voice for Johnny Bravo's mother Bunny Bravo in the animated cartoon series. She was the first voice of Jay's (Jon Lovitz)'s ex-wife Ardeth on The Critic. She made an appearance on The Smurfs as Scruple, an apprentice of Gargamel, opposite Paul Winchell.
After ill health forced Valerie Harper to bow out of the production of Nice Work If You Can Get It at the Ogunquit Playhouse (Maine), Vaccaro took over the role of Millicent Winter for the remaining performances of the limited run from August 4–15, 2015.{{cite web | last=Gans | first=Andrew | url=https://www.playbill.com/news/article/brenda-vaccaro-will-replace-valerie-harper-in-nice-work-355616 | title=Brenda Vaccaro Will Replace Valerie Harper in Nice Work | work=Playbill | date=August 2, 2015 | access-date=November 3, 2021}}
She played Al Pacino's sister in You Don't Know Jack (2010). She plays Gloria Marquette in the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That...{{Cite web|last=Holmes|first=Martin|title='And Just Like That…' Casts Brenda Vaccaro and Ivan Hernandez In Recurring Roles|url=https://www.tvinsider.com/1007603/and-just-like-that-casts-brenda-vaccaro-and-ivan-hernandez-in-recurring-roles/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=TV Insider|date=July 30, 2021 |language=en-US}}
Personal life
She entered a nearly seven-year relationship with Summertree co-star Michael Douglas in 1971. She guest-starred in two episodes of The Streets of San Francisco, the TV crime drama in which Douglas co-starred from 1972 to 1977.
She has been friends with Barbra Streisand since they both appeared on Broadway in the early 1960s. Streisand directed her in The Mirror Has Two Faces.{{Cite web|date=2019-09-06|title=Brenda Vaccaro Talks Friendship With Longtime Pal Barbra Streisand: 'We Grew Up Together' on Broadway|url=https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/brenda-vaccaro-talks-friendship-with-barbra-streisand-interview/|access-date=2022-01-16|website=Closer Weekly|language=en-US}}
Filmography
=Film=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1969
| Molly Hirsch | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress |
| 1969
| Shirley | Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
| 1970
| Jody Burrows | |
| 1971
| Jenny | |
| 1972
| Vanetta | |
| 1975
| Linda Riggs | Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture |
| 1976
| Diane | Released in the USA under the title House by the Lake |
| 1977
| Kay Brubaker | Nominated—Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress |
| 1977
| Eve Clayton | |
| 1979
| Fast Charlie... the Moonbeam Rider | Grace Wolf | |
| 1980
| {{sortname|The|First Deadly Sin}} | Monica Gilbert | |
| 1981
| Florinda | |
| 1984
| Bianca | |
| 1985
| Water | Dolores Thwaites | |
| 1988
| Betty | |
| 1989
| Marion Marshall | |
| 1989
| Cookie | Bunny | |
| 1990
| Lethal Games | Stella Hudson | |
| 1991
| Masque of the Red Death | Elaina Hart | |
| 1994
| Nora Stillman | |
| 1996
| {{sortname|The|Mirror Has Two Faces}} | Doris | |
| 2002
| Sonny | Meg | |
| 2003
| Charlotte's Web 2: Wilbur's Great Adventure | Mrs. Hirsch | Voice |
| 2005
| Marilyn | |
| 2016
| Kameyo | Voice |
| 2017
| Ida Krumble | |
| 2017
| 30-Love | Hellen | |
| 2019
| Once Upon a Time in Hollywood | Mary Alice Schwarz | |
| 2025
| Burt | Patty Green | |
| 2025
| Nonnas | Antonella | |
=Television=
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Year
! Title ! Role ! class="unsortable" | Notes |
|---|
| 1961
| Rosa Alloro | Episode: "The Corpse Ran Down Mulberry Street" |
| 1963
| {{sortname|The|Fugitive|The Fugitive (1963 TV series)}} | Joanne Spencer | Episode: "See Hollywood and Die" |
| 1966
| Jenny Penny | Episode: "My Lucky Penny" |
| 1969
| Gerri Coates, the waitress | Episode: "Scapegoat" |
| 1971
| What's a Nice Girl like You...? | Shirley | Television movie |
| 1972
| Marilyn Hoffman | Episode: "House of Mirrors" |
| 1972
| The Streets of San Francisco | Police Officer Sherry Reese | Episode: "Act of Duty" |
| 1972
| McCloud | Police Officer Margaret Sereno | Episode: "The Park Avenue Rustlers" |
| 1972
| Banacek | Sharon Clark | Episode: "To Steal a King" |
| 1973
| Honor Thy Father | Rosalie Bonnano | Television movie |
| 1973
| The Shape of Things | Herself | Television special |
| 1974
| The Streets of San Francisco | Hit Woman Sidney (AKA Sally Banning) | Episode: "The Most Deadly Species" |
| 1976
| Sara | Sara Yarnell | 12 episodes |
| 1976
| Sara Yarnell | Television movie – compiled from footage shot for the television series Sara |
| 1977
| Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey | Tilly (voice) | Television special |
| 1979
| Dear Detective | Det. Sgt. Kate Hudson | 4 episodes |
| 1980
| Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones | Jane Briggs | Television movie |
| 1981
| Lillian Jacobs | Television movie |
| 1981
| The Star Maker | Dolores Baker | Television movie |
| 1981
| Marion Galucci | Television movie |
| 1983
| Fame | Herself | Episode: "Blood Sweat & Circuits" |
| 1984
| Julia Blake | 13 episodes |
| 1984
| Rose Orso | Episode: "The Women" |
| 1984
| {{sortname|The|Love Boat}} | Eleanor Savage | 2 episodes |
| 1984–1989
| Scruple / various (voice) | 53 episodes |
| 1985
| Deceptions | Helen Adams | Television movie |
| 1985
| Auntie Freeze (voice) | 2 episodes; uncredited |
| 1986–1987
| Herself | Episodes airing December 22-26, 1986 & March 9-13, 1987 |
| 1987
| {{sortname|The|Jetsons Meet the Flintstones}} | Didi (voice) | Television movie |
| 1988
| Mimi Harcourt | Episode: "Just Another Fish Story" |
| 1990
| Didi Blair | Episode: "The Fixer-Upper" |
| 1990
| Sheila Kowalski Finley | Episode: "The Family Jewels" |
| 1990
| {{sortname|The|Golden Girls}} | Angela Petrillo | Episode: "Ebbtide's Revenge" |
| 1990
| Columbo | Jess McCurdy | Episode: "Murder in Malibu" |
| 1990
| Stolen: One Husband | Lisa Jarrett | Television movie |
| 1991
| Slim (voice) | Episode: "You Sweat Your Life" |
| 1992
| Actress | Episode: "Oceans White the Phone" |
| 1992
| Martha | Television movie |
| 1992
| Gilda (voice) | Episode: "Date with Destiny" |
| 1994
| Cecile | Television movie |
| 1994
| Ardeth (voice) | 5 episodes |
| 1994–1995
| Captain Planet and the Planeteers | Chi / Marge (voice) | 2 episodes |
| 1995
| Friends | Gloria Tribbiani | Episode: "The One with the Boobies" |
| 1996
| Al | Episode: "Out of the Darkness" |
| 1996
| Siegfried & Roy: Masters of the Impossible | (voice) | Unknown episodes |
| 1997
| Melissa (voice) | Episode: "Johnny Bravo and the Amazon Women" |
| 1997
| Karen Horowitz | Episode: "The Attitude" |
| 1997–1999
| Spawn | Additional voices | 5 episodes |
| 1997–2004
| Bunny Bravo / various (voice) | 55 episodes |
| 1998
| {{sortname|The|King of Queens}} | Sheila Rednester | Episode: "Paternal Affairs" |
| 2001
| Becker | Bob's Mother | Episode: "The Ghost of Christmas Presents" |
| 2002
| Selma Williams | Television movie |
| 2004
| Lina | Television movie |
| 2005
| Strip Club Manager (voice) | Episode: "Stan Knows Best" |
| 2006
| Nip/Tuck | Beatrice Madsen | Episode: "Diana Lubey" |
| 2006
| {{sortname|The|War at Home|The War at Home (TV series)}} | Barbara | Episode: "The West Palm Beach Story" |
| 2010
| Margo Janus | Television movie |
| 2011
| Johnny Bravo Goes to Bollywood | Bunny Bravo (voice) | Television film |
| 2017
| Gypsy | Claire Rogers | 8 episodes |
| 2017
| Ellen | Episode: "Get It, Arthur" |
| 2018
| Godmonster (voice) | Episode: "Monster Visit" |
| 2020
| The Boss Baby: Back in Business | Midge Marksberry (voice) | Episode: "Teambuilding" |
| 2021
| Gloria Marquette | 2 episodes |
Stage
| class="wikitable"
|+ !Year !Title !Role(s) !Venue !Notes !Ref. |
| 1961
|Gloria |Broadway debut |{{Cite magazine |date=1961-10-20 |title=The Theatre: Everybody Loves Eileen |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,872819,00.html |access-date=2022-06-13 |issn=0040-781X}}{{Cite web |title=Everybody Loves Opal – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/everybody-loves-opal-2883 |access-date=2022-06-13 |website=www.ibdb.com}} |
| 1962
|Laura Howard | |
| 1963
|Children From Their Games |Melissa Peabody | |
| 1965
|Toni |Tony Award nomination |
| 1967
|The Natural Look |Reedy Harris |Longacre Theatre | |
| 1967
|Cynthia |Tony Award nomination |
| 1968
|Nancy Scott |Tony Award nomination |
| 1971
|Louise | |
| 1985
|Olive Madison | |
| 1992
|Karen | |
| 2015
|Millicent Winter | |
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{AFI person | 23870-Brenda-Vaccaro }}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{IMDb name|882853}}
- {{Tcmdb name|196125%7C23870}}
{{Navboxes
|title = Awards for Brenda Vaccaro
|list =
{{EmmyAward VarietyPerformance 1976-2000}}
{{GoldenGlobeBestSuppActressMotionPicture 1961-1980}}
{{Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress Series Miniseries or Television Film}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaccaro, Brenda}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:21st-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Dallas
Category:American people of Italian descent
Category:American film actresses
Category:American stage actresses
Category:American television actresses
Category:American voice actresses
Category:Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe (film) winners
Category:Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre alumni
Category:Actresses from Brooklyn