Blair Brown
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blair Brown (born Bonnie Blair Brown on April 23, 1946, in Washington, District of Columbia) is an American actress.
Brown is a prolific film and TV 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 dramedy The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, which ran from 1987 to 1991. [1]
Contents |
[edit] Career
[edit] Early career
Brown pursued secondary education at the National Theater 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. [2]
[edit] Film
Brown's first feature film role was in the 1973 film The Paper Chase; her first major starring role was in The Choirboys in 1977. Among her other film credits were Altered States (opposite William Hurt), One Trick Pony, the film Stealing Home (opposite Mark Harmon), A Flash Of Green, and her most high-profile film role, playing the romantic partner for John Belushi in Continental Divide.
Brown's most recent appearance in a feature film as a performer was in the 2006 film The Sentinel (film).
[edit] Television
Brown appeared in several television movies and miniseries, primarily during the 1980s.
Among the appearances was a high-profile role as Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1983 TV miniseries Kennedy. She also appeared in several other programs about the Kennedys, as well as an appearance as Anna Roosevelt in a telefilm program about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.
Brown made other primetime appearances on The Rockford Files, Kojak, Frasier, Smallville, Touched by an Angel, ER, and Ed, among other programs.
Brown is perhaps best known for her four-year run (1987-1991) on the Emmy Award-winning comedy-drama The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. The show spent two years on NBC, then moved to the Lifetime cable channel for the remainder of its run. Brown played the title role, and she, and the show, earned a small but dedicated following.
[edit] Stage
Brown has been involved with theater since the launch of her career. Among her earlier roles was a run as Lucy Brown in the 1976 production of Brecht's The Threepenny Opera, directed by Joe Papp. She left the production for film work, but after being away from the production for eight months, an actress 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. [3]
Brown's first major appearance on the Broadway stage came in 1989, in the play "Secret Rapture", written by David Hare; she and Hare were a couple at the time.
Once "Molly Dodd" concluded, Brown became a prolific Broadway actress, appearing in a number of roles. Among her appearances 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 2000 for her appearance in the play Copenhagen. Brown also appeared in productions of the Wendy Wasserstein play Heidi Chronicles, A Little Night Music, and The Threepenny Opera.
Brown's current role is in the play "The Clean House", by playwright Sarah Ruhl. [4]
[edit] Narration
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 been the narrator for a number of audiobooks, including John Grisham's The Client, Stephen King's Rose Madder, and, more recently, Kevin Henkes' Olive's Ocean and Sue Miller's 2005 novel Lost in the Forest.
Brown was the narrator for the 2006 feature film Marie Antoinette, directed by Sofia Coppola. She has also been the narrator for numerous documentaries, including the scientific series "The Secret Life of the Brain", and over a half-dozen documentaries for PBS, mainly for the "American Experience" series. (The most recent documentary, on test-tube babies, aired in November 2006.)
[edit] Personal life
In addition to her relationship with Hare, Brown had a relationship with noted actor Richard Jordan. The two met during the filming of the miniseries Captain and the Kings in 1976. The couple lived together from 1976 to 1985, and they had one son, Robert, born in 1983. [5]
[edit] External links
- Blair Brown biography and filmography at All Movie Guide
- Blair Brown at the Internet Movie Database
- Blair Brown at the Internet Broadway Database
- Blair Brown Downstage Center XM radio interview by the American Theatre Wing, December 2006
- Leading Ladies Working in the Theatre CUNY-TV video by the [[American Theatre Wing], December 2006
- Performance Working in the Theatre CUNY-TV video by the [[American Theatre Wing], September 1989
