Bernadette Peters

Throughout her illustrious career, Bernadette Peters has dazzled audiences and critics with her performances on stage and television, in concert, and on recordings. She is one of the most critically-acclaimed Broadway performers, having received nominations for seven Tony Awards, winning two, and eight Drama Desk Awards, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards. Recently, she has been starring on Broadway as Dolly Gallagher Levi in the hit musical, Hello, Dolly!Bernadette was born Bernadette Lazzara on February 28, 1948 in Queens, New York City, to Marguerite (Maltese) and Peter Lazzara, a bread delivery truck driver. She is of Sicilian descent.

Bernadette first performed on the stage as a child and then a teenage actor in the 1960s, and in film and television in the 1970s.

She was praised for this early work and for appearances on The Muppet Show (1976), The Carol Burnett Show (1991) and in other television work, and for her roles in films like Silent Movie (1976), The Jerk (1979), Pennies from Heaven (1981) and Annie (1982).

She was involved with Steve Martin, her co-star in The Jerk (1979) and Pennies from Heaven (1981), prior to his marriage to Victoria Tennant.

In the 1980s, she returned to the theatre, where she became one of the best-known Broadway stars over the next three decades. She also has recorded six solo albums and several singles, as well as many cast albums, and performs regularly in her own solo concert act. Peters is particularly noted for her starring roles in stage musicals, including "Song and Dance", "Sunday in the Park with George", "Into the Woods", "Annie Get Your Gun" and "Gypsy", becoming closely associated with composer Stephen Sondheim. Peters continues to act in films and on television, where she has been nominated for three Emmy Awards and three Golden Globe Awards, winning once.

Is one of 20 actresses who did not receive an Oscar nomination for their Best Actress in a Comedy/Musical Golden Globe-winning performance; hers being for Pennies from Heaven (1981). The others, in chronological order, are: June Allyson for Too Young to Kiss (1951), Ethel Merman for Call Me Madam (1953), Jean Simmons for Guys and Dolls (1955), Taina Elg and Kay Kendall for Les Girls (1957), Marilyn Monroe for Some Like It Hot (1959), Rosalind Russell for A Majority of One (1961) and Gypsy (1962), Patty Duke for Me, Natalie (1969), Twiggy for The Boy Friend (1971), Raquel Welch for The Three Musketeers (1973), Barbra Streisand for A Star is Born (1976), Kathleen Turner for Romancing the Stone (1984) and Prizzi's Honor (1985), Miranda Richardson for Enchanted April (1991), Jamie Lee Curtis for True Lies (1994), Nicole Kidman for To Die For (1995), Madonna for Evita (1996), Renée Zellweger for Nurse Betty (2000), Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky (2008), and Amy Adams for Big Eyes (2014).

Has won two Tony Awards as Best Actress (Musical): In 1986 for "Song and Dance" and in 1999 for a revival of "Annie Get Your Gun". In addition, she has received five other Tony nominations: one as Best Supporting or Featured Actress (Musical) in 1972 for a revival of "On the Town"; and four other Best Actress (Musical) nominations: in 1975 for "Mack and Mabel"; in 1984 for "Sunday in the Park with George", a performance she recreated in the television version with the same title, American Playhouse: Sunday in the Park with George (1986); in 1993 for "The Goodbye Girl"; and in 2003 for a revival of "Gypsy".

She was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theater at 6706 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 23, 1987.

Inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame in 2002.

Was on Broadway in the revival of "Gypsy" in 2003-2004. She performed in the show for a year and did over 500 performances. Peters was offered a national tour of the show, but bowed out saying, "I love this show and the role of Rose, but after playing her for a year she has worn me totally out!" The role of Mama Rose is considered one of the greatest and most difficult roles for a musical theater actress.

Her husband, Michael Wittenberg died in a helicopter crash in Montenegro, Europe on September 26, 2005. An investment advisor, he was reportedly on a business trip.

Awarded the President's Award at the 11th Annual 'Mr. Abbott' Awards Dinner.

Received the Drama League Award for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre in May 2013 in recognition of her contribution to the musical theatre.

Her career boasts an impressive list of television credits, which includes Amazon Prime's highly popular, Mozart in the Jungle, which won the 2016 Golden Globe for Best TV Comedy or Musical series. She also co-stars in the new CBS All Access series, The Good Fight, a spin-off of the network's popular series, The Good Wife. One of Broadway's most critically acclaimed performers, Peters has won numerous accolades including being the recipient of three Tony Awards, a Golden Globe, three Grammy nominations, three Emmy nominations and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Peters' albums include the Grammy nominated I'll Be Your Baby Tonight, Sondheim, Etc. : Bernadette Peters Live at Carnegie Hall, and Bernadette Peters Loves Rodgers & Hammerstein, in addition to numerous Grammy Award winning Broadway Cast recordings. Peters devotes her time and talents to numerous events that benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Her "pet project" Broadway Barks, co-founded with Mary Tyler Moore, is an annual, star-studded dog and cat adoption event that benefits shelter animals throughout the New York City area. She is a New York Times bestselling author who has penned three children's books, Broadway Barks, Stella Is a Star and Stella and Charlie: Friends Forever. All of her proceeds from the sale of these books benefit Broadway Barks.

Replaced Bette Midler on Broadway in "Hello Dolly"{Jan.2018}.