Brenda Vaccaro

Early life

Vaccaro was born in Brooklyn, New York, to Italian-American parents Christine M. Pavia and Mario A. Vaccaro, a restaurateur. She was raised in Dallas, Texas, where her parents, in 1943, founded Mario's Restaurant, and where she graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School.

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.

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). 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). She was featured on the May 29, 1970 cover of Life magazine.

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.

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.

Vaccaro was lampooned by Andrea Martin on SCTV for a groundbreaking 1980 commercial appearance for feminine hygiene products.

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.

She played Jack Kevorkian's (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...

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.

Filmography

Film

Television

Video games

Stage

References

References

1. "Vaccaro, Brenda 1939-". [[Cengage]].
2. "Brenda Vaccaro profile". [[Yahoo! Movies]].
3. "Texas Obituaries July 1999 - July 2001: Vaccaro, Christine Pavia". TexasAlmanac.com.
4. Wuntch, Philip. (August 17, 2006). "'Boynton' star Brenda Vaccaro's still got the sass". [[The Dallas Morning News]] via [[The Providence Journal]].
5. "Past Recipients". [[Theatre World Awards]].
6. Miller, Daryl H.. (March 22, 1998). "Vivacious With a Capital 'V'". [[Los Angeles Times]].
7. "Brenda Vaccaro". [[Playbill]].
8. (May 29, 1970). "The Mayor, The Mob and The Lawyer".
9. Talk, Film. (2015-04-20). "Brenda Vaccaro: "Actors can bring so much that you never even thought about"".
10. "Jacqueline Susann's Once Is Not Enough, Golden Globes". Golden Globe Awards.
11. "The Shape Of Things, Television Academy". Television Academy.
12. (March 28, 2021). "Brenda Vaccaro is having a good time".
13. Gans, Andrew. (August 2, 2015). "Brenda Vaccaro Will Replace Valerie Harper in ''Nice Work''". Playbill.
14. Holmes, Martin. (July 30, 2021). "'And Just Like That…' Casts Brenda Vaccaro and Ivan Hernandez In Recurring Roles".
15. (2019-09-06). "Brenda Vaccaro Talks Friendship With Longtime Pal Barbra Streisand: 'We Grew Up Together' on Broadway".
16. "Brenda Vaccaro (visual voices guide)".
17. (1961-10-20). "The Theatre: Everybody Loves Eileen".
18. "Everybody Loves Opal – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
19. "The Affair – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
20. "Children From Their Games – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
21. "Cactus Flower – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
22. "The Natural Look – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
23. "How Now, Dow Jones – Broadway Musical – Original {{!}} IBDB".
24. "The Goodbye People – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
25. "Father's Day – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
26. "The Odd Couple – Broadway Play – 1985 Revival {{!}} IBDB".
27. "Jake's Women – Broadway Play – Original {{!}} IBDB".
28. Gans, Andrew. (2015-08-02). "Brenda Vaccaro Will Replace Valerie Harper in Nice Work".