Bebe Neuwirth
Bebe Neuwirth
Bebe Neuwirth
On television, her breakthrough role was as Dr. Lilith Sternin, Neuwirth at a showing of Chicago in
Frasier Crane's wife, on both the sitcom Cheers (in a starring Broadway on teachers' night, 2023
role) and its spin-off Frasier (in a recurring guest role). The role Born Beatrice Jane Neuwirth
won her two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding December 31, 1958
Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Neuwirth was cast as
Newark, New Jersey,
Bureau Chief/ADA Tracey Kibre in NBC's Law & Order: Trial
U.S.
by Jury which ran for 2005 to 2006. She starred as Nadine
Tolliver in the CBS political drama Madam Secretary from Alma mater Juilliard School
2014 to 2017. She also appeared in Blue Bloods (2013–2019), Occupations Actress · singer ·
and The Good Fight (2018–2021), and is currently featured in dancer
Julia.
Years active 1980–present
In film, she portrayed Nora Shepherd in the original Jumanji Spouses Paul Dorman
(1995) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Other film roles
(m. 1984; div. 1991)
include Say Anything... (1989), Green Card (1990), Bugsy
(1991), Celebrity (1998), Summer of Sam (1999), and How to Chris Calkins (m. 2009)
Lose a Guy in 10 Days (2003).
Early life
Neuwirth was born in Newark, New Jersey.[2][1][3] Her father, Lee Neuwirth, was a mathematician
who taught at Princeton University and also designed an encryption device while working at the
Institute for Defense Analyses.[3] Her mother, Sydney Anne Neuwirth, is a painter who also danced as
an amateur for the Princeton Regional Ballet Company.[3] She has an older brother Peter, a
mathematician and actuary who graduated from Harvard.[3] In her youth, Neuwirth rebelled against
authority, being placed in custody for smoking marijuana when she was 13.[3]
Neuwirth started taking ballet lessons at the age of five, a year after viewing a production of The
Nutcracker with her mother.[3] She desired to be a ballet dancer until her early teens, when she
realized how restricted her technique was, as well as the standard of ballet education where she
lived.[3] Upon viewing the musical Pippin in Manhattan at 13, she changed her future plans from
becoming a ballerina to being a Broadway musical dancer.[3] After graduating from Princeton High
School in 1976,[4] she attended the Juilliard School for dance and left after only a year, disliking the
school for having a "stifling creative environment" and no Broadway-style dance training.[5]
Immediately after leaving Juilliard in 1977, she took singing and jazz classes at a New York City-based
YWCA,[5] one of them taught by Joan Morton Lucas, who appeared in the film Singin' in the Rain
(1952) and the original Broadway production of Kiss Me Kate.[6] She performed with the Princeton
Ballet Company in Peter and the Wolf, The Nutcracker, and Coppélia, also appearing in community
theater musicals.
Career
Theater work
Studying acting for two years under Suzanne Shepard,[7] 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 a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical; and
Damn Yankees (1994).
1996 saw Neuwirth play Velma Kelly in the Broadway revival of Chicago.
She described the difficulty level of the role as "like performing
microsurgery from 8 to 10:20."[6] That role brought her her greatest stage
recognition to date and several awards including a Tony Award, Drama
Desk Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Leading Actress in a
Musical. Neuwirth would later return to the revival of Chicago in 2006,
Neuwirth at the Annual Flea this time as Roxie Hart.[8] In 2014 she returned again, this time playing
Market and Grand Auction "Mama" Morton, making her the first person to play three different
hosted by Broadway characters at three separate times during the course of a single Broadway
Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, run.
September 26, 2006.
She appeared in the musical revue Here Lies Jenny which 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.[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]
In 2019, Neuwirth returned to the stage with the Philadelphia Theatre Company, appearing at the
Suzanne Roberts Theater in Philadelphia.[10]
Neuwirth's dip into the film industry began in 1989 with small roles in films such as Say Anything...
(1989), Pacific Heights (1990), and Penny Ante (1990).[13] In 1990 she started doing supporting roles
in films including Green Card (1990), Bugsy (1991), and Malice (1993), in all of which she received
acclaim from critics for her performances.[13] Her first lead role came in 1993, when she played a
married woman attracted to one of her neighbors in the psychological thriller comedy film The Paint
Job.[13]
Her other credits include Jumanji, Summer of Sam, Liberty Heights, An Extremely Goofy Movie, The
Adventures of Pinocchio, Tadpole, The Associate, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, The Big Bounce, Le
Divorce, The Faculty, and Woody Allen's Celebrity. In 1996, she starred in a pilot for a TV series
called Dear Diary for ABC which was not picked up.[14] 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.[15]
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) as ADA Tracey Kibre, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999) as a
modeling agent/suspect, 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 & Grace, Strangers with Candy and Celebrity Jeopardy!.
In 2009, she co-starred as Ms. Kraft in the remake of Fame. She had a recurring role as Caroline, the
literary editor of Jonathan Ames, on the HBO series Bored to Death. She also had a recurring role on
Blue Bloods.
She starred as Nadine Tolliver in the 2014 CBS political drama Madam Secretary. In October 2017,
Neuwirth announced her decision to leave the series after four seasons. No reason was given.[16] She
later reprised the role of Nora Shepherd in Jumanji: The Next Level in 2019; the film grossed 800
million dollars worldwide and received positive reviews from critics.
Personal life
In 1984, Neuwirth married Paul Dorman.[17] She met him in 1982 after she performed a revue at
O'Neal's restaurant in New York, where he was bartending.[17] The two divorced in 1991.[17] In 2009,
she married director, producer and writer Chris Calkins at The Players club in Manhattan, in a
ceremony officiated by actor Peter Coyote.[18]
In a 2004 article in the newspaper J. The Jewish News of Northern California, she was reported as
describing herself as Jewish – a "plain Jew" with "no training".[2] In a 2011 interview she said that she
was an "atheist" who "believe[d] in unseen and unproved things" such as reincarnation.[6]
Neuwirth has supported and worked for several non-profit charity organizations.[19] Following two
hip replacement surgeries,[20][21] and after hearing stories of other dancers facing hip problems,
Neuwirth was moved to establish the Dancers’ Resource program at The Actors Fund, which caters to
financial and physical needs unique to professional dancers.[19][6] Neuwirth currently serves as vice
chair on the board of trustees for The Actors Fund.[22] She has also helped Seeds of Peace.[19]
As an animal lover,[19] she has contributed to the Chatham, New York-based horse rescue group
Equine Advocates and the annual pet adoption event Broadway Barks.[23] Neuwirth is particularly
fond of cats.[23] In the 1990s, she owned one, Frankie, that she named after architect and writer Frank
Lloyd Wright.[17] As of August 2016, she had a black cat, Bobby, a long-haired calico cat, Tallulah, and
a mixed Siamese cat, Billie.[23]
In her free time, she enjoys pottery, which she first did in high school.[19]
Filmography
Film
2002 The Adventures of Tom Thumb and Thumbelina Thumbelina's Mother Voice[24]
How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days Lana Jong
2003
Le Divorce Julia Manchevering
1992 Wings Dr. Lilith Sternin-Crane Episode: "Planes, Trains and Visiting Cranes"
1993 Wild Palms Tabba Schwartzkopf 5 episodes
The Magic School Bus Flora Whiff Voice, episode: "Makes a Stink"[24]
1997
Episode: "Old Green Teeth/The Elephant Who
Jungle Cubs La La
Couldn't Say No"
2004 Will & Grace Herself Episode: "No Sex 'N' the City"
Law & Order: Special
2005 A.D.A. Tracey Kibre Episode: "Night"
Victims Unit
Year Title Role Notes
2005–2006 Law & Order: Trial by Jury A.D.A. Tracey Kibre 13 episodes
2014 Over the Garden Wall Margueritte Grey Voice, episode: "Mad Love"[24]
New York Is Dead Sylvia Episode #1.1
2017 Episode: "I Came Up with Christmas – A
The President Show Herself
President Show Christmas"
2021 Ultra City Smiths Lady Andrea The Giant Voice, 5 episodes
2021–
Teenage Euthanasia Baba Voice, 17 episodes
present
2022 Duncanville Patricia (voice) 2 episodes
2022–
Julia Avis DeVoto Main role
present
Stage
Encores!
1996 Chicago Velma Kelly
Broadway
1999 The Threepenny Opera Jenny Diver ACT San Francisco
2009 Chicago
The Addams Family Morticia Addams
2010 Broadway
Audiobooks
2003 Satellite Awards Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture Tadpole Nominated
References
1. "Bebe Neuwirth" (https://web.archive.org/web/20150716060123/https://www.tvguide.com/celebritie
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2. Bloom, Nate (June 25, 2004). "Celebrity Jews: Bebe and Lilith" (http://www.jewishsf.com/content/2
-0-/module/displaystory/story_id/22838/edition_id/457/format/html/displaystory.html). J. San
Francisco Jewish Community Publications. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/2012052713493
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3. Bjorklund, Dennis (2014). Cheers TV Show: A Comprehensive Reference (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=pEN6sTeG20AC&q=Bebe+Neuwirth&pg=PA99). Praetorian Publishing. p. 99.
ISBN 9780967985237. Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20230810054839/https://books.goo
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5. Bjorklund, p. 100.
6. Dulin, Dann (December 2011). "Bebe Neuwirth" (http://aumag.org/2011/12/11/bebe-neuwirth/).
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7. Painter, Jamie (February 21, 2001). "TO THE POINTE – Whether dancing, singing, or acting,
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8. Bebe Neuwirth (https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/54414) at the Internet Broadway
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9. Jones, Kenneth (August 27, 2004). "Jenny Made Her Mind Up: Here Lies Jenny Will Extend One
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13. Bjorklund, p. 103.
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(https://deadline.com/2017/10/bebe-neuwirth-exits-madam-secretary-cbs-drama-series-12021929
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Rescue" (https://www.catster.com/lifestyle/bebe-neuwirth-interview-cats-animal-rescue-broadway-
barks-cheers-lilith-crane-madam-secretary-nadine-tolliver). Catster. Archived (https://web.archive.
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24. "Bebe Neuwirth (visual voices guide)" (http://www.behindthevoiceactors.com/Bebe-Neuwirth/).
Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved October 21, 2023. A green check mark indicates that a role
has been confirmed using a screenshot (or collage of screenshots) of a title's list of voice actors
and their respective characters found in its opening and/or closing credits and/or other reliable
sources of information.
25. Hood, Cooper (December 25, 2019). "Jumanji: The Next Level Brought Back Star Of Original
Movie" (https://screenrant.com/jumanji-3-original-movie-cast-cameo/). Screen Rant. Archived (http
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External links
Bebe Neuwirth (https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/54414) at the Internet Broadway
Database
Bebe Neuwirth (http://www.iobdb.com/CreditableEntity/158) at the Internet Off-Broadway
Database
Bebe Neuwirth (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001564/) at IMDb
Bebe Neuwirth (https://soundcloud.com/american-theatre-wing/episode2) – Downstage Center
interview at American Theatre Wing.org