Bernadette Peters (; born February 28, 1948) is an American actress and singer. Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards, winning two (plus an honorary award), and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
According to a 1999 New York Times profile, Peters is "considered by many to be the premier interpreter" of the works of Stephen Sondheim.Witchel, Alex. "A True Star, Looking for Places to Shine". The New York Times, February 28, 1999, p. AR5, retrieved March 28, 2008. On Broadway, she created roles in the premieres of Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (1984) and Into the Woods (1987), and starred in revivals of his A Little Night Music and Follies. She created other Broadway roles in Mack and Mabel (1974) and Song and Dance (1985) and starred in Broadway revivals of The Goodbye Girl (1993), Annie Get Your Gun (1999), Gypsy (2003), and Hello, Dolly! (2018). She co-starred in the revue Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends both in the West End (2023) and on Broadway (2025). She has recorded six solo albums and many cast albums, and has performed regularly in solo concert acts.
Peters first performed on the stage as a child actress and then a teenager in the 1960s, and in film and television from the 1970s. She was praised for this early work and for appearances on, among other programs, The Muppet Show and The Carol Burnett Show, and for her roles in films including Silent Movie (1976), The Jerk (1979), Pennies from Heaven (1981, for which she won a Golden Globe Award), and Annie (1982). She has also acted in television shows such as Animaniacs (1993–1998), Ally McBeal (2001), Smash (2012–2013), Mozart in the Jungle (2014–2018), The Good Fight (2017–2018), Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist (2020–2021) and High Desert (2023).
Early life and family Peters was born on February 28, 1948,"Bernadette Peters", New York Theatre Guide. Retrieved April 10, 2025 into an Italian-American family in Ozone Park in the New York City borough of Queens, the youngest of three children.Okamoto, Sandra. "Broadway star and Tony award winner Bernadette Peters comes to the RiverCenter Saturday" , Ledger-Enquirer (Columbus, Georgia), September 27, 2012. Her mother, Marguerite (née Maltese),Marzlock, Ron. "Before winning a Tony she grew up in Ozone Park", Queens Chronicle, April 16, 2020. started her in show business by putting her on the television show Juvenile Jury at the age of three and a half. Her father, Peter Lazzara, drove a bread delivery truck. Her siblings are casting director Donna DeSetaSiegel, Micki. "Shell of a Life", New York Post, December 27, 2012. and Joseph Lazzara."Peters Family", tcm.com. Retrieved April 18, 2016 She appeared on the television shows Name That Tune and several times on The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour as a small child.
Career 1958–1974: Child actor In January 1958, at age nine, she obtained her Actors Equity Card in the name Bernadette Peters to avoid ethnic typecasting, with the stage name taken from her father's first name. She made her professional stage debut the same month in This Is Goggle, a comedy directed by Otto Preminger that closed during out-of-town tryouts before reaching New York. She then appeared on NBC television as Anna Stieman in A Boy Called Ciske, a Kraft Mystery Theatre production, in May 1958, and in a vignette entitled "Miracle in the Orphanage", part of "The Christmas Tree", a Hallmark Hall of Fame production, in December 1958,Lux, Kevin. "Bernadette's Timeline", BernadettePeters.com. Retrieved October 26, 2022. with fellow child actor Richard Thomas and veteran actors Jessica Tandy and Margaret Hamilton.Internet Movie DataBase. "The Christmas Tree". Hallmark Hall of Fame, Season 8, Episode 4, December 14, 1958. She first appeared on the New York stage at age 10 as Tessie in the New York City Center revival of The Most Happy Fella (1959)."Bernadette Peters. The Stars", PBS.org. Retrieved April 18, 2016 In her teen years, she attended Quintano's School for Young Professionals, a now-defunct private school.Green, Jesse. "Her Stage Mother, Herself", The New York Times, April 27, 2003. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
At age 13, Peters appeared as one of the "Hollywood Blondes" and was an understudy for "Dainty June" in the second national tour of Gypsy.Green, Adam. "People are Talking about Bernadette Peters", Vogue Magazine, March 2003, pp. 408–10 During this tour, Peters first met her long-time accompanist, conductor and arranger Marvin Laird, who was the assistant conductor for the tour. Laird recalled, "I heard her sing an odd phrase or two and thought, 'God that's a big voice out of that little girl.Kanny, Mark. "Peters brings depth of talent to Heinz Hall", pittsburghtrib, March 18, 2009. Retrieved November 22, 2016. The next summer, she played Dainty June in summer stock, and in 1962 she recorded her first single. In 1964, she played Liesl in The Sound of Music and Jenny in Riverwind in summer stock at the Mt. Gretna Playhouse (Pennsylvania), and Riverwind again at the Bucks County Playhouse in 1966.Homan, Henry. "Carousel a grand production for LHS in the 50s", The Lebanon Daily News, Lebanon, Pennsylvania, December 5, 2005.Ruth, Jim. "History repeats itself at Gretna Playhouse", Sunday News, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, p. H1, May 5, 2002"Bucks County Playhouse History, 1966" , ralphmiller.com. Retrieved February 10, 2009. Upon graduation from high school, she started working steadily, appearing Off-Broadway in the musicals The Penny Friend (1966) and Curley McDimple (1967) and as a standby on Broadway in The Girl in the Freudian Slip (1967). She made her Broadway debut in Johnny No-Trump in 1967, and next appeared as George M. Cohan's sister Josie opposite Joel Grey in George M! (1968), winning the Theatre World Award."Bernadette Peters: Awards", Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved September 7, 2023
Peters's performance as "Ruby" in the 1968 Off-Broadway production of Dames at Sea, a parody of 1930s musicals, brought her critical acclaim and her first Drama Desk Award. She had appeared in an earlier 1966 version of Dames at Sea at the Off-Off-Broadway performance club Caffe Cino.Barnes, Clive. "Theater: Musical Pastiche of the 30s With Panache", The New York Times, December 22, 1968, p. 54Kerr, Walter. "Rudy, Ruby, Busby-and Julie", The New York Times, January 5, 1969, p. D1Crespy, p. 43 Peters had starring roles in her next Broadway vehicles—Gelsomina in the 1969 musical version of the Italian film of the same name, La Strada (for which she won good reviews but the show closed after one performance) and Hildy in a revival of On the Town (1971), for which she received her first Tony Award nomination. She played Mabel Normand in Mack and Mabel (1974), receiving another Tony nomination. Clive Barnes wrote: "With the splashy Mack & Mabel ... diminutive and contralto Bernadette Peters found herself as a major Broadway star."Barnes, Clive. "Mack & Mabel and Silent Film Era", The New York Times, October 7, 1974, p. 54 The Mack and Mabel cast album became popular among musical theatre fans. She moved to Los Angeles in the early 1970s to concentrate on television and film work.
1975–1989: Rise to prominence
Peters has appeared in more than 40 feature films or television films beginning in 1973, including the 1976 Mel Brooks film Silent Movie for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture. She co-starred in her own television series, All's Fair, with Richard Crenna in 1976–77. She played a young, liberal photographer, who becomes romantically involved with an older, conservative columnist. Although Peters was praised for her charismatic performance, the show ran for only one season.Zilla, Moe. "TV show reviews: All's Fair", Helium, March 1, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2012 Peters was nominated for a Golden Globe award as Best TV Actress – Musical/Comedy.Bernadette Peters , Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Retrieved April 15, 2012 Peters starred opposite Steve Martin in The Jerk (1979) in a role that he wrote for her, and again in Pennies from Heaven (1981), for which she won the Golden Globe Award as Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy or Musical. In Pennies from Heaven, she played Eileen Everson, a schoolteacher turned prostitute. Of her performance in Pennies from Heaven, John DiLeo wrote that she "is not only poignant as you'd expect but has a surprising inner strength."DiLeo, John. "'Pennies From Heaven'". One Hundred Great Film Performances, Hal Leonard Corporation, 2002, , p. 341 Pauline Kael wrote in The New Yorker: "Peters is mysteriously right in every nuance."Kael, Pauline. The New Yorker, December 21, 1981, reprinted in Taking It All In, pp. 272–278
Peters was nominated for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series on The Muppet Show (1977). On The Muppet Show, Peters sang the song "Just One Person" to Robin the Frog."Bernadette Peters Intro". Muppet Central Guides. Retrieved July 22, 2011. Her rendition of the song is included in the album The Muppet Show 2 (1978) She was one of the Muppets' guests when they hosted The Tonight Show in 1979, again singing "Just One Person" to Robin, and she appeared in other episodes with the Muppets. She performed and presented at the Academy Awards broadcasts in 1976, 1981, 1983, 1987 and 1994. Peters has been a presenter at the annual Tony Awards ceremony and also co-hosted the ceremony with Gregory Hines in 2002.Gans, Andrew. "Bernadette Peters and Gregory Hines to Host 56th Annual Tony Awards", Playbill, May 15, 2002. Retrieved October 31, 2016 She also hosted Saturday Night Live in November 1981."SNL Archives, November 14, 1981" snl.jt.org, April 24, 2008. Retrieved November 22, 2016 Peters has appeared on many TV variety shows, with stars such as Sonny and Cher and George Burns. She made 11 guest appearances on The Carol Burnett ShowSlonina, Ed. The Carol Burnett Show Episode Guide (2001). Retrieved November 3, 2016 as well as appearing with Burnett in the 1972 made-for-television version of Once Upon a Mattress and the 1982 film Annie.
In 1982, Peters returned to the New York stage after an eight-year absence, in one of her few non-musical stage appearances, the Off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club production of the comedy-drama Sally and Marsha, for which she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. She then returned to Broadway as Dot/Marie in the Stephen Sondheim–James Lapine musical Sunday in the Park with George in 1984, for which she received her third Tony Award nomination. The New York Times theater critic Frank Rich called her performance "radiant".Rich, Frank. "Sunday in the Park with George". The New York Times, May 3, 1984. Retrieved September 11, 2010 She recorded the role for PBS in 1986, winning a 1987 ACE Award."Sunday in the Park with George". IMDB. Retrieved September 11, 2010 Her next role was Emma in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Song and Dance on Broadway in 1985, winning her first Tony Award for Best Leading Actress in a Musical. Frank Rich wrote in an otherwise negative review of the show that Peters "has no peer in the musical theatre right now."Rich, Frank. "Stage: Song and Dance, With Bernadette Peters", The New York Times, September 19, 1985, p. C19