Source: Theatremania.com

Betty Buckley
(1947 - )

Texas-born Betty Lynn Buckley has enjoyed a wonderfully  successful career on the Broadway stage, television and movies for more than 30 years.

She made her Broadway debut as Martha Jefferson in the hit musical 1776, where she introduced the soaring ballad "He Plays The Violin."  In 1982, achieved musical theatre immortality (and a Tony Award) with another memorable ballad - "Memory" - as Grizabella in the original company of Cats.

Her other Broadway musical credits include The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Triumph of Love, Sunset Boulevard, Triumph of Love and the notable mega-flop Carrie (playing Carrie's demented mother, Margaret White). Ironically, Betty also had a role in 1976 Carrie film playing the gym teacher who befriends Carrie, Miss Collins. 

Another film role had her going back to her Southern roots to play neurotic country singer Dixie in the Academy Award-winning 1983 film Tender Mercies opposite Robert Duvall.  Her performance of the lovely country torch song "Over You," is one of the highlights of the film.

She is also remembered as TV stepmom Abby Bradford in the series EIGHT IS ENOUGH starring Dick Van Patten.

Much in demand as a concert and recording artist, Betty has recorded a number of successful solo CDs including STARS & THE MOON, WITH ONE LOOK, CHILDREN WILL LISTEN, MUCH MORE and THE DOORWAY.  When not performing, she can be found passing on her considerable knowledge to aspiring singers in vocal master classes around the U.S.

Consult Betty's official website for more information on upcoming concert appearances and more.

Source: Britannica.com

"Life a great big canvas; throw all the paint on it you can."
-- Danny Kaye

Singer, dancer, actor, conductor, radio personality, master of the patter song - just some of the many accomplishments of the legendary Danny Kaye.

Born David Daniel Kaminsky in Brooklyn, Danny began his career as Catskills comedian and singer, often performing material written by his wife Sylvia Fine.

In the 1939 Kurt Weill & Ira Gershwin hit tuner LADY IN THE DARK, he wowed Broadway audiences by musically rattling off the names of more than 50 classical Russian composers in under 39 seconds in the showstopping patter song "Tschaikovsky."  His only other major Broadway role would be his last, playing Noah in Richard Rodgers biblical musical TWO BY TWO (1970).

A huge movie star during much of the 1940s-50s, Kaye made more than seventeen films including the movie musicals WHITE CHRISTMAS with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, THE SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY, THE FIVE PENNIES, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, ON THE RIVIERA and THE KID FROM BROADWAY.

He hosted a popular TV variety show, THE DANNY KAYE SHOW, during the 1960s and won a Golden Globe for his dramatic turn as a Jewish concentration camp survivor protesting a Neo-Nazi march in the 1981 TV drama Skokie.

Through his life he supported a number of charities and was a spokesperson for UNICEF among others.  In 1993, the Playhouse Theatre at Manhattan's Hunter College was renovated and re-dedicated as The Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse.