Barbara Babcock is an American character actress. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Grace Gardner on
Hill Street BluesHill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
for which she won an
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Lead Actress—Drama Series in 1981 and her role as Dorothy Jennings on
Dr. Quinn, Medicine WomanDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...
for which she was nominated for an
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1993.
Early life
Although she was born in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, she spent a large part of her childhood in Tokyo, Japan, because her father Conrad Stanton Babcock, Jr. was a general in the
United States ArmyThe United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
. She learned to speak
Japaneseis a language spoken by over 130 million people in Japan and in Japanese emigrant communities. It is a member of the Japonic language family, which has a number of proposed relationships with other languages, none of which has gained wide acceptance among historical linguists .Japanese is an...
before
EnglishAmerican English is a set of dialects of the English language used mostly in the United States. Approximately two-thirds of the world's native speakers of English live in the United States....
. She attended
Miss Porter's SchoolMiss Porter's School, sometimes simply referred to as Porter's or Farmington, is a private college preparatory school for girls located in Farmington, Connecticut.- History :...
and later Wellesley College, where she was a classmate of Ali McGraw.
Career
Babcock has appeared in several episodes of television series between 1956 and 1967. She appeared in
Star TrekStar Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
in 1967. In 1968 she made her debut on the big screen in the
Metro-Goldwyn-MayerMetro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. is an American media company, involved primarily in the production and distribution of films and television programs. MGM was founded in 1924 when the entertainment entrepreneur Marcus Loew gained control of Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures Corporation and Louis B. Mayer...
western movie
Day of the Evil GunDay of the Evil Gun is a 1968 American traditional western starring Glenn Ford, Arthur Kennedy and Dean Jagger. It was directed by Jerry Thorpe.-Plot:...
. After followed by roles in films
Heaven with a GunHeaven with a Gun is a 1969 western film starring Glenn Ford as Jim Killian, a preacher who arrives in a town divided between cattlemen and sheep herders. But Killian isn't just any preacher. He is a former fast gun who has set upon a different path...
co-starring
Glenn FordGlenn Ford was a Canadian-born American actor from Hollywood's Golden Era with a career that spanned seven decades...
,
Bang the Drum SlowlyBang the Drum Slowly is a 1973 film adaptation of the 1956 baseball novel of the same name by Mark Harris. It was previously dramatized in 1956 on the U.S. Steel Hour with Paul Newman and Albert Salmi....
,
Chosen Survivors-Plot:After being selected at random by a computer to seek safety in an underground bomb shelter on the eve of a nuclear attack, a group of refugees makes a horrible realization: They're sharing the space with a colony of vampire bats...
,
The Black Marble-Plot:Pragmatic Sgt. Natalie Zimmermann of the LAPD is paired with Sgt. Valnikov, a romantic detective of Russian origin who is going through a midlife crisis. They fall in love while solving the case of the kidnapping of a socialite's valuable pet dog...
,
Back Roads and
The Lords of DisciplineThe Lords of Discipline is a 1983 film based on the novel by Pat Conroy and directed by Franc Roddam. The film stars David Keith, Robert Prosky, Judge Reinhold, Bill Paxton, William Hope, Michael Biehn, and Olympic boxer Mark Breland...
. From 1978 to 1981 she played the role as Liz Craig on the
CBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
soap opera
DallasDallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
.
Babcock won the 1981 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress—Drama Series for her work on
Hill Street BluesHill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
. She appeared in 16 episodes of the NBC police drama as Grace Gardner from 1981 to 1986. She starred in the short-lived TV series
The Four Seasons- Music :* The Four Seasons , a 1723 set of four violin concertos by Antonio Vivaldi* The Four Seasons , an American rock band led by Frankie Valli* Four Seasons EP, a 2006 EP by Kaddisfly...
in 1984,
Mr. Sunshine in 1986 and
The Law and Harry McGraw in 1987.
Other notable films in which Babcock include
Heart of DixieHeart of Dixie is a 1989 drama film adaptation of the 1976 novel Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons and directed by Martin Davidson...
,
Happy TogetherHappy Together is a 1989 American romantic comedy film starring Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater. The film was marketed with the taglines, "Roommates by accident...lovers by choice", and "How do I love thee, Let me count the ways...". Brad Pitt, in one of his first roles, has a minor part in the...
,
Far and AwayFar and Away is a 1992 adventure-drama-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cinematography by Mikael Salomon, with a music score by John Williams...
and
Space CowboysSpace Cowboys is a 2000 science fiction film directed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood also stars in the film alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as four older "ex-test pilots" who are sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite...
.
From 1993 to 1998 she played the role as Dorothy Jennings on the
Dr. Quinn, Medicine WomanDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...
for which she was nominated for an
Emmy AwardAn Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series in 1993. After completion of the show in 1998, she appeared in the
The PretenderThe Pretender is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series starred Michael T. Weiss as Jarod, a genius and former child prodigy with "the ability to become anyone he wants to be," i.e., to flawlessly impersonate anyone in virtually any line of work...
,
Chicago HopeChicago Hope is an American medical drama series created by David E. Kelley that ran from September 18, 1994, to May 5, 2000. It takes place in a fictional private charity hospital.-Premise:The show stars Mandy Patinkin as Dr...
,
FrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
and
Judging AmyJudging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly...
.
In 1994, she was voted one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World by
PeopleIn 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
magazine.
From 2001 to 2002 she played the role of the mother of
Dana DelanyDana Welles Delany is an American film, stage, and television actress, producer, host and health activist.After various roles in the early career, Delany garnered her first leading role in 1987 in the short-lived NBC sitcom Sweet Surrender and achieved wider fame in 1988–1991 as Colleen McMurphy...
's character in the
FoxFox Broadcasting Company, commonly referred to as Fox Network or simply Fox , is an American commercial broadcasting television network owned by Fox Entertainment Group, part of Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation. Launched on October 9, 1986, Fox was the highest-rated broadcast network in the...
drama series
PasadenaPasadena is an American primetime soap opera originally broadcast in the U.S. from September to November 2001 on Fox.-Summary:The series starred Alison Lohman as Lily McAllister, an initially naïve young woman who witnesses a stranger's suicide and begins to investigate the secrets being hidden by...
. Since 2004 she has not done film or television roles.
Filmography
- Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
(1967) (TV) Episode: "A Taste of Armageddon" .... Mea 3
- Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
(1967) (TV) Episode: "The Squire of Gothos" .... Trelane's mother (voice)
- Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
(1968) (TV) Episode: "The Cardinal" .... Major Maria Felder
- Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
(1968) (TV) Episode: "Plato's Stepchildren" .... Philana
- Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
(1968) (TV) Episode: "The Tholian Web" .... Commander Loskene (voice)
- Family Affair
Family Affair is an American sitcom that aired on CBS from September 12, 1966 to September 9, 1971. The series explored the trials of well-to-do civil engineer and bachelor Bill Davis as he attempted to raise his brother's orphaned children in his luxury New York City apartment. Davis' traditional...
(1968) (TV) Episode: "Oh to be in England"
- Day of the Evil Gun
Day of the Evil Gun is a 1968 American traditional western starring Glenn Ford, Arthur Kennedy and Dean Jagger. It was directed by Jerry Thorpe.-Plot:...
(1968) .... Angie Warfield
- Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
(1969) (TV) Episode: "The Lights of Zetar" .... Zetar (voice)
- Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
(1969) (TV) Episode: "Happy Birthday, Dear Hogan" .... Mama Bear
- Heaven with a Gun
Heaven with a Gun is a 1969 western film starring Glenn Ford as Jim Killian, a preacher who arrives in a town divided between cattlemen and sheep herders. But Killian isn't just any preacher. He is a former fast gun who has set upon a different path...
(1969) .... Mrs. Andrews
- Hogan's Heroes
Hogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to March 28, 1971, on the CBS network. The show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War. Bob Crane had the starring role as Colonel Robert E...
(1970) (TV)
- The Last Child (1971) (TV) .... Shelley Drumm
- Bang the Drum Slowly
Bang the Drum Slowly is a novel by Mark Harris, a sequel to The Southpaw . It was first published in 1956, and was later made into a 1956 U.S...
(1973) .... Team Owner
- Chosen Survivors
-Plot:After being selected at random by a computer to seek safety in an underground bomb shelter on the eve of a nuclear attack, a group of refugees makes a horrible realization: They're sharing the space with a colony of vampire bats...
(1974) .... Lenore Chrisman
- The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
(1974) (TV) Episode: "Irving the Explainer"
- Starsky and Hutch
Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...
(1976) (TV) Episode: "Omaha Tiger" .... Ellen Forbes
- Logan's Run
Logan's Run is a novel by William F. Nolan and George Clayton Johnson. Published in 1967, it depicts a dystopic ageist future society in which both population and the consumption of resources are maintained in equilibrium by requiring the death of everyone reaching a particular age...
(1978) (TV series) Episode: 12th. "Night Visitors" .... Marianne
- Dallas
Dallas is an American serial drama/prime time soap opera that revolves around the Ewings, a wealthy Texas family in the oil and cattle-ranching industries. Throughout the series, Larry Hagman stars as greedy, scheming oil baron J. R. Ewing...
(1978–1981) .... Liz Craig (recurring)
- The Black Marble
-Plot:Pragmatic Sgt. Natalie Zimmermann of the LAPD is paired with Sgt. Valnikov, a romantic detective of Russian origin who is going through a midlife crisis. They fall in love while solving the case of the kidnapping of a socialite's valuable pet dog...
(1980) .... Madeline Whitfield
- Hill Street Blues
Hill Street Blues is an American serial police drama that was first aired on NBC in 1981 and ran for 146 episodes on primetime into 1987. Chronicling the lives of the staff of a single police precinct in an unnamed American city, the show received critical acclaim and its production innovations ...
(1981–1985) .... Grace Gardner
- Back Roads
Back Roads is a 1981 American romantic comedy film starring Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones. It is directed by Martin Ritt. It got middling reviews and grossed $11 million at the box office.- Plot :...
(1981) .... Rickey's Mom
- The Lords of Discipline
The Lords of Discipline is a 1980 novel by Pat Conroy.-Summary:The novel's narrator, Will McLean, attends the Carolina Military Institute in Charleston, from 1963 to 1967. The novel takes place in four parts. The first describes the beginning of his senior year and the admission of new freshmen...
(1983) .... Abigail
- Quarterback Princess
Quarterback Princess is a 1983 fact-based drama film by 20th Century Fox that chronicles the courage and determination of a teenage girl who struggles against sexism and fights to play on her high school football team. It was filmed primarily in McMinnville, Oregon...
(1983) (TV) .... Judy Maida
- Cheers
Cheers is an American situation comedy television series that ran for 11 seasons from 1982 to 1993. It was produced by Charles/Burrows/Charles Productions, in association with Paramount Network Television for NBC, and was created by the team of James Burrows, Glen Charles, and Les Charles...
(1983) (TV) .... Episode: "Now Pitching, Sam Malone"
- Attack on Fear (1984) (TV) .... Jane Dutton
- That Was Then...This is Now (1985) .... Mrs. Douglas
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
"Tough Guys Don't Die" episode
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
"The Perfect Foil" episode
- News at Eleven (1986) (TV) .... Joanna Steckler
- Happy Together
Happy Together is a 1989 American romantic comedy film starring Patrick Dempsey and Helen Slater. The film was marketed with the taglines, "Roommates by accident...lovers by choice", and "How do I love thee, Let me count the ways...". Brad Pitt, in one of his first roles, has a minor part in the...
(1989) .... Ruth Carpenter
- Heart of Dixie
Heart of Dixie is a 1989 drama film adaptation of the 1976 novel Heartbreak Hotel by Anne Rivers Siddons and directed by Martin Davidson...
(1989)
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
"Sheer Madness" episode
- The Golden Girls
The Golden Girls is an American sitcom created by Susan Harris, which originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a home in Miami, Florida...
(1990) Episode: "Sisters and Other Strangers" ....Charmaigne Hollingsworth
- Perry Mason: The Case of the Poisoned Pen
Perry Mason is a fictional character, a defense attorney who was the main character in works of detective fiction authored by Erle Stanley Gardner. Perry Mason was featured in more than 80 novels and short stories, most of which had a plot involving his client's murder trial...
(1990) (TV) .... Martha Robertson
- A Family for Joe
A Family for Joe is an American television movie and subsequent series, both starring Robert Mitchum in the title role. The half-hour show premiered on NBC on March 24, 1990...
(1990) (TV) .... Miss Quinn Collins
- Wings (TV series) (1991) Episode:"Mother Wore Stripes" ....Mae Hackett
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
"Murder on Madison Avenue" episode
- Far and Away
Far and Away is a 1992 adventure-drama-romance film directed by Ron Howard from a script by Howard and Bob Dolman, and stars Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. Cinematography by Mikael Salomon, with a music score by John Williams...
(1992) .... Nora Christie
- Fugitive Nights: Danger in the Desert (1993) (TV) .... Rhonda Devon
- Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" episode
- A Mother's Instinct
A Mother's Instinct is a 1996 made-for-television drama film directed by Sam Pillsbury and distributed on CBS. It was released on March 13, 1996 in the U.S. and August 18, 2000 in the U.K. It was filmed in Wilmington, North Carolina.-Plot:...
(1996) (TV) .... Mrs. Mitchell
- Childhood Sweetheart? (1997) (TV) .... Rose Carlson
- USMA West Point (1998) (TV)
- A Vow to Cherish (1999) (TV) .... Ellen Brighton
- Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman: The Movie
Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman is an American post-Civil War western/drama series created by Beth Sullivan. Dr. Michaela "Mike" Quinn, played by Jane Seymour, left Boston in search of adventure. She goes to Colorado Springs, Colorado where she establishes herself as doctor/adviser.The show ran on CBS...
(1999) (TV)
- The Pretender
The Pretender is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series starred Michael T. Weiss as Jarod, a genius and former child prodigy with "the ability to become anyone he wants to be," i.e., to flawlessly impersonate anyone in virtually any line of work...
(TV series) (2000) Episode:"School Daze" ... Edna Raines
- The Pretender
The Pretender is an American television series that aired on NBC from 1996 to 2000. The series starred Michael T. Weiss as Jarod, a genius and former child prodigy with "the ability to become anyone he wants to be," i.e., to flawlessly impersonate anyone in virtually any line of work...
(TV series) (2000) Episode:"Meltdown" ... Edna Raines
- Space Cowboys
Space Cowboys is a 2000 science fiction film directed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood also stars in the film alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner as four older "ex-test pilots" who are sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite...
(2000) .... Mrs. Barbara Corvin
- Home Alone 4
Home Alone 4, also known as Home Alone 4: Taking Back the House, is a 2002 American made-for-television family/Christmas film directed by Rod Daniel. It is the fourth and final installment in the Home Alone franchise...
(2002) (TV) .... Molly Merchants
- Judging Amy
Judging Amy is an American television drama that was telecast from September 19, 1999, through May 3, 2005, on CBS-TV. This TV series starred Amy Brenneman and Tyne Daly...
(2002–2004) Episodes: "People of the Lie" (2002) "Predictive Neglect" (2004) .... Diane McCarty
External links