BARBEAU
Actress • Broadway Original • Genre Icon
Adrienne Barbeau
Daughter of Armene Nalbandian: Broadway's original Rizzo, six seasons on Maude, and the leading lady of The Fog, Escape from New York, and Swamp Thing.
Daughter of Armene Nalbandian: Broadway's original Rizzo, six seasons on Maude, and the leading lady of The Fog, Escape from New York, and Swamp Thing.
Adrienne Barbeau, born in 1945 in Sacramento to an Armenian-American mother, is a genre-cinema icon and Broadway original — the first Rizzo in Grease, Carol on the groundbreaking sitcom Maude, and the queen of the golden age of horror and adventure films.
Her Broadway turn as Rizzo in the original 1972 production of Grease earned her a Tony nomination; television then made her famous as Bea Arthur's daughter on Maude for six seasons. The late 70s and 80s made her immortal to film fans: The Fog, Escape from New York, Swamp Thing, Creepshow — the defining run of an era's genre cinema.
A singer, author of memoirs and vampire novels, and a working actress across seven decades — from Carnivàle to animation's Catwoman — Barbeau has spoken warmly of her Armenian roots through her mother, Armene Nalbandian.
From the original Rizzo to the queen of 80s genre film — with Armenian roots on her mother's side all along.
— On Adrienne BarbeauBarbeau remains beloved at fan conventions worldwide and busy on screen well into her seventies — an enduring, self-made career that began with an Armenian mother in Sacramento and never slowed down.
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