Barbara Hershey | |
|---|---|
 Hershey in 2016 | |
| Born | Barbara Lynn Herzstein (1948-02-05)February 5, 1948 (age 77) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Other names | Barbara Seagull[1] |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1965–present |
| Spouse | |
| Partner(s) | David Carradine (1968–1975) Naveen Andrews (1998–2009) |
| Children | 1 |
Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known asBarbara Hershey (born February 5, 1948), is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including Westerns, horrors, and comedies. She began acting at age 17 in 1965, but did not achieve widespread critical acclaim until the 1980s. By that time, theChicago Tribune referred to her as "one of America's finest actresses".[2]
Hershey won anEmmy and aGolden Globe for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries/TV Film for her role inA Killing in a Small Town (1990). She received Golden Globe nominations forBest Supporting Actress for her role asMary Magdalene inThe Last Temptation of Christ (1988) and for her role inThe Portrait of a Lady (1996). For the latter film, she was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress and won the Los Angeles Film Critics Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has won two Best Actress awards at theCannes Film Festival for her roles inShy People (1987) andA World Apart (1988). She was featured inWoody Allen'sHannah and Her Sisters (1986), for which she was nominated for theBritish Academy Film Award forBest Supporting Actress andGarry Marshall's melodramaBeaches (1988), and she earned a second British Academy Film Award nomination forDarren Aronofsky'sBlack Swan (2010).
Establishing a reputation early in her career as ahippie, Hershey experienced conflict between her personal life and her acting goals. Her career suffered a decline during a six-year relationship with actorDavid Carradine, with whom she had a child. She experimented with a change in stage name toBarbara Seagull. During this time, her personal life was highly publicized and ridiculed.[3] Her acting career was not well established until she separated from Carradine and changed her stage name back to Hershey.[4][5] In 1990, later in her career, she reportedly began to keep her personal life private.[3][6]
Barbara Lynn Herzstein was born inHollywood, the daughter of Arnold Nathan Herzstein, a horse-racing columnist, and Melrose Herzstein (née Moore).[7] Her father's parents were Jewish emigrants from Hungary and Russia,[8] while her mother, a native ofArkansas, was a Presbyterian of Scots-Irish descent.[9][10]
The youngest of three children, Barbara always wanted to be an actress, and her family nicknamed her "Sarah Bernhardt". She was shy in school and so quiet that people thought she was deaf. By the age of 10, she proved herself to be an "A" student. Her high-school drama coach helped her find an agent, and in 1965, at age 17, she landed a role onSally Field's television seriesGidget. Barbara said that she found Field to be very supportive of her in her first acting role.[11] According toThe New York Times All Movie Guide, Barbara graduated fromHollywood High School in 1966,[12] but David Carradine, in his autobiography, said she dropped out of high school after she began acting.[7]
Hershey's acting debut, two episodes ofGidget, was followed by the short-lived television seriesThe Monroes (1966), which also featuredMichael Anderson Jr. By this point, she had adopted the stage name "Barbara Hershey".[13] Although Hershey said the series helped her career, she expressed some frustration with her role, saying: "One week I was strong, the next, weak".[14] While on the series, Hershey garnered several other roles, including one inDoris Day's final feature film,With Six You Get Eggroll.[14]
In 1968, Hershey worked in the 1969Glenn FordWesternHeaven with a Gun. On the set, she met and began a romantic relationship with actor David Carradine,[7] who later starred in the television seriesKung Fu (seePersonal life). In the same year, she acted in the controversial dramaLast Summer, which was based onEvan Hunter's eponymous novel. In this film, Hershey played Sandy, the "heavy" who influences two young men (played byBruce Davison andRichard Thomas) to rape another girl, Rhoda (played byCatherine Burns). Though the film, directed byFrank Perry, received anX rating for the graphic rape scene, Burns earned a Best Supporting ActressOscar nomination for her performance.[15]
During the filming ofLast Summer, aseagull was killed. "In one scene," Hershey explained, "I had to throw the bird in the air to make her fly. We had to reshoot the scene over and over again. I could tell the bird was tired. Finally, when the scene was finished, the director, Frank Perry, told me the bird had broken her neck on the last throw."[16] Hershey felt responsible for the bird's death and changed her stage name to "Seagull" as a tribute to the creature. "I felt her spirit enter me," she later explained. "It was the only moral thing to do."[11] The name change was not positively received. When she was offered a part oppositeTimothy Bottoms inThe Crazy World of Julius Vrooder (1974) (orVrooder's Hooch), Hershey had to forfeit half her salary, $25,000, to be billed under the name "Seagull" because the producers were not in favor of the billing.[16][17]
In 1970, Hershey played Tish Grey inThe Baby Maker, a film that exploredsurrogate motherhood. Criticizing the directing and writing of James Bridges, critic Shirley Rigby said of the "bizarre" film, "Only the performances in the film save it from being a total travesty." Rigby went on to say, "Barbara Hershey is a great little actress, much, much more than just another pretty face."[18]
Hershey once said that starring inBoxcar Bertha (1972) "was the most fun I ever had on a movie."[19] The film, co-starring Hershey's domestic partner, David Carradine, and produced byRoger Corman, wasMartin Scorsese's first Hollywood picture. Shot in six weeks on a budget of $600,000,Boxcar Bertha was intended to be a period crime drama similar to Corman'sBloody Mama (1970) orBonnie and Clyde (1967). Although Corman publicized it as an exploitation piece with plenty of sex and violence, Scorsese's influence made it "something much more".[19]Roger Ebert, of theChicago Sun-Times, wrote of the film's direction, "Martin Scorsese has gone for mood and atmosphere more than for action, and his violence is always blunt and unpleasant—never liberating and exhilarating, as the New Violence is supposed to be."[19] A pictorial recreating sexually explicit scenes from the movie appeared inPlayboy magazine in 1972.[19][20]
Hershey's experience with Scorsese was extended to another major role for her 16 years later inThe Last Temptation of Christ (1988) asMary Magdalene. During the filming ofBoxcar Bertha, Hershey had introduced Scorsese to theNikos Kazantzakis novel on which the latter film was based.[18][19] That collaboration resulted in an Academy Award nomination for the director[21] and a Golden Globe nod for Hershey.
By the mid-1970s, Hershey concluded, "I've been so tied up with David [Carradine] that people have forgotten that I am me. I spend 50 percent of my time working with David."[4] She had, in 1974, guest-starred in a two-part episode of Carradine's television seriesKung Fu. She played, under the direction of Carradine, a love interest to his character,Kwai Chang Caine, during his time at theShaolin temple. She also appeared in two of Carradine's independent directorial projects,You and Me (1975) andAmericana (1983), both of which had been filmed in 1973.[5] Her father, Arnold Herzstein, also appeared inAmericana.
She publicly acknowledged the desire to be recognized in her own right. Later, in 1974, she did just that, winning a gold medal at theAtlanta Film Festival for her role in the Dutch-produced filmLove Comes Quietly.[4]
Later in the decade, Hershey starred withCharlton Heston inThe Last Hard Men (1976). She hoped the film would revive her career after the damage she felt it had suffered while she was with Carradine, believing that the hippie label she had been given was a career impediment. By this time, she had shed Carradine and her "Seagull" pseudonym.[22] Throughout the rest of the 1970s, however, she was appearing in made-for-TV movies that were described as "forgettable",[23] likeFlood! (1976),Sunshine Christmas (1977), andThe Glitter Palace (1977), in which she played a lesbian.[24]
Hershey landed a role inRichard Rush'sThe Stunt Man (1980), marking a return to the big screen after four years[11] and earning her critical praise.[25] Hershey felt that she would be forever in debt to Rush for fighting with financiers to allow her a part in that film.[23] She also feltThe Stunt Man was an important transition for her, from playing girls to playing women.[23]
Some of the "women roles" that followedThe Stunt Man included the horror movieThe Entity (1982);Philip Kaufman'sThe Right Stuff (1983), in which she played Glennis Yeager, wife of test pilotChuck Yeager; andThe Natural (1984), in which she shotRobert Redford's character, inspired by a real-life incident whereRuth Ann Steinhagen shot ballplayerEddie Waitkus.[26] For the role of Harriet Bird, Hershey had chosen a particular hat as her "anchor".[23] DirectorBarry Levinson disagreed with her choice, but she insisted on wearing it. Levinson later cast Hershey as the wife ofDanny DeVito's character in the comedyTin Men (1987).[23]
In 1986, Hershey left her native California and moved with her son to Manhattan. Three days later, she met briefly withWoody Allen, who offered her the role of Lee inHannah and Her Sisters (1986). In addition to a Manhattan apartment, Hershey bought an antique home in rural Connecticut.[27] The Allen picture won threeAcademy Awards and a Golden Globe. The film also earned Hershey aBAFTA nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role. She described her part as "a wonderful gift".[23]
Hershey followedHannah and Her Sisters with back-to-back wins forBest Actress at theCannes Film Festival forShy People[3][28] and for her appearance as anti-apartheid activist Diana Roth inA World Apart (1988).[3] Her character in the latter film was based onRuth First.[29] Also in the 1980s, she portrayedErrol Flynn's first wife, actressLili Damita, in the TV movie adaptation ofMy Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn (1985), which was based on Flynn's autobiography. She also played the love interest toGene Hackman's character in the basketball filmHoosiers (1986).
Barbara Cloud of thePittsburgh Press gave attribution to Hershey for starting a trend when she had collagen injected into her lips for her role inBeaches (1988).[30] HumoristErma Bombeck said of the movie, which also starredBette Midler, "I have no idea whatBeaches was all about. All I could focus on was Barbara Hershey's lips. She looked like she stopped off at a gas station and someone said, 'Your lips are down 30 pounds. Better let me hit 'em with some air.'"[31]
In 1990, Hershey won anEmmy and a Golden Globe for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or Special for her role as Candy Morrison inA Killing in a Small Town, which was based onCandy Montgomery's acquittal for the death of Betty Gore. Montgomery had killed Gore on Friday, June 13, 1980, in Gore'sWylie, Texas, home, by hitting her 41 times with an ax. The jury determined that she did so in self-defense.[32] In preparation for the part, Hershey had a phone conversation with Montgomery.[33] Many of the names of the real-life principals in the case were changed for the movie. The film's alternative title wasEvidence of Love, the name of a 1984 book about the case.[34]
Also in 1990, Hershey drew upon what Woody Allen once described as her "erotic overtones",[35] portraying a woman who falls in love with her much younger nephew by marriage, played byKeanu Reeves, in the comedicTune in Tomorrow.[35]
In 1991, Hershey played Hanna Trout, the wife of the title character inParis Trout (1991), a made-for-cable television movie. In thisShowtime production, Hershey collaborated again withA Killing in a Small Town directorStephen Gyllenhaal to play a woman who has an affair with her husband's lawyer. Her husband, an abusive bigot (played byDennis Hopper), is on trial for murdering a young African-American girl.[36] The film, which was based onPete Dexter's 1988National Book Award-winning novel, featured Hopper and Hershey enacting a graphic rape scene that the actress found difficult to view. The picture was described as a "dramatic reach deep into the dark hollows of racism, abuse, and murder."[37]Paris Trout was nominated for five Prime Time Emmy Awards, including nods for both Hershey and Hopper.
Later in the year, Hershey played an attorney defending her college roommate for the murder of her husband in the suspenseful whodunitDefenseless (1991).[38]
Because of her frequent television appearances, by the end of 1991, Hershey was accused of "selling out to the small screen".[38] In 1992, Hershey appeared withJane Alexander in theABC miniseriesStay the Night (1992), promptingAssociated Press writer Jerry Buck to write, "Barbara Hershey is a person who jumps back and forth between features and television very easily."[39] She starred in another TV miniseries in 1993, succeedingAnjelica Huston as Clara Allen in the sequel seriesReturn to Lonesome Dove.[40] She was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for another TV appearance,The Staircase (1998). Between 1999 and 2000, she played Dr. Francesca Alberghetti in six episodes of the medical TV dramaChicago Hope.[41]
Hershey co-starred withJoe Pesci as a nightclub owner in the film dramaThe Public Eye (1992), and as the estranged wife of a homicidalMichael Douglas in the thrillerFalling Down (1993). Among the other feature films in which she appeared during the 1990s wasJane Campion's adaptation of theHenry James novelThe Portrait of a Lady (1996). Hershey earned an Oscar nomination[42] and won the Best Supporting Actress award from the National Society of Film Critics for her role as Madame Serena Merle in that picture.[43] In 1995,Last of the Dogmen, co-starringTom Berenger, was released throughSavoy Pictures. In 1999, Hershey starred in an independent film calledDrowning on Dry Land; during production, she met co-starNaveen Andrews, with whom she began a romantic relationship that lasted until 2010.[44]
In 2001, Hershey appeared in the psychological thrillerLantana. She was the only American in a mostly Australian cast, which includedKerry Armstrong,Anthony LaPaglia, andGeoffrey Rush.[45] Film writer Sheila Johnson said the film was "one of the best to emerge from Australia in years."[46] Another thriller followed:11:14 (2003) also featuredRachael Leigh Cook,Patrick Swayze,Hilary Swank, andColin Hanks.[47] In 2002, she appeared in a two-scene cameo role as the Contessa in the mini-series, Daniel Deronda.
Hershey continued to appear on television during the 2000s, including a season on the seriesThe Mountain. In 2008, she replacedMegan Follows in the role ofAnne Shirley inAnne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, the fourth in a series of made-for-TV films based on the character.
Hershey appeared as an American actress, Mrs. Hubbard, in an adaptation ofAgatha Christie'sMurder on the Orient Express for the British television seriesPoirot (starringDavid Suchet), which aired in the United States onPublic Broadcast Service in July 2010.[48] Also in 2010, Hershey co-starred inDarren Aronofsky's acclaimedpsychological thrillerBlack Swan (2010) oppositeNatalie Portman andMila Kunis. The following year, she co-starred in theJames Wan horror filmInsidious (2011).[49] From 2012 to 2013, she had a recurring role in the first two seasons of ABC's hit dramaOnce Upon a Time asCora, the Queen of Hearts and mother of the Evil Queen.[50] In 2014, she reprised the role in one episode of the show's spin-offOnce Upon a Time in Wonderland. In 2015, she once more reprised the role when she returned to the show for an episode of its fourth season, and in 2016, she appeared again for two episodes of the show's fifth season, most notably its landmark 100th episode.
InA&E's seriesDamien, Hershey portrayed series regular Ann Rutledge, the world's most powerful woman, who has been given the task to make sureDamien fulfills his destiny as the Antichrist. The role marks Hershey's most recent TV gig followingOnce Upon a Time, The Mountain, Chicago Hope, and Lifetime'sLeft to Die TV movie.[51]
Hershey's more recent films includeThe Manor (2021) and9 Bullets (2022).
In 1968, Hershey metDavid Carradine while they were working onHeaven with a Gun.[7] The pair began a domestic relationship that lasted until 1975.[52] Carradine said that during the rape scene in that movie, he cracked one of Barbara's ribs.[53] They appeared in other films together, including Martin Scorsese'sBoxcar Bertha. In 1972, the couple posed together in a nudePlayboy spread, recreating some sex scenes fromBoxcar Bertha.[20]
On October 6, 1972, Hershey gave birth to their son, Free, who changed his name to Tom when he was nine years old in 1982.[54] The relationship fell apart around the time of Carradine's 1974 burglary arrest,[55] after he had begun an affair withSeason Hubley, who had guest-starred inKung Fu.[56]
During this period, Hershey changed her stage name to "Seagull". In 1979, a blunt newspaper article from the Knight News Service referenced this period of her life, saying of her acting career that "it looked as if she blew it."[57] The article referred to Hershey as a "kook" and stated that she was frequently "high on something".[57] In addition to that criticism, she had been ostracized for breast-feeding her son during an appearance onThe Dick Cavett Show,[16][11][58] and for breast-feeding him beyond the age of two years.[59]
She said that this period of her life hurt her career: "Producers wouldn't see me because I had a reputation for using drugs and being undependable. I never used drugs at all and I have always been serious about my acting career."[5] After splitting up with Carradine, she changed her stage name back to "Hershey", explaining that she had told the story of why she adopted the name "Seagull" so many times that it had lost its meaning.[5]
By the time Hershey was 42 in 1990, she was described by columnist Luaina Lee as a "private person who was mired in some heavy publicity when she first became a professional actress."[6] Yardena Arar, writing for theLos Angeles Daily News, confirmed that Hershey had become a private person by 1990.[3]
On August 8, 1992, Hershey married artist Stephen Douglas. The ceremony took place at her home inOxford, Connecticut, where the only guests were their two mothers and Hershey's then 19-year-old son, Tom Carradine.[60] The couple separated and divorced one year after the wedding.[61]
Hershey began dating actorNaveen Andrews in 1999.[44] During a brief separation in 2005, Andrews fathered a child with another woman.[62] In May 2010, after Andrews won sole custody of his son, the couple announced that they had ended their 10-year relationship six months earlier.[63]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1976 | Flood! | Mary Cutler |
| 1977 | In the Glitter Palace | Ellen Lange |
| Just a Little Inconvenience | Nikki Klausing | |
| Sunshine Christmas | Cody Blanks | |
| 1979 | A Man Called Intrepid | Madelaine |
| 1980 | Angel on My Shoulder | Julie |
| 1982 | Twilight Theatre | Various |
| 1985 | My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn | Lili Damita |
| 1986 | Passion Flower | Julia Gaitland |
| 1990 | A Killing in a Small Town | Candy Morrison |
| 1992 | Stay the Night | Jimmie Sue Finger |
| 1993 | Abraham | Sarah |
| 1998 | The Staircase | Mother Madalyn |
| 2003 | Hunger Point | Marsha Hunger |
| The Stranger Beside Me | Ann Rule | |
| 2004 | Paradise | Elizabeth Paradise |
| 2008 | Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning | Older Anne Shirley |
| 2012 | Left to Die | Sandra Chase |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1965–1966 | Gidget | Ellen | 2 episodes |
| 1966 | The Farmer's Daughter | Lucy | 2 episodes |
| Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre | Casey Holloway | Episode: "Holloway's Daughters" | |
| 1966–1967 | The Monroes | Kathy Monroe | Main role |
| 1967 | Daniel Boone | Dinah Hubbard | Episode: "The King's Shilling" |
| 1968 | Run for Your Life | Saro-Jane | Episode: "Saro-Jane, You Never Whispered Again" |
| The Invaders | Beth Ferguson | Episode: "The Miracle" | |
| The High Chaparral | Moonfire | Episode: "The Peacemaker" | |
| The Princess and Me | Princess | Unsoldpilot, never broadcast[64] | |
| 1970 | Insight | Judy | Episode: "The Whole Damn Human Race and One More" |
| 1973 | Love Story | Farrell Edwards | Episode: "The Roller Coaster Stops Here" |
| 1974 | Kung Fu | Nan Chi | 2 episodes |
| 1980 | From Here to Eternity | Karen Holmes | Episode: "Pearl Harbor" |
| 1982 | American Playhouse | Lenore | Episode: "Weekend" |
| 1983 | Faerie Tale Theatre | The Maid | Episode: "The Nightingale" |
| 1985 | Alfred Hitchcock Presents | Jessie Dean | Episode: "Wake Me When I'm Dead" |
| 1993 | Return to Lonesome Dove | Clara Allen | 3 episodes |
| 1999–2000 | Chicago Hope | Dr. Francesca Alberghetti | Main role |
| 2002 | Daniel Deronda | Contessa Maria Alcharisi | Episode: "1.3" |
| 2004–2005 | The Mountain | Gennie Carver | Main role |
| 2010 | Agatha Christie's Poirot | Caroline Hubbard | Episode: "Murder on the Orient Express" |
| 2012–2016 | Once Upon a Time | Cora Mills / Queen of Hearts | season 2 Recurring role, guest in season 1,4,5 (15 episodes) |
| 2014 | Once Upon a Time in Wonderland | Episode: "Heart of the Matter" | |
| 2016 | Damien | Ann Rutledge | Main role |
| 2018 | The X-Files | Erika Price | 3 episodes |
| 2020 | Paradise Lost | Byrd Forsythe | Main role |
| 2023 | Beacon 23 | Sophie | Episode: "God in the Machine" |
A television crew had gathered at Dent Place NW in Georgetown to shoot a party scene for a TV movie called "The Princess and Me." It starred Barbara Hershey as a European princess studying democracy in the United States who gets a crush on a young State Department officer played byJeremy Slate. [...] "The Princess and Me" was shot by Screen Gems as a pilot for ABC. It apparently was not picked up and never broadcast.
