How did Betty Buckley behave in "Cats?"

I'm curious about the time Buckley, Lapone, and Holiday all sang together at the Tony Awards. All that ego and bad temper sharing a stage! Not to mention that between the three of them, we had enough ham to last us a hundred Christmases.

She was ameowsing!

She was a purrfessional!

Coke head

When not on stage, Betty would back up against the scrim, lift her tail and spray urine, marking her territory.

R5, she was retromingent.

She still does that, R5.

bitch laughed at me so I cut her in half

She was originally cast in "Brothers & Sisters" as the matriarch. Replaced by Sally Field after she became impossible to work with. I think the first pilot was almost completely finished and had to be re-done. In the process, the Kevin character was rewritten as gay and out and many of the characters' names were changed.

supposedly she wasn't "maternal" enough

Huge coke fiend. Often locked herself in her dressing room to snort up a storm.

ALW and Trevor Nunn couldn't trust her to open in SUNSET BLVD in London, as a result. And the rest is, well, history...

[quote]ALW and Trevor Nunn couldn't trust her to open in SUNSET BLVD in London%0D %0D %0D What do you mean? She played Sunset in London.

She was asked not to continue as Anna Madrigal with the "Tales of the City" musical in San Francisco after the initial reading because no one in the cast could stand her, even though she sang the hell outta it.

Dumbass/R12, she couldn't be trusted to OPEN the show in London. To create the role. She ended up replacing moi.

She threatened to quit the show during previews unless Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber would express her anal glands personally. Sarah Brightman was furious, but the show had to go on.

To think they dropped Lorna Luft to go with Betty in CATS!

She was also escorted off the soundstage and fired during production of SIMPLY IRRESISTIBLE, starring Sarah Michelle Gellar. Her role was curtailed with most of her dialogue assigned to another character. And in the footage she does appear in she looks like shit because the dp, the make-up and hair departments loathed her.

I once passed her on the street and she looked at me with a glare of death like if I made any more eye contact she'd knife me (I was like 17 BTW)

According to IMDB she saved Rufus Wainwright from drowning.

She's a servant of the devil, I tell ya!

r12-- WHAT? Trevor Nunn has said over and over that he wanted Betty in the role in SUNSET, but Paramount Pictures owned a large percentage of the property and said WHO THE HELL IS BETTY BUCKLEY?

And they probably would have said the same thing about Patti LuPone, R12, but SHE got to open the show in London.

Oh, and by the way, you're full of shit.

She was the replacement for Bernadette Peters in Song & Dance. The producers closed the show early because of her erratic behavior. One night at curtain call, she made a coke-fueled rant against the producers.

I normally don't read the "stage" threads, but this one has made me laugh.

Somebody posted here a long time ago that she had gone to the "Eight is Enough" producers with a story line where she and one of the daughters explore a lesbian relationsip. Apparently she had the hots for the girl, and after being rebuffed, thought that this would be a great way to have what she wanted (The girl was either Dianne Kay or Susan Richardson) When they told her no, she actually took it the President of the network, who told her no.%0D %0D

R24, have you ever seen Susan Richardson? She looks like a retarded troll. I think we can assume it was Dianne Kay.

Oh to be a fly on the wall when Arthur Laurents told her he hated her Rose

Anyone got a good shot of Grant Goodeve's feets?

Hasn't she...ahem...spent a lot of time in Thailand since the '80s?

Wait... Lani O'Grady is dead?

I thought she just changed her name to Mary McCormick and kept acting.....

Yes, she's a raging dyke and no one can stand her...

Thank you, R17! I had a friend who was a company manager at a regional arts center. She said her most bizarre encounter with a star was Buckley. She apparently was insistent on being driven to a local CVS so she could buy some makeup before her evening gig. Standing in one aisle was a Sarah Michelle Gellar cutout, and when Buckley saw it, she took a Sharpie out of her purse and drew a mustache on it! I never could figure out what their connection was but now I know.

She stayed late after everyone else left and used the phone in her dressing room at the Winter Garden to make long distance calls to friend and family in Texas and Los Angeles. Producers got wind of this and gave her a talking to.

Rumor that Betty gave a stage hand blow jobs backstage at SUNSET BLVD right before her first entrance. Someone posted THAT on Ann Miner's Talkin Broadway site and Buckley's lesbian manager threatened them with a law suit. This was about 10 years ago. The 'thread' as pulled immediately and that was really the beginning of Miner's 'punch n delete' controversial thread days.

She'd down a plate of jalenpeno peppers before going on as Nancy in OLIVER! for a regional theatre in Missouri. This was in the 70's. Every night the shows director picked her up at her hotel and took her to Mexican Villa restaurant for those peppers. She said 'them thar peppers' cleared her throat and helped her vocals.

I've never read so much horseshit in my life.

r22...Um, no. The show was closing and Betty had to finish out her DROOD contract, so they asked her to close SONG AND DANCE. I was at closing night show and she gave a lovely speech about theatre being an ephemeral art form.

Daphne Zuniga is producing a biography/musical review of Betty called "Triumphant!" and rumor has it Fiona Shaw is on the short list. Its "unauthorized" so you can be sure Betty's attempts to stop it will result in a lot of free publicity.

Wasn't Betty fucking Ros Carter during CATS?

[quote]so they asked her to close SONG AND DANCE.

Only quicker than the producers wanted. Damn ticket buyers.

Did Betty deliberately play Sue Snell, the gym teacher in "Carrie", as a lez?

I once gave her my baby to kiss...%0D %0D And she bit it!

Dianne Kay is a friend of a friend, of mine and she told me that Betty wanted Dianne in a big way and dianne loathed her. Now Dianne and Lani o grady is a different story

check out this recent interview with dianne kay on her beating kidney cancer

Was Lani O'Grady eaten by her dog or something? (for real!!!)

R24, I thought it was Laurie Walters character that was the one who was to be in the lez relationship.

Not a theatre queen but I never miss a Betty Buckley thread on DL. The stories never cease to make me howl!

R40, the gym teacher in the film Carrie was named Miss Collins (different name from the book). Sue Snell was Amy Irving's goody-goody character.

[quote]The show was closing and Betty had to finish out her DROOD contract, so they asked her to close SONG AND DANCE%0D %0D I'm confused...she did Song and Dance to finish her Drood contract?

Betty was coked out on EIE too!

Half of this shit is made up, I'm sure.

And I'm not even a big Betty fan.

There was a story that Lani's corpse was eaten by her cats

Poor Lani. She made all the other EIE gals look incredibly femme by comparison.

Betty was a long term guest at a hotel I worked at in 2002. She was actually very nice and not the terror I was (hoping, for entertainment purposes) expecting her to be.

Song and Dance closed because Buckley wasn't really right for the material that was rewritten for Peters and the NY critics trashed the show but raved about Bernadette. So the only selling point was now gone and it closed a month after Buckley joined it. For the tour Melissa Manchester starred and she was just as miscast as Buckley but she sold more tickets.

I saw her in Cats. Both her and the show sucked. That something as insipid as that POS show could run as long as it did is embarrassing.

If Song And Dance was rewritten for Peters, why didn't they flip it and have it about an American Girl abroad? We would've been spared her accent work

In spite of being on EIE...IO!

Bernadette was horrible in SONG AND DANCE. Her attempt at an English accent is one of the worst I've heard.

They made the right descision in not giving her Mary Poppins when it came over.

Betty Buckley as Mary Poppins? I must be misunderstanding something

I met Betty Buckley once about 10 years ago when I was in college. She was giving a concert at the university's arts center and maybe a dozen theater majors were invited to spend an hour with her in the afternoon to ask questions, etc. She was absolutely lovely. She couldn't have been nicer or friendlier. Maybe I'm naive, but she appeared to be sincere.

r60%0D %0D Bernie P. as Mary Poppins.

Melissa Manchester played the British girl who comes to America in SONG & DANCE on the road?%0D %0D Holy crap.

Bernadette Peters as Mary Poppins? Wow, scary

I saw Melissa Manchester in the tour of 'Song & Dance' when I lived in Orlando. It was over 20 years ago so I don't remember much, except that I was pleasantly surprised with Manchester's performance. And her singing was excellent, of course. Maybe I was just young and easily impressed.

[quote]She was absolutely lovely. She couldn't have been nicer or friendlier. Maybe I'm naive, but she appeared to be sincere.

Of course she was, but absolutely lovely and sincere don't play at Datalounge.

BUMP for Betty!

Betty Buckley: "CARRIE.. It's a CINDERELLA story!"

Went to the Revisiting Carrie show this week and now listening to the bootleg soundboard recording of the Broadway show and regardless of how nutz she is, Betty Buckley was born to be on stage. Her Margret White is really quite thrilling and you can hear why she was getting the ovations she was getting on the recording. There is no way Marin Mazzie will get any where near it.

Worked with Betty during a regional run of her concert show. I'd heard all the stories, but she was truly one of the loveliest (and most talented) people I've ever worked with. Wish I had some fun horror stories, but she was a gem the week she was here.

Melissa Manchester was GREAT in "Song and Dance."

ON Eight is enough, Betty joined the show replacing Diana Hyland who was so loved by the cast and when bat shit betty arrived the whole vibe changed for the worst!!! She could be nice as can be or the meanest bitch on wheels

She laughed at me.

I'll tell you what happened.

She was real sick and tired. So all the other cats put on a big show for her in order to cheer her up. Then they put her on a tire and shot her through the roof.

One thing I'll say about Betty is that she's totally nice to her fans. She may be weird and all that but she really goes out of her way to be gracious to those who admire her.

r1 if you watch that video on youtube it sort of looks like Betty and Jennifer get in a shoving match over who stands next to Rosie

Saw Melissa Manchester on tour in Song and Dance at The Chicago Theater. She wasn't a great actress but she was adequate and had a lot of charm. Her singing, of course, was excellent. Victor Barbee danced Joe and was very sexy, strapping. It's not a great show.

From what I've seen and heard, Betty Buckley is one of those people who creates an adversary out of every person who chooses to employ her.

Bitter Betty was at the Trevor Project fundraiser last night....how strange considering the way she behaved when her brother came out. (I guess the gays are the only audience she has left)

How did Betty treat the late Timothy Scott? Wasn't she outraged and praying to God every night about the homo touching her brother Norman?

.

Oh Lordy, she showed up on that Pretty Little Liars show this week, playing the grandmother to Ashley Benson, James Franco's latest "girlfriend".

It's a stupid show for people half my age but sometimes I watch it. Betty was fun...played it kinda southern and even got to sing a bit.

And they call ME a cunt.

Meow.

Geez, I didn't know any of this stuff. This is like TMZ on steroids. What I do know is that once upon a time Betty Buckley had an incredible voice and I am thankful for You Tube that I can see and hear some of her long ago performances..

[quote] Standing in one aisle was a Sarah Michelle Gellar cutout, and when Buckley saw it, she took a Sharpie out of her purse and drew a mustache on it!

If she hated Sarah Michelle Gellar, who can blame her... SMG is the woodest of the wood as an actress.

I know people who have worked with her and she's best described as 'eccentric.' She is notoriously late for performances (at least on broadway)which led to major issues when she was in CATS (her u.s was Janet Hubert who was the first Aunt Viv on Fresh Prince.. can you imagine?). I get the impression that most of the actors she works with tolerate her, some barely so.

I found her humorless in Sunset and she was dreadfully miscast in Song and Dance but she sang the hell out of both scores. Her vocals in Song and Dance were thrilling (there's a bootleg out there).

It's a shame that she missed out on a lot of opportunities simply because people don't want to work with her.

r 87 I don't think Janet L. Hubert ever went on in CATS for Betty. She didn't have the pipes. Listen to her on the OBC. She stinks. Betty might be looney but she is FANTASTIC on stage.

Janet did go on for Betty. A few times Betty showed up at curtain time and Janet was already in costume, ready to perform. Betty was told to go home. I was told she cleaned up her act after that. If you watch her Tony speech she's pretty humble.

I wish we could hear Janet sing MEMORY -- cuz judging from her Moments of Happiness clip on the OBC -- she would suck.

She was amazing in Drood

She was amazing in THE OLD FRIENDS. What a performance!

[quote] How did Betty Buckley behave in "Cats?"

Bitch REFUSED to use the litter box.

I hope everyone realizes that these evil Betty Buckley stories are completely made up. They are not even rumors. They are not exaggerations. They're vile inventions dreamed up by venomous little toads.

I was jogging and Betty pulled up besides me and gunned the engine on purpose. As I ran along, she kept pace with me and flicked lit cigarettes at my head.

I thought, "Why would Betty Buckley have three cigarettes lit at a time?"

Betty loved playing cats, she didn't even have to wear makeup

Sarah Michelle Gellar had Betty Lynn fired and literally escorted off the set of a horrible movie called Simply Irresistible. During production it was titled Vanilla Fog. The crew loathed Buckley so much that they retaliated by making her look like shit in the few scenes she does appear in.

Did Hubert go on much? I remember going as a kid and Buckley was out so the relatives I was with got tickets for another day. This was about a year into the run. I kind of remember Diane Fratantoni being the understudy who went on.

I don't think Diane took over as understudy until Laurie Beechman replaced as Grizabella

[quote] If you watch her Tony speech she's pretty humble.

link?

Humble my foot. She's truly nasty. She gives us the Buddhist prayer hands, but she's just a plain, mean Texan cowgirl.

She is not. She is a bit kooky but very sweet and an amazing voice.

Nope. She's plain mean, in that psychological, find-the-other-person's-vulnerable-spot (or make one up) and stick a knife into it, turning it every chance you get. I've known more than one person who's been in shows with her. She is universally reviled by theater coworkers.

Is that you Gil Gerard, R102?

R103 articulates it perfectly-she's a nasty piece of work.

As a make-up friend of mine put it when she faced the option of working on Faye Dunaway in The Yards or Betty Buckley in Vanilla Fog (later retitled Simply Irresistible): "I found myself having to choose between a psycho (Dunaway) or a cunt (Buckley). After careful consideration I chose the cunt."

Thank you R105 for the story.

I would have thought the psycho would have been a bit more fun.

I met her after OLD FRIENDS a few weeks ago and she was charming. But she did beg me to pull her finger so she could fart.

r11 you post explains everything.

I was a graduate student at the London School of Economics when Sunset was running in London.

Twice I dropped into the box office to purchase tickets for the evening performance and was informed that Miss Buckley was not performing - ill yet again.

I sarcastically asked 'does the woman have a problem with substance abuse?'

Three guys working in the theatre fell out laughing.

Betty attended the London production tonight and cried. (see twitter)

I just signed my daughter up for one of her song interpretation workshops ... Now I'm scared...

It will be ok r110. She's nice to her students nowadays.

Thanks r111--we shall see. There seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions about her, so I'm looking forward to seeing her in action and drawing my own conclusions.

Being nice is part of the sales technique r112. The first class you take she will love you and you will love her. If you take a second class she will be mean. Then you will be driven to take a third class to regain what you feel you lost. Been there!

one and done is the way. Take the first class and all the stuff she teaches you and then don't go back. She really has a lot of good ideas.

31:40.

I know two people who worked with her in Sunset Blvd and they both said she’s self absorbed and eccentric but not mean. She would show up for performances sometimes 10 mins before curtain but in full makeup. She could have been wonderful in Song and Dance but her costumes were horrible and her hair was too short giving her a very severe look which was totally wrong for the part. She should have played it in jeans and a t shirt with softer hair and she would have been much more appealing. The characters age was never given. She was simply an English woman moving to the US to be with her boyfriend.

If Betty was so disliked by her Eight is Enough co stars then why did they turn out for her LA opening in Hello, Dolly. There’s a pic of them at the opening in the linked article. Looks like her lesbian crushes showed up, too!