The Tony Legends Interview: Betty Buckley [VIDEO]

Betty Lynn Buckley is a true theatre legend. Anyone who has ever experienced her performing live onstage, whether in a musical, play or in concert, knows how truly gifted she is. She has the magical ability to embody a character and interpret a song in her own unique and nuanced manner. The same is true of her screen and TV work.

A Texas native, Buckley made her Broadway debut, in 1969, as Martha Jefferson in the musical 1776. Then she was off to London’s West End to play Fran Kubelik (the Shirley MacLaine character) in the musical version of Billy Wilder’s The Apartment, Promises, Promises. She took over the role of Catherine in the Bob Fosse-directed Pippin on Broadway in 1973.

Buckley made her film debut as the gym teacher, Miss Collins, in Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic, Carrie. From 1977 to 1981, Betty played Abby on the popular ABC series Eight is Enough.

The year 1982 would prove to be a game changer for the thesp. She won the role of Grizabella in the Broadway production of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Cats and walked away with a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical.

She was also cast in Bruce Beresford’s Academy-Award-winning movie, Tender Mercies, released in 1983, and sang the Oscar-nominated song, “Over You,” in the moving film.

In 1985 she replaced Bernadette Peters in “Song and Dance” and originated the roles of Edwin Drood/Miss Alice Nutting in the Tony-winning musical, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. She, then, played The Witch in the first Broadway workshop of Into the Woods (Peters would ultimately play the role).

After turning down the London production, she returned to Broadway in the now legendary (yet, then, ill-fated) musical version of Carrie, as Margaret White. The show was a definite mixed bag, but the power of the scenes between Carrie (Lindzi Hateley) and her mother were palpable and groundbreaking for a Broadway musical.

Buckley’s subsequent film work includes, Roman Polanski’s Frantic, Woody Allen’s Another Woman (both in 1988), Lawrence Kasden’s Wyatt Earp (1994) and M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening (2008), Split (2016) and Jeff Wadlow’s Imaginary (2024).

On TV, she’s appeared in episodes of Cagney and Lacey, L.A. Law, Monk, Without a Trace, Melrose Place, Pretty Little Liars, The Leftovers, Preacher and Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. She also delivered powerful work as Suzanne Fitzgerald on the HBO series Oz.

Post-Carrie, Buckley stepped into the role of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Sunset Boulevard in London (Olivier nomination) in 1994 and replaced Glenn Close in the Broadway production. She received her second Tony nomination for 1997’s Triumph of Love and dazzled playing Mama Rose in Gypsy at the Paper Mill Playhouse in NJ, one year later.

Other theatre credits include the off-Broadway comedy White’s Lies (2010), Dear World in London (2013), Horton Foote’s touching off-Broadway drama, The Old Friends (2014), Big Edie in Grey Gardens at various theatres (2019) and the National Tour of Hello, Dolly! (2019)

Buckley has recorded over a dozen solo albums and sung on over a dozen cast recordings/celebration CDs.

For over forty years, Buckley has been a teacher of scene study and song interpretation, offering workshops in Manhattan and various universities and performing Arts Conservatories around the country.

She is a 2012 American Theater Hall of Fame inductee and the 2017 recipient of the Julie Harris Awards from The Actor’s Fund for Artistic Achievement and received The Lifetime Achievement Award from The American Songbook Association in 2023.

And now she can add short film creator/writer to her resume. Buckley created, wrote and narrates the animated short film, The Mayfly, screening at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival. This exquisite work, inspired by a real event, follows Megalyn Mayfly who goes on her own musical journey, defying expectations.

For Tribeca tickets to The Mayfly: https://tribecafilm.com/films/mayfly-2024

Awards Daily had the absolute pleasure of zoom-chatting with the frank and humble Buckley for this very first Tony Legends series interview.