Barbara Bryne

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Barbara Bryne
Born Barbara Isabel Birkinshaw
(1929-04-01)1 April 1929
London, England
Died Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist.
Minneapolis, USA
Occupation Actress
Years active 1947–2012
Television The Neverending Story
American Playhouse
Love, Sidney
Spouse(s) Dennis Spence (m. 1953; d. 2018)
Children 1

Barbara Bryne (1 April 1929 – 2 May 2023) was a British-American actress of film, theatre and television. Onstage she appeared in comedy, dramatic and musical production of Broadway and studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA).

Life and career

Bryne came to Canada in the early 1960s and was a frequent performer at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival (Stratford, Ontario) since 1966 and at the Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, Minnesota) for 50 years.[1][2] In 1982, she was nominated for a Drama Desk Award as Outstanding Actress in a Drama for her role as "Kath" in the first American production of Joe Orton's Entertaining Mr. Sloane (which starred Maxwell Caulfield in the title role).

Bryne was in the original Broadway productions of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George (as George's mother) and Into The Woods (as Jack's mother). She also performed in Sondheim's A Little Night Music in Washington, D.C. She was also a frequent performer at Minneapolis' Guthrie Theater. Among the plays in which she appeared there were Mother Courage, The Glass Menagerie, She Stoops to Conquer, Design for Living, and Pygmalion.[3]

On television she played "Mrs. Gaffney" on the Tony Randall series, Love, Sidney (1981–1983). In 2011 she appeared as Queen Victoria in H.M.S. Pinafore, which was filmed for PBS in late August 2011.[4] Among the films in which she has appeared are: Romeo & Juliet (1993 TV film), Into the Woods (1991 TV film), Two Evil Eyes (1990; "The Black Cat" segment), Sunday in the Park with George (1986 TV film), Amadeus (1984), The Bostonians (1984), and The School for Scandal (1975 TV film).

Bryne died on 2 May 2023, in Minneapolis, at the age of 94.[5][6]

Stage

Year Title Role(s) Notes
1966 Henry VI Margery Jourdan
1966 Twelfth Night Maria
1966 King Lear Goneril
1967 Richard III Duchess of York
1967 The Government Inspector Locksmith's Wife, Korobkin's Wife
1967 The Merry Wives of Windsor Ensemble
1968 Tartuffe Mme. Pernelle
1968 The Three Musketeers Mme. Coquenard, Landlady of the Gilded Lily
1968 A Midsummer Night's Dream Puck
1981 Cymbeline The Queen
1981 Entertaining Mr Sloane Kath Nomination: Drama Desk Award
1984-85 Sunday in the Park with George Blair Daniels, Old Lady Broadway debut
1985 Hay Fever Clara
1986-89 Into the Woods Jack's Mother
1989 The Importance of Being Earnest Lady Augusta Bracknell
1992 Romeo and Juliet Nurse
1993 A Midsummer Night's Dream Robin Starveling
1994 Sunday in the Park with George Blair Daniels, Old Lady 10th Anniversary Concert[7]
1995 The Merry Wives of Windsor Mistress Quickly
1997 Into the Woods Jack’s Mother 10th Anniversary Concert[8]
2002 A Little Night Music Madame Armfeldt
2002 The Chairs Old Woman
2003 Three Sisters Anfisa
2006 The Birthday Party Mistress Quickly
2007 Our Leading Lady Maude Bentley
2007 Jane Eyre Mrs. Fairfax
2009 When We Are Married Mrs. Northrop
2010 Macbeth Weïrd Sister
2011 H.M.S. Pinafore Queen Victoria
2012 Hay Fever Clara
2012 Embers Nini

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1963 Festival Gladys (segment "I Spy")
1967 Mister Rogers Miss Paulifficate
1974 The Play's the Thing Betty (episode "Back to Beulah")
1975 Great Performances Mrs. Candour (episode "The School for Scandal")
1981 CBS Children's Mystery Theatre Blanche Guizot (episode "Mystery at Fire Island")
1982 Best of the West Miss Hanratty (episode "The Calico Kid Goes to School")
1982 Maid in America Aunt Melissa TV movie
1983 Svengali Mrs. Burns-Rizzo TV movie
1982–1983 Love, Sidney Mrs. Gaffney
1984 The Bostonians Mrs. Tarrant
1984 Amadeus Frau Weber
1990 Two Evil Eyes Martha (segment "The Black Cat")
1986–1991 American Playhouse Jack's Mother / Old Lady / Blair Daniels
1993 Romeo and Juliet Nurse TV movie
1995–1996 The Neverending Story Urgl Voice

References

  1. "Christopher Plummer, Barbara Byrne [sic] and more join Guthrie's 50th Anniversary Gala"; accessed 6 August 2014.
  2. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. Barbara Bryne at the Internet Movie Database
  5. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. Sunday in the Park with George Broadway Concert", Playbill, retrieved February 20, 2023
  8. “Into the Woods”

External links