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Pretty, buxom, brunette player of stage and screen who may be best known as Carol Trener, divorced daughter of Bea Arthur on “Maude” (CBS, 1972-78), Norman Lear’s groundbreaking sitcom. While the role provided high visibility, Barbeau had little to do on the series. It, however, opened the door to a slew of TV-movies, specials, and guest spots beginning in the mid-1970s and continuing through the 90s. Barbeau has also had a modest feature career, generally in fairly savvy and thrifty genre fare.

Barbeau first gained notice on the Broadway stage in an early 1970s revival of “Fiddler on the Roof” and garnered a Tony nomination and Theater World Award for her performance as Rizzo in “Grease” (1971). The success of “Maude” led to such TV-movie credits as co-starring with Desi Arnaz, Jr. in the medical drama “Having Babies” (her TV-movie debut, 1976), and “Someone’s Watching Me” (1978), a nifty thriller (the first of several collaborations) helmed by John Carpenter (whom she married in 1979 and later divorced), Barbeau gradually evolved from playing ingenues to mothers and worldly older woman in later TV movies including the western “Blood River” (1991) starring Rick Schroeder and written by Carpenter, and the remake of “Jailbreakers” (1994), part of Showtime’s “Rebel Highway” series.

Barbeau has done her most enjoyable feature work in collaboration with Carpenter (”The Fog” 1980; “Escape From New York” 1981) and horror auteur George Romero (”Creepshow” 1982; “Two Evil Eyes” 1990). Whereas Carpenter envisioned her as a hard-boiled leading lady who comfortably packs a rod, Romero got much mileage from her campy turns playing hard-eyed harpies.

• Also Credited As:
  Adrienne Jo Barbeau
• Born:
  on 06/11/45 in Sacramento, California
• Job Titles:
  Actor

Family

• Sister: Jocelyn Jo Barbeau. born in December 1951
• Son: John Cody Carpenter. born on May 7, 1984
• Son: Walker Steven Barbeau Van Zandt. twin of William; born on March 17, 1997
• Son: William Dalton Barbeau Van Zandt. twin of Walker; born on March 17, 1997

Significant Others

• Husband: Billy Van Zandt. born c. 1958
• Husband: John Carpenter. married January 1, 1979; divorced; known for genre work, notably low budget horror classic “Halloween” (1977)

Education

• Foothill College, Los Altos Hills, California

Milestones

• 1972 TV debut as divorced daughter Carol on Bea Arthur sitcom, “Maude”
• 1972 Tony nominated for her performance in “Grease”
• 1976 TV-movie debut, “Having Babies”
• 1980 Debut in a TV miniseries, “The Top of the Hill”
• 1980 Feature film debut in starring role, “The Fog” directed by her then husband John Carpenter
• 1992 Provided the voice of Catwoman for “Batman: The Animated Series” on Fox
• Broadway debut in revival of “Fiddler on the Roof”