Debbie Bartlett

Last updated

Debbie Bartlett (born Deborah DuBusky in 1951) is an American actress, dancer and choreographer, known for her work in film, television, and stage during the 1970s and 1980 particularly for her role on The Love Boat., [1]

Contents

Early life and family

Debbie Bartlett was born Deborah Ann DuBusky in 1951, the third of four children of Jerome Joseph “Jerry” DuBusky (1919 to 1984) and Ann Elizabeth Donahue (1927 to 1987). Her father was born in Washington D.C., with Prussian, French, Irish and Portuguese ancestry. Her mother was from Massachusetts with English and Irish ancestry.

Jerry and Ann DuBusky began raising their family in Washington DC before moving to California. The four children were raised in West Covina and attended Edgewood High School, where Debbie was crowned homecoming queen in 1969. [2]

Career

Debbie DuBusky began her career in 1970 when she joined the cast of Disney on Parade. [3] It was on that tour that she met Bill Bartlett whom she married the next year, taking the name Bartlett as her stage name. The Disney on Parade show and tour took her to Canada, Mexico and around the USA. At the end of the tour she joined the Chandler Conspiracy Night Club Act, a touring show group, where she performed alongside Bill until 1974. Alongside her husband she appeared in an Orange Shasta commercial in 1977 starring Barry Williams and choreographed by Peter Gennaro. [3] She began her film career in 1978 in the comedy Shame, Shame on the Bixby Boys, where she played Suley Blue Bixby, [1] but continued to work on stage. In 1979 she performed alongside Peter Virgo jr and Bruce Tuthill in Bells Are Ringing at The Muny, St Louis playing Michelle. [4]

In 1980, Bartlett was cast in Xanadu as one of the immortal Muses. She was the second muse to emerge from the mural during the "I'm Alive" sequence. However, she had to leave the production before its conclusion and was uncredited. [1] In 1981, she made a guest appearance on the sitcom Three's Company as Marlene in the episode Some of That Jazz. Debbie then became well known as a game show cohost. In 1983 she was featured on Dream House [5] and then filled the cohost role on Every Second Counts in 1984.

Bartlett's most significant television role came in the final season of The Love Boat (1985–1986), where she appeared in 19 episodes as Susie, one of eight dancers known as The Mermaids. [6] Selected through a nationwide audition process from thousands of hopefuls, she was part of a team that included Teri Hatcher, who appeared as Amy in her first role. For this role she had to leave Every Second Counts midway through its run.

From June 1986 to June 1987, Bartlett performed in the touring production of Singin' in the Rain, playing Mary Margaret [7] and participating in the ensemble. She then returned to TV to act as a gameshow cohost with Alan Thicke in Animal Crack-Ups (1987–1990). [8] She also worked as a hostess on the short-lived syndicated series Home Shopping Game in 1987. [9]

In the 1990s, Bartlett worked alongside her husband as a choreographer. In 1995, they choreographed F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender is the Night at the Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles [10] In 1998, at The Fountain Theatre once again, they choreographed Fitzgerald's The Last Tycoon [11] for which they won the LA Weekly 1998 Production Design of the Year Award for Choreography. [3] Other notable productions at the Fountain Theatre include Dottie! and Ancient History. [3]

Bartlett continued to perform as well as choreograph. Although predominantly in theatre, in 2003 she played a ghost dancer alongside Bill in the Disney film The Haunted Mansion. [3]

Personal life

Debbie married William "Bill" Bartlett (1940–2024), a dancer and dance teacher, on August 3, 1971. [12] She used her married name throughout her career. Bill had already begun establishing his career as a performer in Portland, Oregon, where he was discovered by Sophie Tucker. He went on to perform with luminaries such as Gene Kelly [13] and Donald O’Connor. He was most renowned as a teacher, at various schools such as the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studios and the Madilyn Clark Studios. Bill's long teaching career included a notable tenure at Plaza de la Raza starting in 1987 as well as Idyllwild Arts Academy. [3]

Debbie assisted Bill's teaching from around 2007 at Idyllwild and began to take classes of her own. They were also close friends with dancer and choreographer Alex Romero and dancer and author Mark Knowles. [14] They assisted Knowles in creating a lecture on the history of tap dancing, which Knowles later expanded into a book. [15] When Bill Bartlett passed away on August 31, 2020, they had been married for forty-nine years. [3] Latterly, the Bartlett's performed together in Hollywood in show written and directed by Cate Caplin (a former student of Bill's) called The Beat Goes On. Her final performance with Bill was in 2017 at the Debbie Reynolds and Carrie Fisher Celebration of Life at the Forest Lawn Hall of Liberty. [3]

Debbie's niece, Rachel DuBusky, is also a dancer and owner-director of Solid Gold Dance studios. Having spent 29 years at Pam Rossi's Dance Ten studio, in 2021, she took over the studio and renamed it in tribute to Pam Rossi's time as a dancer on the TV show Solid Gold. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna Sokolow</span> American dance artist (1910–2000)

Anna Sokolow was an American dancer and choreographer. Sokolow's work is known for its social justice focus and theatricality. Throughout her career, Sokolow supported of the development of modern dance around the world, including in Mexico and Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Debbie Allen</span> American actress (born 1950)

Deborah Kaye Allen is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, producer, and a former member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. She has been nominated 20 times for an Emmy Award, and two Tony Awards. She has won a Golden Globe Award, and received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arlene Phillips</span> English choreographer (born 1943)

Dame Arlene Phillips is an English choreographer, talent scout, television judge and presenter, theatre director, and former dancer, who has worked in many fields of entertainment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Susan Stroman</span> American theatre director and choreographer

Susan P. Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, and performer. Her notable theater productions include Oklahoma!, The Music Man, Crazy for You, Contact, The Producers, The Frogs, The Scottsboro Boys, Bullets Over Broadway, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive, and New York, New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan McCracken</span> American dancer and actress (1917–1961)

Joan Hume McCracken was an American dancer and actress who became famous for her role as Sylvie in the original 1943 production of Oklahoma! She also was noted for her performances in the Broadway shows Bloomer Girl (1944), Billion Dollar Baby (1945) and Dance Me a Song (1950), and the films Hollywood Canteen (1945) and Good News (1947).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatiana Riabouchinska</span> Russian-American ballerina (1917–2000)

Tatiana Mikhailovna Riabouchinska was a Russian American prima ballerina and teacher. Famous at age 14 as one of the three "Baby Ballerinas" of the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo in the 1930s, she matured into an artist whom critics called "the most unusual dancer of her generation."

<i>Over Here!</i> Musical

Over Here! is a musical with a score by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman and book by Will Holt. The original Broadway production was directed by Tom Moore and choreographed by Patricia Birch, with scenic design by Douglas W. Schmidt and costumes by Carrie F. Robbins.

Brian L. Friedman is an American dancer and choreographer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mia Michaels</span> American choreographer and judge

Mia Michaels Melchiona is an American choreographer and judge on the television show So You Think You Can Dance. She has worked with Tom Cruise, Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan, Madonna, Ricky Martin, Prince, and Catherine Zeta-Jones. In 2005 she choreographed Cirque du Soleil's world tour Delirium and Celine Dion's A New Day..., for which she received an Emmy Award nomination. In 2007 she won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography for her routine on "Calling You" during season two of So You Think You Can Dance. She won another Emmy Award during season five in 2010. She was a judge during season 7 with Adam Shankman and Nigel Lythgoe. She choreographed the dance sequence for "Get Happy" in the episode "Bombshells" of the television series House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maurice Hines</span> American actor, singer and dancer (1943–2023)

Maurice Robert Hines Jr. was an American actor, director, singer, and choreographer. He was the older brother of dancer Gregory Hines.

Samantha Jo "Mandy" Moore is an American choreographer, dancer, producer, and dance instructor. She is known for her work on the United States reality television series So You Think You Can Dance, having appeared on the show every year since the third season, and Dancing with the Stars. She choreographed the 2016 film La La Land and has also worked on commercials and various musical productions such as Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour. She has created dance numbers for the Academy Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Emmy Awards, and Grammy Awards ceremonies. She has been nominated seven times for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Choreography, winning in 2017 for her work on Dancing with the Stars, in 2018 for her work on So You Think You Can Dance, and in 2020 for Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kherington Payne</span> American singer

Kherington Taylor Payne is an American dancer, actress, choreographer, television personality and singer who came to prominence as a Top 10 Finalist in Season 4 of the hit reality-dance show So You Think You Can Dance and in a role in the 2009 reinvention of the movie Fame. She has been a principal dancer for Katy Perry, and was a lead cast member on E! reality docu-drama The Dance Scene. Payne was also briefly a member of the third line-up of the girl group The Pussycat Dolls. She was a choreographer on the YouTube show Dance Showdown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catherine Littlefield</span> American ballerina, choreographer, and director (1905-1951)

Catherine Littlefield was an American ballet dancer, choreographer, ballet teacher, and director. She founded the Philadelphia Ballet in Philadelphia in 1935. It was the first American ballet company to tour Europe and the first to present a full-length version of The Sleeping Beauty in the United States. In addition to producing American-themed ballets such as Barn Dance, Terminal, Cafe Society and Ladies' Better Dresses, Littlefield choreographed Broadway musicals and Sonja Henie's professional ice skating shows. She was among the first class of inductees (1987) into the National Museum of Dance and Hall of Fame.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Smith (dancer)</span>

Joseph C. Smith (1875–1932) was an American dancer, musical theatre actor, and choreographer. He introduced tango to the United States in 1911. In a letter to the New York Times he claimed that he introduced it at the Winter Garden Theatre, dancing with Dorothy Jardon, in the show called Review of 1911. He was the son of George Washington Smith (1820-1899), America's first male ballet star.

Sonya Tayeh is a New York City-based choreographer. She has worked nationally and internationally across the worlds of dance and theater.

Chloe Arnold is an American dancer and Emmy-nominated choreographer, actress, director, and producer. She is best known internationally as a tap dancer, and was seen on Season 11 of FOX's So You Think You Can Dance with her company Chloe Arnold's Syncopated Ladies.

Frank Gatson Jr. is an American director and choreographer. He is the creative director for En Vogue, Brandy, Muni Long, Tyrese Gibson, Rihanna and Jennifer Lopez. He also is Kelly Rowland's and Beyoncé's main creative director and choreographer, a position he has held since her tenure with Destiny's Child. He has also choreographed videos, routines and live performances for other artists including R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, TLC, En Vogue, Kelly Rowland, Rihanna, Jennifer Lopez, Fifth Harmony, Destiny's Child, Little Mix, Toni Braxton and Usher.

Lindsay Shearer-Nelko is a Canadian-born choreographer of such television shows as FOX's 'So You Think You Can Dance' and 'The X Factor'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Parris Goebel</span> New Zealand dancer and choreographer (born 1991)

Parris Renee Goebel, also known mononymously as Parris, is a New Zealand dancer and choreographer. She is the founder and main choreographer of the Palace Dance Studio, which has produced dance crews such as ReQuest, Sorority, Bubblegum, and the Royal Family. The last has won the World Hip Hop Dance Championship three times in a row, becoming the first dance crew in history to achieve it.

Alejandro Bernardo Quiroga, better known as Alex Romero was an American dancer and choreographer who was noted for directing Elvis Presley's dancing in the movie Jailhouse Rock and for working with noted dancers and choreographers at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) during the 1940s and 1950s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 IMDB profile of Debbie Bartlett
  2. ↑ Edgewood High School - Aurigan Yearbook (West Covina, CA) - Class of 1984, p51
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Shine On Hollywood Magazine Jan Feb 2021, p66-109
  4. ↑ Performing Arts. (1979). United States: Performing Arts., p12
  5. ↑ Chance, N. (2010). Who Was Who on TV: Volume I. United States: Xlibris US., P397
  6. ↑ Terrace, V. (2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2010, 2d Ed.. United States: McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers., p627
  7. ↑ John Willis' Theatre World. (1988). United States: Crown Publishers, p147
  8. ↑ Terrace, V. (2014). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2010, 2d Ed.. United States: McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers, P46
  9. ↑ Chance, N. (2010). Who Was Who on TV: Volume II. United States: Xlibris US, p87
  10. ↑ F. Scott Fitzgerald's Tender Is the Night. (2013). United States: Dramatist's Play Service. Page 3
  11. ↑ The Last Tycoon Revisits Hollywood July 9 1998
  12. ↑ California, U.S., Marriage Index, 1960-1985 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.
  13. ↑ The Capital Journal, Salem, Oregon, Fri, Nov 20, 1959, Page 11
  14. ↑ Knowles, M. (2013). The Man Who Made the Jailhouse Rock: Alex Romero, Hollywood Choreographer. United States: McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. Page ix, 2, 195
  15. ↑ Knowles, M. (2002). Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing. United Kingdom: McFarland, Incorporated, Publishers. Page 1
  16. ↑ Rachel DuBusky profile Solid Gold dance studios
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.