 |
Sandahl Bergman | |
|---|---|
 Bergman in 2011 | |
| Born | Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, dancer |
| Years active | 1970–2003 |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Spouse | Josh Taylor (divorced) |
Sandahl Bergman is an American actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Valeria in the film Conan the Barbarian (1982), for which she won a Golden Globe and a Saturn Award.
Bergman was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas. She grew up 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) tall, athletic, and statuesque. [1] [2]
In her 20s, she moved to New York City and appeared in several Broadway shows, noticed by choreographer Bob Fosse, who cast her as a replacement dancer in Pippin . She had a secondary lead in the stage version of the film Gigi in 1973, and later appeared in Mack & Mabel , and as Judy in the renowned "new New York cast" of A Chorus Line (when many of the original actors left the show in 1977). [3] She was cast again by Fosse in his critically acclaimed 1978 dance concert/musical Dancin' , with many of the top dancers on Broadway at the time. [4]
Bergman's movie career began in 1978 with a small role in the TV film How to Pick Up Girls. She followed that in 1979 with the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz , in which she was a featured performer in the "Take Off With Us" sequence. [5] In the 1980 movie Xanadu , she appears as one of the nine immortal Muses during the opening song "I'm Alive" by ELO, as well as the final title number of "Xanadu".
Bergman's participation in Xanadu also led indirectly to her eviction from her apartment in New York and subsequent relocation to California. She had been subletting her apartment in New York in defiance of a clause in her rental contract, and during her four months in California for filming, he became aware of the situation. Bergman has said she did not return to New York, instead having friends pack and ship her belongings to her.[ citation needed ]
Her best-known role was playing Valeria opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian . She won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress and the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her role in the film. Because no stunt women could be found to match her size, she learned to do all her own stunt work. She commented on the experience, "It was tough. I nearly lost a finger. Arnold smashed his head against a rock. But that was nothing compared to what the stunt men went through."
In 1984, she played the title role in the post-apocalytic comedy-adventure She , and she played queen Gedren the next year in Red Sonja . She was offered the title role, but asked to play the villainess instead. [6] After that, she appeared in a series of low-budget films, such as 1987's Hell Comes to Frogtown . Her most recent work was in 2003, when at the age of 52 she appeared as a dancer in the film version of The Singing Detective . Other appearances include a lunar base officer in the movie Airplane II: The Sequel , the music video "Heavy Metal Love" by the band Helix and the Fred Olen Ray film Possessed by the Night , and guest appearances on television, such as Hart to Hart and a dance sequence choreographed by Stanley Donen in an episode of Moonlighting .
Bergman worked as an instructor for the FIRM series of exercise videos in the 1980s. [7]
Bergman has since retired from acting, but still makes the occasional appearance at sci-fi conventions.[ citation needed ]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Mame | Dancer | Uncredited |
| 1979 | All That Jazz | Principal Dancer | |
| 1980 | Xanadu | Muse 1 | |
| 1982 | Conan the Barbarian | Valeria | Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 1982 | Airplane II: The Sequel | Officer #1 | |
| 1984 | She | She | |
| 1984 | Getting Physical | Nadine Cawley | Television movie |
| 1985 | The Ferret | Chandra | Television movie |
| 1985 | Red Sonja | Queen Gedren | Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress |
| 1986 | Stewardess School | Wanda Polanski | |
| 1987 | Programmed to Kill | Samira | |
| 1987 | Kandyland | Harlow Divine | |
| 1988 | Hell Comes to Frogtown | Spangle | |
| 1991 | Raw Nerve | Gloria Freedman | |
| 1992 | In the Arms of a Killer | Nurse Henninger | Television movie |
| 1992 | Loving Lulu | Lulu | |
| 1992 | Revenge on the Highway | Python | Television movie |
| 1994 | Lipstick Camera | Lilly Miller | |
| 1994 | TekWar: TekJustice | Valkyrie | Television movie |
| 1994 | Possessed by the Night | Peggy Hansen | Direct-to-video |
| 1994 | Inner Sanctum II | Sharon Reed | |
| 1994 | Night of the Archer | Marla Miles | |
| 1995 | Ice Cream Man | Marion Cassera | |
| 1996 | The Assault | Helen | |
| 1997 | Sorceress II: The Temptress | Virginia | |
| 2003 | The Singing Detective | Dancer | |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970–1973 | The Dean Martin Comedy World | Golddigger | 50 episodes |
| 1978 | How to Pick Up Girls! | Blond jogger | TV movie |
| 1982 | Hart to Hart | Miranda | Episode: "From the Depths of My Heart" |
| 1986 | Moonlighting | Female Dancer | Episode: "Big Man on Mulberry Street" |
| 1988 | Dirty Dancing | Delia | Episode: "Save the Last Dance for Me" |
| 1989 | Cheers | Judy Marlowe | Episode: "Send in the Crane" |
| 1989 | Hard Time on Planet Earth | Danielle Spencer | Episode: "Battle of the Sexes" |
| 1990 | Freddy's Nightmares | Ginger 'Tracker' Morgan | 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Designing Women | Davida Daniels | Episode: "Nowhere to Run To" |
| 1991 | Swamp Thing | Sienna | Episode: "Tremors of the Heart" |
| 1992 | Dark Justice | Meredith | Episode: "Lead Rain" |
| 1993 | Murder, She Wrote | Sgt. Daisy Kenny | Episode: "The Petrified Florist" |
| 1994 | Silk Stalkings | Sgt. Steele | Episode: "The Scarlet Shadow" |
| 1994 | Under Suspicion | Petrella Gideon | Episode: "Serial Killer - Part 1" |
| 1999 | Sliders | Lead Female Dancer | Episode: "The Java Jive" |
Gwyneth Evelyn "Gwen" Verdon was an American actress and dancer. She won four Tony Awards for her musical comedy performances, and she served as an uncredited choreographer's assistant and specialty dance coach for theater and film. Verdon was a critically acclaimed performer on Broadway in the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, having originated many roles in musicals, including Lola in Damn Yankees, the title character in Sweet Charity, and Roxie Hart in Chicago.
All That Jazz is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Roy Scheider. The screenplay, by Robert Alan Aurthur and Fosse, is a semi-autobiographical fantasy based on aspects of Fosse's life and career as a dancer, choreographer and director. The film was inspired by Fosse's manic effort to edit his film Lenny while simultaneously staging the 1975 Broadway musical Chicago. It borrows its title from the Kander and Ebb tune "All That Jazz" in that production.
Robert Louis Fosse was an American actor, choreographer, dancer, and film and stage director. He directed and choreographed musical works on stage and screen, including the stage musicals The Pajama Game (1954), Damn Yankees (1955), How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (1961), Sweet Charity (1966), Pippin (1972), and Chicago (1975). He directed the films Sweet Charity (1969), Cabaret (1972), Lenny (1974), All That Jazz (1979), and Star 80 (1983).
Red Sonja is a fictional sword and sorcery comic-book superheroine created by writer Roy Thomas and artist Barry Windsor-Smith for Marvel Comics in 1973, partially inspired by Robert E. Howard's character Red Sonya of Rogatino.
Xanadu is a 1980 American musical fantasy film written by Richard Christian Danus and Marc Reid Rubel and directed by Robert Greenwald. The film stars Olivia Newton-John, Michael Beck and Gene Kelly in his final film role. It features music by Newton-John, Electric Light Orchestra, Cliff Richard and the Tubes. The title is a reference to the nightclub in the film, which takes its name from Xanadu, the summer capital of Kublai Khan's Yuan Dynasty in China. The city appears in Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, an 1816 poem quoted in the film.
Conan the Destroyer is a 1984 American epic sword and sorcery film directed by Richard Fleischer from a screenplay by Stanley Mann and a story by Roy Thomas and Gerry Conway. Based on the character Conan the Barbarian created by Robert E. Howard, it is the sequel to Conan the Barbarian (1982). The film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mako reprising their roles as Conan and Akiro, the Wizard of the Mounds, respectively. The cast also includes Grace Jones, Wilt Chamberlain, Tracey Walter, and Olivia d'Abo.
Ann Reinking was an American dancer, actress, choreographer, and singer. She worked predominantly in musical theater, starring in Broadway productions such as Coco (1969), Over Here! (1974), Goodtime Charley (1975), Chicago (1977), Dancin' (1978), and Sweet Charity (1986).
Rachel Emily Nichols is an American actress and model. Nichols began modeling while attending Columbia University in New York City in the late 1990s, and transitioned into acting by the early 2000s; she had a part in the romantic drama Autumn in New York (2000) and a one-episode role in the fourth season of Sex and the City (2002). Her first major role was in the comedy Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd (2003), and she went on to achieve wider recognition playing Rachel Gibson in the final season of the action television series Alias (2005–2006) and for her role in the horror film The Amityville Horror (2005).
New Girl in Town is a musical with a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on Eugene O'Neill's 1921 play Anna Christie, about a prostitute who tries to live down her past. New Girl, unlike O'Neill's play, focuses on the jealousy of the character Marthy and on love's ability to conquer all. The musical ends far more hopefully than the play.
Conan the Barbarian is a 1982 American epic sword and sorcery film directed by John Milius and written by Milius and Oliver Stone. Based on Robert E. Howard's Conan, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and James Earl Jones, and tells the story of a barbarian warrior named Conan (Schwarzenegger) who seeks vengeance for the death of his parents at the hands of Thulsa Doom (Jones), the leader of a snake cult.
Vicki Frederick is an American actress and dancer who has appeared in a number of musicals on Broadway plays, in films, and on popular TV shows such as Mork and Mindy and Happy Days in 1979, and Murder She Wrote in 1990.
Dancin' is a musical revue created, directed, and choreographed by Bob Fosse and originally produced on Broadway in 1978. The plotless, dance-driven revue is a tribute to the art of dance, and the music is a collection of mostly American songs, many with a dance theme, from a wide variety of styles, from operetta to jazz to classical to marches to pop. The original production received seven 1978 Tony Award nominations, with Fosse winning for best choreography.
Valeria is a pirate and adventuress in the fictional universe of Robert E. Howard's Conan the Barbarian stories. She appears in Robert E. Howard's Conan novella "Red Nails", serialized in Weird Tales 28 1-3. This was the last Conan story written by Howard, and published posthumously. The name was also used for Conan's love interest in the 1982 film Conan the Barbarian.
Jacqueline Laura Hoffman is an American actress, singer, and comedian known for her one-woman shows of Jewish-themed original songs and monologues. She is a veteran of Chicago's famed The Second City comedy improv group.
Xanadu is a musical comedy with a book by Douglas Carter Beane and music and lyrics by Jeff Lynne and John Farrar, based on the 1980 film of the same name, which was, in turn, inspired by the 1947 Rita Hayworth film Down to Earth. The title refers to Xanadu, the site of the Mongolian emperor Kublai Khan's summer palace.
Conan the Barbarian is a 2011 American sword and sorcery film based on the character of the same name created by Robert E. Howard. The film is a new interpretation of the Conan myth and is not related to the films featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger. It stars Jason Momoa in the title role, alongside Rachel Nichols, Rose McGowan, Stephen Lang, Ron Perlman, and Bob Sapp, with Marcus Nispel directing. Morgan Freeman narrates the film.
Valarie Pettiford is an American stage and television actress, dancer, and jazz singer. She received a Tony Award nomination for her role in the broadway production Fosse. She is also known for her role as Deirdre "Big Dee Dee" LaFontaine Thorne on the UPN television sitcom Half & Half.
Red Sonja is a 1985 American epic sword and sorcery film directed by Richard Fleischer, and written by Clive Exton and George MacDonald Fraser. Based on the character created by Robert E. Howard, Red Sonya of Rogatino, who also inspired the comic book character of the same name.
Kathryn Doby is a Hungarian dancer, actress and choreographer who worked as assistant and dance captain for Bob Fosse. She made her Broadway debut in the ensemble of Fosse's Sweet Charity at its premiere in January 1966 at the Palace Theatre in Times Square. Aside from her performance in the musical Gregory (1970), her work on Broadway continued with Fosse as a Player and Dance Captain in Pippin (1972) and as an assistant to Mr. Fosse for Chicago (1975) and Dancin' (1978). Her film credits include The Night They Raided Minsky's – “Minsky Girl” (1968), The Handmaid's Tale (film) – Aunt Elizabeth (1990), and again worked with Fosse as a dancer in Sweet Charity (1969), Cabaret – Kit Kat Dancer (1972), and All That Jazz – Kathryn (1979).
Nicole Fosse is an American actress and dancer. She is the only daughter of Gwen Verdon and Bob Fosse.
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