Blair Brown

Bonnie Blair Brown (born April 23, 1946) is an American theater, film and television actress. She has had a number of high-profile roles, including in the play Copenhagen on Broadway (for which she won a Tony Award in 2000), the leading actress in the films Altered States, Continental Divide (1981) and Strapless (1989), as well as a run as the title character in the comedy-drama television series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd, which ran from 1987 to 1991 and earned her four consecutive Outstanding Comedy Series Actress Emmy Award nominations. Her later roles include Nina Sharp on the Fox television series Fringe and Judy King on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black.

Early life and education Brown was born in Washington, D.C. Her mother was a teacher and her father worked for the Central Intelligence Agency. She graduated from The Madeira School in McLean, Virginia, and then pursued acting at the National Theatre School of Canada, graduating in 1969. She gained notice as a participating actor at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and spent several years working on the stage.

Career

Film Brown's first feature role was in the Oscar-winning 1973 film The Paper Chase. Her first major starring role was in The Choirboys in 1977. Among her other film credits are Altered States (opposite William Hurt), One Trick Pony (with Paul Simon), Stealing Home (opposite Mark Harmon), and A Flash of Green (1984). Her arguably highest profile film role to date was the romantic lead opposite John Belushi in Continental Divide (1981) for which she received her first Golden Globe Award nomination, in the category of Best Motion Picture Actress in a Comedy/Musical.

Other film roles include: And I Alone Survived (1978), Strapless (1989), The Astronaut's Wife (1999), Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys (2000), Lars von Trier's Dogville, the Kevin Bacon-directed Loverboy (2005) and The Sentinel (2006).

Television Brown appeared in several television movies and miniseries, primarily during the 1980s. A high-profile role as Jacqueline Kennedy in the 1983 TV miniseries Kennedy earned her a second Golden Globe nomination, for Best Actress in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television, as well as a BAFTA nomination. She also appeared in several other programs about the Kennedys, including the 1996 miniseries A Season in Purgatory, which was a thinly veiled portrait of the family, as well as an appearance as Anna Roosevelt in a telefilm about Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt.

Brown's visibility rose during her five-year run (1987–1991) on the comedy-drama series The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd. She played the title role, and she, and the show, earned a small but dedicated following. Brown received five consecutive Emmy Award nominations for each season, in the category of Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series, but never won. The show spent two years on NBC, then moved to the Lifetime cable channel for the remainder of its run.

Stage Brown has been involved with theater since the beginning of her career. She appeared in the 1975 New York Shakespeare Festival production of The Comedy of Errors. Among her earlier roles was a run as Lucy Brown in the 1976 production of The Threepenny Opera, produced by Joe Papp and directed by Richard Foreman. She left the production for film work, but after being away from the production for eight months, Ellen Greene, who was playing the part of Jenny, fell ill. Brown astounded the stage manager of the production by coming in and, with one hour of rehearsal, put on a "brilliant" performance as Jenny. Her first major appearance on Broadway came in 1989, in the play Secret Rapture, written by David Hare.

Once "Molly Dodd" concluded, Brown became a prolific Broadway actress, appearing in, among other productions, Tom Stoppard's 1995 Lincoln Center Theater production of Arcadia and two separate runs as Frau Schneider in the revival of Cabaret (1998 and 2003). She played Margrethe, the wife of physicist Niels Bohr, in the play Copenhagen, a role for which she won a 2000 Tony Award in the category of Best Featured Actress in a Play. Brown played the lead role in Sarah Ruhl's 2006 play The Clean House at Lincoln Center.

Voice In the 1990s, Brown expanded her career into voiceover work, narrating both audiobooks and films and documentaries. Her audiobooks projects include John Grisham's The Client, Lois Lowry's Number the Stars, Stephen King's Rose Madder, Kevin Henkes' Olive's Ocean, Sue Miller's 2005 novel Lost in the Forest, and Isabel Allende's Inés of My Soul.

Her voiceovers are heard on a number of documentaries, including PBS's American Experience series and the 2007 PBS series The Mysterious Human Heart. Other documentary narrations include the French-American documentary L'Empreinte des dinosaures (titled Tracking Africa's Dinosaurs in English, broadcast in 2001 by France 3 and in 2002 by the Discovery Channel), the scientific series The Secret Life of the Brain, a documentary on Aimee Semple McPherson, which aired in April 2007, and a 2006 PBS documentary about Marie Antoinette. In April, 2010, she co-narrated the PBS special The Buddha with Richard Gere.

Personal life Brown had a relationship with actor Richard Jordan, whom she met while filming the miniseries Captains and the Kings in 1976. The couple lived together from 1976 to 1985; their son Robert Hand Jordan was born in 1983. She dated playwright David Hare from 1985 to 1990; he referred to her as his muse.

Acting credits Films Year Title Role Notes 1972 House of Lovers George Thacker 1973 The Paper Chase Miss Farranti 1977 The Choirboys Kimberly Lyles 1980 One-Trick Pony Marion Levin 1980 Altered States Emily Jessup 1981 Continental Divide Nell Porter Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy 1984 A Flash of Green Kat Hubble 1988 Stealing Home Ginny Wyatt 1989 Strapless Dr. Lillian Hempel 1991 The Good Policeman Rebecca Karp 1992 Passed Away Amy Scanlan 1999 The Astronaut's Wife Shelly McLaren 2000 Space Cowboys Dr. Anne Caruthers 2002 Grasp Jean Malcheck 2002 Benjamin Franklin Jane Franklin Mecom 2002 Young Dr. Freud Narrator 2003 Dogville Mrs. Henson 2005 Loverboy Jeanette Rawley 2006 The Sentinel National Security Advisor 2006 The Treatment Miss Callucci 2006 Griffin & Phoenix Eve 2007 Dark Matter Hildy 2007 First Born Laura's Mother 2011 The Speed of Thought Bridger

Television films Year Title Role Notes 1973 Dracula Mina Harker 1975 The School for Scandal Lady Teazle 1976 Captains and the Kings Elizabeth Healey Hennessey 1977 Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years Anna Roosevelt 1977 Charlie Cobb: Nice Night for a Hanging Charity 1977 The 3,000 Mile Chase Rachel Kane 1977 The Quinns Millicent Priestley 1978 And I Alone Survived Lauren Elder 1979 The Child Stealer Jan Rodman 1983 The Skin of Our Teeth Sabina 1985 The Bad Seed Christine Penmark 1987 Hands of a Stranger Diane Benton 1990 Extreme Close-Up Margaret Toll 1991 Lethal Innocence Sally Hatch 1992 Those Secrets Neille Banesh 1992 Majority Rule Gen. Katherine Taylor 1993 Rio Shannon Elizabeth Cleary 1993 The Day My Parents Ran Away Mrs. Judy Miller 1994 Moment of Truth: To Walk Again Carol Keating 1994 The Gift of Love Helen Porter 1996 The Ultimate Lie Joan 'Joanie' McGrath 1996 A Season in Purgatory Grace Bradley 1997 Convictions Zalinda Dorcheus 2000 In His Life: The John Lennon Story Mimi Smith 2000 Hamlet Gertrude 2001 Follow the Stars Home Hannah Parker 2004 Dark Shadows Elizabeth Collins Stoddard Unaired TV pilot 2004 Copshop Frances Harding

Television series Year Title Role Notes 1971 Police Surgeon Dulcy Episode: "Lies" 1972–75 The Whiteoaks of Jalna Pheasan Vaughan 2 episodes 1975 The Rockford Files Kate Flanders Episode: "The Girl in the Bay City Boys Club" 1976 Kojak Stella Episode: "Where Do You Go When You Have Nowhere to Go?" 1977 Family Flora Jessup Episode: "We Love You, Miss Jessup" 1978 Wheels Barbara Lipton Episode: "#1.1" 1983 Kennedy Jacqueline Kennedy Episode: "#1.2"Nominated—BAFTA TV Award for Best ActressNominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Miniseries or Television Film 1985 Space Penny Hardesty Pope 5 episodes 1985 ABC Afterschool Special Joan Stewart Episode: "Don't Touch" 1986 Comedy Factory Valerie Arnold Episode: "The Faculty" 1987–91 The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd Molly Dodd 65 episodesNominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series (1987–91) 1995 Frasier Jill Episode: "Shrink Rap" 1995 American Experience Evelyn Nesbit Episode: "Murder of the Century" 1997 Feds Erica Stanton Unsold TV pilot 2001 Touched by an Angel Victoria Episode: "A Winter Carol" 2002 Smallville Rachel Dunleavy Episode: "Lineage" 2002 CSI: Miami Margie Winters Episode: "Camp Fear" 2003 Law & Order Virginia Masters Episode: "Seer" 2003–04 Ed Mary Burton 2 episodes 2003–07 American Experience Narrator 5 episodes 2004 ER Dr. Vicki Ford Episode: "Midnight" 2004 Law & Order: Special Victims Unit Attorney Lynne Riff 2 episodes 2005 Missing Emma Roderick Episode: "Off the Grid" 2008–13 Fringe Nina Sharp 46 episodesNominated—Saturn Award for Best Guest Starring Role on Television 2011 Falling Skies Sonya Episode: "What Hides Beneath" 2012 Political Animals Mrs. Berg Episode: "16 Hours" 2014 Forever Fawn Mahoney Ames Episode: "The Man in the Killer Suit" 2014 The Affair Dr. Gunderson Episode: "8" 2015 Person of Interest Emma Blake Episode: "Guilty" 2015–19 Orange Is the New Black Judy King 26 episodes 2015–16 Limitless Marie Finch 7 episodes 2017 Elementary Kate Durning 2 episodes 2018 Jack Ryan CIA Director Sue Joyce 2 episodes

Theater As actor Year Title Role(s) Venue Ref. 1970 Cymbeline 1st Brother Stratford Festival Theatre, Ontario 1975 Comedy of Errors Luciana Delacorte Theater, New York 1976 Threepenny Opera Polly Peachum, Lucy Brown, Jenny Towler Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway 1989 The Secret Rapture Isobel Glass Ethel Barrymore Theater, Broadway 1995 Arcadia Hannah Jarvis Vivian Beaumont Theater, Broadway 1998 Cabaret Fraulein Schneider (replacement) Kit Kat Klub, Broadway 1999 Camino Real Marguerite Gautier Williamstown Theatre Festival, Massachusetts 1999 James Joyce's The Dead Gretta Conroy Playwrights Horizons, Off-Broadway 2000 Belasco Theatre, Broadway 2000 Copenhagen Margrethe Bohr Royale Theatre, Broadway 2002 A Little Night Music Desiree Armfeldt Eisenhower Theater, DC 2003 Humble Boy Flora Humble City Center Stage I, Off-Broadway 2003 Cabaret Fraulein Schneider (replacement) Studio 54, Broadway 2006 The Clean House Lane Mitzi Newhouse Theater, Off-Broadway 2013 Nikolai and the Others Vera Stravinsky Mitzi Newhouse Theater, Off-Broadway 2016 Mary Page Marlowe Mary Page Marlowe Steppenwolf Theater, Chicago 2017 On the Shore of the Wide World Ellen Atlantic Theater Company, Off-Broadway 2017 The Parisian Woman Jeanette Hudson Theatre, Broadway 2018 Mary Page Marlowe Mary Page Marlowe Second Stage Theater, Off-Broadway 2021 Morning Sun Claudette & others City Center Stage I, Off-Broadway 2022 The Minutes Ms. Innes Studio 54, Broadway

As director Lovely Day, Beckett Theater (Off-Broadway), 2006 A Feminine Ending, Playwrights Horizons (Off-Broadway), 2007