From 1966 to 1969, she played the role of Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof on Broadway.
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She landed her first professional onstage role in Tom Eyen's off-off-Broadway plays in 1965, Miss Nefertiti Regrets and Cinderella Revisited, a children's play by day and an adult show by night. She studied theatre at HB Studio under Uta Hagen. Midler relocated to New York City in the summer of 1965, using money from her work in the film Hawaii. She earned money in the 1966 film Hawaii as an extra, playing an uncredited seasick passenger named Miss David Buff.Ĭareer 1965–1971: Beginnings and early theatre work During her time at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, she pledged Delta Phi Epsilon and is one of the many notable sorority alumni. Midler majored in drama at the University of Hawaii at Manoa but left after three semesters. She was voted "Most Talkative" in the 1961 school Hoss Election, and "Most Dramatic" in her senior year (class of 1963). She was raised in Aiea and attended Radford High School in Honolulu. She was named after actress Bette Davis, though Davis pronounced her first name in two syllables, and Midler uses one. Her mother, Ruth ( née Schindel), was a seamstress and housewife, and her father, Fred Midler, worked at a Navy base in Hawaii as a painter, and was also a housepainter. 2.7 2012–present: I'll Eat You Last: A Chat With Sue Mengers, It's the Girls!, and Hello, Dolly!īette Midler was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, where her family was one of the few Jewish families in a mostly Asian neighborhood.
Midler also had starring roles in For the Boys (1991) and Gypsy (1993), winning two additional Golden Globe Awards for these films and receiving a second Academy Award nomination for the former. She went on to star in numerous films, including Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986), Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987), Big Business (1988), Beaches (1988), Hocus Pocus (1993), The First Wives Club (1996), The Stepford Wives (2004), Parental Guidance (2012), and The Addams Family (2019). Midler made her film debut with the musical drama The Rose (1979), which won her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical, as well as a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She won Grammy Awards for Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for "The Rose", and Record of the Year for "Wind Beneath My Wings". Many of her songs became chart hits, including her renditions of " The Rose", " Wind Beneath My Wings", " Do You Want to Dance", " Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", and " From a Distance". Since 1970, Midler has released 14 studio albums as a solo artist, selling over 30 million records worldwide, and has received four Gold, three Platinum, and three Multiplatinum albums by RIAA. She came to prominence in 1970 when she began singing in the Continental Baths, a local gay bathhouse where she managed to build up a core following. Throughout her career, which spans over five decades, Midler has received numerous accolades, including four Golden Globe Awards, three Grammy Awards, three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards and a Kennedy Center Honor, in addition to nominations for two Academy Awards and a British Academy Film Award.īorn in Honolulu, Hawaii, Midler began her professional career in several off-off-Broadway plays, prior to her engagements in Fiddler on the Roof and Salvation on Broadway in the late 1960s. Bette Midler ( / b ɛ t/ born December 1, 1945) is an American actress, comedian, singer, and author.