Over a career spanning more than six decades, she has starred in musical theatre, television and film, performed in solo concerts and released recordings. She is a critically acclaimed Broadway performer, having received seven nominations for Tony Awards , winning two plus an honorary award , and nine Drama Desk Award nominations, winning three. Four of the Broadway cast albums on which she has starred have won Grammy Awards.
Peters first performed on the stage as a child actress and then a teenager in the s, and in film and television from the s. Her father, Peter Lazzara, drove a bread delivery truck. In January , at age nine, she obtained her Actors Equity Card in the name Bernadette Peters to avoid ethnic typecasting, with the stage name taken from her father's first name.
At age 13, Peters appeared as one of the "Hollywood Blondes" and was an understudy for "Dainty June" in the second national tour of Gypsy. Laird recalled, "I heard her sing an odd phrase or two and thought, 'God that's a big voice out of that little girl'".
Peters's performance as "Ruby" in the Off-Broadway production of Dames at Sea , a parody of s musicals, brought her critical acclaim and her first Drama Desk Award. Peters has appeared in more than 40 feature films or television films beginning in , including the Mel Brooks film Silent Movie for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress — Motion Picture.
She co-starred in her own television series, All's Fair , with Richard Crenna in — She played a young, liberal photographer, who becomes romantically involved with an older, conservative columnist. Although Peters was praised for her charismatic performance, the show ran for only one season. Of her performance in Pennies from Heaven , John DiLeo wrote that she "is not only poignant as you'd expect but has a surprising inner strength. Peters has been a presenter at the annual Tony Awards ceremony and also co-hosted the ceremony with Gregory Hines in She made 11 guest appearances on The Carol Burnett Show [ 31 ] as well as appearing with Burnett in the made-for-television version of Once Upon a Mattress and the film Annie.
