Actress. Born Bernadette Lazzara, on February 28, 1944, in Ozone Park, New York, educated at Quintano School for Young Professionals. Bubbly, naughtily comic, leading lady of the American stage, night clubs, TV and films. The daughter of a first-generation Italian-American who drove a bread truck, she made her professional debut at age five on TV's "Horn and Hardart Children's Hour". She made her first legitimate stage appearance in a New York revival of "The Most Happy Fella" in 1955 and later toured with the road company of "Gypsy". By the late 60's, she was starring in Broadway musicals, scoring a personal triumph in off-Broadway's "Dames at Sea" (1968), for which she won her first Drama Desk Award. She won another , as well as a Tony for Andrew Lloyd Weber's "Song and Dance" (1985) and continued to make stage appearances well into the 90's. In 1975-1976, she co-starred in the TV series "All's Fair". Her vivacious appeal and comic talent have not been well showcased in many of the movies she has made since 1973.
