Roseanne Cherie Barr (born November 3, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, writer, television producer and director.

Barr won both an Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her work on Roseanne. In addition, she has won six People's Choice Awards, three American Comedy Awards, and a Kids Choice Award.

In 2008, Barr and the cast of Roseanne were honored with the Innovator Award at the TV Land Awards.

Biography

Early life

The eldest of four children, she was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to a working-class Jewish family. Her mother, Helen (née Davis), was a bookkeeper and cashier, and is famous for teaching young Roseanne her signature "Fat-Lady Laugh". Her father, Jerome Hershel “Jerry” Barr, worked in sales as a door-to-door salesman of household goods.^[1][2] Barr's grandparents and great-grandparents were immigrants from Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania and Austria-Hungary, and her paternal grandfather changed his surname from "Borisofsky" to "Barr" upon entering the United States.^[2][3] Barr's parents kept their Jewish heritage secret from their neighbors and were partially involved in The Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. Barr has stated, "Friday, Saturday, and Sunday morning I was a Jew; Sunday afternoon, Tuesday afternoon, and Wednesday afternoon we were Mormons";^[4] her Jewish upbringing was influenced by her devoutly Orthodox Jewish maternal grandmother.^[3] Barr's brother and sister are gay, which is what later inspired her to introduce gay characters into her sitcom, Roseanne.^[5]

Barr married Bill Pentland on February 4, 1974. They had three children, Jessica, Jennifer, and Jake. In 1971, prior to marriage and while residing in Denver, Roseanne had a daughter named Brandi for whom she arranged an adoption.

Career

Roseanne became famous in the early 1980s with her overweight stand-up comedy routine, receiving critical acclaim for her unglamorized portrayal of the typical American working-class housewife. In her routine she popularized the phrase, "domestic goddess," to refer to a homemaker or housewife. The success of her act led to her own series on ABC, called Roseanne. The show ran from 1988 to 1997, and co-starred Emmy winners Laurie Metcalf and John Goodman. Roseanne won an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Kids Choice Award, and three American Comedy Awards for her part in the show. For the final season Roseanne earned $650,000 an episode.^[6] During the show's final season, Roseanne was in negotiations between Carsey-Werner Productions and ABC executives on continuing to play Roseanne Conner in a new spin-off of Roseanne.^[7] However, ABC had withdrawn from negotiations with Carsey-Werner and Roseanne and after failed discussions with CBS and Fox, Carsey-Werner and Roseanne agreed to not go on with the negotiations.^[8] After the end of her sitcom's run, she portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in a production of The Wizard of Oz at Madison Square Garden.

In 1994, Barr became the first and only female comedian to ever host the MTV Video Music Awards on her own.^[9]

She went on to host her own talk show, The Roseanne Show, which ran for two years before it was canceled in 2000. In the summer of 2003, she took on the dual role of hosting a cooking show (called Domestic Goddess) and starring in a reality show (called The Real Roseanne Show) about hosting a cooking show. Although 13 episodes were in production; a hysterectomy brought a premature end to both projects.^[10] In 2005, she returned to stand-up comedy, touring the world. In February 2006, Roseanne performed her first-ever live dates in Europe as part of the Leicester Comedy Festival in Leicester, England. The shows took place at De Montfort Hall. She released her first kids' DVD, Rockin' with Roseanne: Calling All Kids, that month.

Roseanne has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6767 Hollywood Blvd.

Roseanne's return to the stage culminated in an HBO Comedy Special Roseanne Barr: Blonde N Bitchin', which aired November 4, 2006, on HBO. Two nights earlier, Roseanne returned to prime-time network TV with a guest spot on NBC's My Name Is Earl, playing a crazy trailer park manager.

On January 11, 2007, TV Land announced that Roseanne would be the host of season three of The Search for the Funniest Mom in America on Nick at Nite.^[11] The show aired in spring 2007. She has signed on to host a daily radio talk show on KCAA in the Los Angeles area.

She just completed a stint, headlining at the Sahara Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada.^[when?]

On March 23, 2009 it was announced that Roseanne would be returning to primetime with a new sitcom, where she would once again play the matriarch. Jim Vallely, of Arrested Development, has been tapped to pen the series.^[12] She later said on her website that the project had been cancelled, and she was now working with Eric Tannenbaum.

On April 15, 2009 Barr made a small appearance on Bravo's 2nd Annual A-List Awards in the opening scenes. She played Kathy Griffin's fairy god mother, granting her the wish to be on the A-List for one night only.

Personal life

Barr married Bill Pentland on February 4, 1974. The couple had 3 children. The couple divorced on January 16, 1990.

Barr then married Tom Arnold in 1990. The couple was divorced in 1994, which was highly publicized.

Barr later married her security guard, Ben Thomas, on Valentine's Day, in 1995. They had one son, Buck Thomas. Barr and Thomas divorced in 2002.

Barr has since reconciled with first husband Bill Pentland.^[13]

Self-rediscovery

Barr told James Rampton of The Independent that fame went to her head. Barr, who had worked as a window dresser and waitress in Denver, said she had become famous quickly and lost touch with reality. "I was in a sound studio for almost a decade. At the end of it, like Rip van Winkle, I came back and found that everything had changed. Suddenly there were computers and e-mails, and it took me another 10 years to catch up with regular people. But the TV show is over. What am I going to do?"

Barr returned to stand-up comedy but with a notably different appearance: she has lost some weight, dyed her hair blonde, and had plastic surgery, which she does not recommend - "Now I realize that everyone has to get old and die, but it was still a very bad experience.... No one looks better after plastic surgery. Just pink and shiny. At the end of it, you look like an idiot." Barr claims that some of her surgery was for health reasons; she had a rhinoplasty to correct sleep apnea; while her breast reduction surgery was to reduce back pain.

Barr has written that she considers herself a kabbalist and a follower of Jesus Christ.^[14]

Filmography

Television

Awards

Emmy Awards:

• Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for: "Roseanne" (1993)

Golden Globe Awards:

• Best Performance by an Actress in a TV-Series - Comedy/Musical for: "Roseanne" (1993)
• Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy for: "Roseanne" (1993) (Executive Producer)

People's Choice Awards:

• Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Program for: "Roseanne" (1989)
• Favorite New Television Program (Collaborative) for: "Roseanne" (1989)
• Favorite All-Around Female Entertainer (1990)
• Favorite Female TV Performer for: "Roseanne" (1990)
• Favorite Female TV Performer for: "Roseanne" (1994)
• Favorite Female TV Performer for: "Roseanne" (1995)

TV Land Awards:

• Innovator Award (Collaborative) for: "Roseanne" (2008)

American Comedy Awards:

• Funniest Female Leading Performer in a Television Series for: "Roseanne" (1989)
• Funniest Female Leading Performer in a Television Series for: "Roseanne" (1993)
• Funniest Female Leading Performer in a Television Series for: "Roseanne" (1996)

Kids Choice Awards:

• Favorite Television Actress for: "Roseanne" (1992)

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Roseanne Barr

• RoseanneWorld.com - Roseanne's website and daily blog
• Roseanne Barr at the Internet Movie Database
• Roseanne at Allmovie
• Roseanne Barr at TV.com
• Independent interview
• Chat about Roseanne