Blanche Baker

About Blanche Baker

Who is it?: Actress, Writer, Producer
Birth Day: December 20, 1956
Birth Place:  New York City, New York, United States
Birth Sign: Capricorn
Occupation: Actress
Years active: 1978–present
Spouse(s): Bruce Van Dusen (m. 1983–2002) Mark Magill (m. 2003)
Children: Zane Van Dusen Dara Van Dusen (born 1986) Wynn Van Dusen James Magill
Relatives: Carroll Baker (mother) Jack Garfein (father)

Blanche Baker Net Worth

Blanche Baker was born on December 20, 1956 in  New York City, New York, United States, is Actress, Writer, Producer. Blanche Baker is an actress of stage, screen and television. Born Blanche Garfein in New York, her mother is actress Carroll Baker, who won a Best Actress Oscar nomination for Baby Doll (1956), several months after baby Blanche arrived. Her father is stage director Jack Garfein, who later went on to direct movies and teach acting.After attending Wellesley College, she took her mother's surname and made her television debut in the miniseries Holocaust (1978), for which she won an Emmy Award. Baker made her movie debut in The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979), an A-List production featuring Alan Alda at the height of his popularity and another "Holocaust" co-star at the start of her career, Meryl Streep. She then appeared as the Holy Mother in the TV movie, Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith (1979).Then came "Lolita."In 1980-81, the 24-year-old Baker originated the role of the preteen "nymphet" loved by a pedophile in Edward Albee's stage adaption of Nabokov's classic novel. The show was picketed during out-of-town tryouts and in New York by feminists outraged by the show's depiction of pedophilia. More importantly, the show was pilloried by outraged critics in its out-of-town tryouts, giving "Lolita" a bad word of mouth.After 31 previews, the troubled production opened on Broadway on March 19, 1981 and closed after only 12 performances.She never appeared on Broadway again, despite critics calling her performance "breathtaking" and "beguiling."Blanche Baker has continued to work steadily in television and on the silver screen but has never again approached the heights she did in her early twenties.
Blanche Baker is a member of Actress

💰Blanche Baker Net worth: $600,000

Some Blanche Baker images

Biography/Timeline

1960

Born Blanche Garfein in New York City, she is the daughter of Actress Carroll Baker and Director Jack Garfein. Her father is a Czech Jew, who survived the Holocaust; and her mother converted to Judaism. She also has a younger brother, Herschel Garfein. She spent her early life in Italy, where her mother had established a film career after leaving Hollywood in the mid-1960s. Baker attended Wellesley College from 1974 to 1976, and later studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio, the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, and the American School in London.

1978

Blanche Baker made her television debut playing the character Anna Weiss in the miniseries Holocaust. (Her father Jack Garfein was a Holocaust survivor who had been imprisoned in Auschwitz. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series in 1978 for her performance.

1979

Baker made her movie debut in The Seduction of Joe Tynan (1979). Other film appearances include Sixteen Candles (1984), Cold Feet (1984) and Taking Chance (2009).

1980

In 1980-81, she originated the lead role in Edward Albee's stage adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. During out-of-town tryouts and in New York, the play was picketed by feminists, including Women Against Pornography, who were outraged by the theme of pedophilia.

1981

People Magazine called Albee's Lolita "Broadway's Bomb of the Year" in an April 16, 1981, story. Baker was the real subject of the article, and People Writer Mark Donovan said "the critics were almost unanimous on one point: Blanche Baker was an ingenue whose time had come," citing reviews of critics that had called her "breathtaking" and "beguiling."

1987

Baker originated the role of Shelby in the first production of Steel Magnolias Off-Broadway in 1987.