Blanche Baker


Blanche Baker is an American actress and filmmaker. She won an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her work in the television mini-series Holocaust. Baker is known for her role as Ginny Baker in Sixteen Candles; she also starred in the title role of Lolita on Broadway.
In 2012, she produced and starred in a film about Ruth Madoff titled Ruth Madoff Occupies Wall Street.

Early life and education

Born Blanche Garfein in New York City, she is the daughter of actress Carroll Baker and director Jack Garfein. Her father is a Jew from Carpathian Ruthenia, who survived the Holocaust; and her mother was a Roman Catholic who 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 the American School in London and then Wellesley College from 1974 to 1976, and later studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio and the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute.

Career

Television

Blanche Baker made her television debut playing the character Anna Weiss in the miniseries Holocaust. She won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Single Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy or Drama Series in 1978 for her performance.
She has subsequently appeared in the TV movies Mary and Joseph: A Story of Faith as Mary, The Day the Bubble Burst, The Awakening of Candra as Candra Torres, Embassy, Nobody's Child, and Taking Chance. She also has appeared on many TV series.

Theatre

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.
The troubled production opened on Broadway on March 19, 1981, after 31 previews and closed after only 12 performances. Frank Rich of The New York Times gave the play a bad review, terming it "the kind of embarrassment that audiences do not quickly forget or forgive." Baker was mentioned by Rich in only one line. "In the title role, here a minor figure, the 24-year-old Miss Baker does a clever job of impersonating the downy nymphet; she deserves a more substantial stage vehicle soon."
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."
Baker originated the role of Shelby in the first production of Steel Magnolias Off-Broadway in 1987.

Film

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

Filmography

YearTitleRoleNotes
1979French PostcardsLaura
1979'Janet
1982The Tragedy of Romeo and JulietJuliet
1983Cold FeetLeslie Christo
1984Sixteen CandlesGinny
1986Raw DealAmy Kaminski
1988ShakedownGail Feinberger
1988Bum RapLisa DuSoir
1990'Ofglen
1991Livin' LargeKate Penndragin
1994Dead FunnyBarbara
2006UnderdogsMarie
2006'Marie
2007'Ruth Chandler
20083rd of JulyMrs. Shaw
2008Jersey JusticePolly O'Bannon
2012HypothermiaHellen Pelletier
2014Wishin' and HopinSister FilomenaTV Movie

YearTitleRoleNotes
1979HolocaustAnna WeissPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie
1979Mary and Joseph: A Story of FaithMary
1981'Candra Torres
1982'Joan Slezsak
1985'Allison WebsterEpisode: "Desperately"
1985EmbassyMegan Hillyer
1986Nobody's ChildShari
1987'Carolyn TomlinsonEpisode: "Personal Demons"
1991'Episode: "Domestic Silence"
1991Davis RulesEpisode: "Everybody Comes to Nick's"
1992In the Heat of the NightJenny SawyerEpisode: "Love, Honor & Obey"
1992Law & OrderLucy NevenEpisode: "Star Struck"
1994Clarissa Explains It AllChelsea ChipleyEpisode: "Janet and Clarissa, Inc."
2005'Miriam EnglesEpisode: "Diamond Dogs"
2009Taking ChanceChris Phelps
2013The Chris Gethard ShowHerselfEpisode: "#119: Scare the Shit Out of Bethany"

As director'