Biography
This page uses content from the Bibi Besch biography page on the English version of Wikipedia and is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. This list of authors can be seen in the page history. Rotten Tomatoes disclaims any and all warranties as to the accuracy or reliability of the content.
Bibi Besch (February 1 1940 - September 7 1996) was a character actress on television series in the United States.
She was born Bibiana Besch in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of theater actress, Gusti Huber, who fled the Nazis shortly after her daughter's birth.
By the mid-1940s, she had moved to the United States, grew up in Chappaqua, New York and later moved to New York City (1965 to 1976) appearing in a variety of daytime soaps such as The Secret Storm, The Edge of Night, Love is a Many Splendored Thing, and finally, Somerset. In addition to her theater career, she began appearing in more nationally known primetime features, such as the 1979 miniseries Backstairs at the White House.
Her most famous role was probably as Dr. Carol Marcus, the mother of Captain James T. Kirk's son in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. She also had a small role as the much-hated "Belle Marmillion" in the hit movie Steel Magnolias.
Besch also appeared in such films as The Day After, the acclaimed made-for-television film directed by Nicholas Meyer, Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry with Katharine Hepburn, Victory at Entebbe and Centerfold: The Dorothy Stratten Story.
In 1992, she received her first acting nomination (not counting a Razzie for the Pia Zadora film The Lonely Lady) for the landmark TV-movie Doing Time on Maple Drive (which co-starred Jim Carrey). She received another Emmy nomination a year later for her performance as Janine Turner's neurotic mother 'Jane O'Connell' (a recurring role) in Northern Exposure episode.
She continued to appear in films and television, including ER and Melrose Place, right up until her 1996 death following a long battle with breast cancer at the age of 56.
Bibi Besch is the mother of actress Samantha Mathis. A short 1984 interview with the actress is to be published in the new book Talkin' Trek and Other Stories by Anthony Wynn (2007).
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