Bess Armstrong
About
Biography
Filmography
Family & Companions
Biography
Fresh-faced, all-American performer with strong stage experience. Armstrong was sympathetic as the new wife whose presence disrupts the harmony of a close-knit group of friends in Alan Alda's "middle ages" comedy, "The Four Seasons" (1981). She also appeared in the hit TV miniseries "Lace" (1984) as Judy Hale, a magazine publisher and one of the three women Phoebe Cates rounds up in her quest for her mother. Armstrong's film work of the same period includes a starring role in the flat "Jaws 3-D" (1983), playing Tom Hanks' ex-girlfriend in the comedy "Nothing in Common" (1986) and Elaine in "Dream Lover" (1994).
Armstrong turned up in ABC's groundbreaking one-hour dramatic series "My So-Called Life" (1994-95) as the well-meaning but controlling mother of a l5-year-old girl going through adolescence. Armstrong brought a certain edgy vulnerability to her character, a strong woman hitting 40, feeling insecure about her fading youth and her family's devotion to her.
Filmography
Cast (Feature Film)
Cast (Special)
Cast (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1975
Off-off Broadway debut, "Harmony House"
1977
Played Julia Peters, one of the program's two leads, on debut as series regular, the CBS sitcom, "On Our Own"
1978
TV-movie debut, starring opposite Richard Thomas in "Getting Married" (CBS)
1979
Made screen acting debut in "The House of God"
1979
Played a mother-to-be battling Hodgkin's Disease in the fact-based CBS movie "Walking Through the Fire"
1981
Featured in Alan Alda's directorial debut "The Four Seasons"
1982
Starred with Richard Thomas in the HBO adaptation of Neil Simon's "Barefoot in the Park"
1983
Acted in the campy horror sequel "Jaws 3-D" and starred with Tom Selleck in the adventure "High Road to China"
1984
Played magazine publisher Judy Hale, one of three women Phoebe Cates' revenge bent Lili suspects to be her neglectful mother in the popular miniseries "Lace" (ABC)
1986
Featured in the Garry Marshall comedy-drama "Nothing in Common"
1986
Starred on the NBC sitcom "All Is Forgiven" as a woman struggling to deal with her new marriage, disagreeable teenage stepdaughter and job as a soap opera producer
1995
Featured in the TV-movies "She Stood Alone: The Tailhook Scandal" (ABC), "Stolen Innocence" (CBS) and "Danielle Steel's 'Mixed Blessings'" (NBC)
1996
Racked up more TV-movie credits in "Forgotten Sins" (ABC), "She Cried No" (NBC), "The Perfect Daughter" (USA Network) and "Christmas Every Day" (Family Channel)
1997
Played Christina Ricci's mother in the children's adventure "That Darn Cat"
1998
Had guest roles on the CBS series "Touched By an Angel" and "The Nanny", playing the ghost of the deceased wife of male lead Maxwell Sheffield in the latter
1998
Acted in John Waters' comedy "Pecker"
1998
Starred in the CBS TV-movie "Forever Love" as a widow who joins the family of her comatose best friend, dealing with the awkwardness when the woman awakes twenty years later
2000
Featured in the independent drama "Diamond Men"
2002
Co-starred in the ABC series "That Was Then"
Family
Companions
