Catlin Adams


Actor, Director

About

Also Known As
Nira Barab
Birth Place
Los Angeles, California, USA
Born
October 11, 1950

Biography

Los Angeles native Catlin Adams made her film debut using her birth name Nira Barab in "Up in the Cellar" (1970), playing the daughter of Larry Hagman and Joan Collins who succumbs to the charms of a seductive young man. After decamping to NYC to study and begin a writing career, she adopted her new name and began to find work. Adams appeared in the TV-movie "The Panic in Echo Park" (NBC...

Biography

Los Angeles native Catlin Adams made her film debut using her birth name Nira Barab in "Up in the Cellar" (1970), playing the daughter of Larry Hagman and Joan Collins who succumbs to the charms of a seductive young man. After decamping to NYC to study and begin a writing career, she adopted her new name and began to find work. Adams appeared in the TV-movie "The Panic in Echo Park" (NBC, 1971) before landing several roles in Off-Off-Broadway productions. Returning to Hollywood in the late 1970s, she was cast as dominatrix encountered by Steve Martin's "The Jerk" (1979) and as the traditional Jewish wife of Neil Diamond's "The Jazz Singer" (1980).

Feeling frustrated by the lack of roles for women, Adams served as an assistant producer on Lee Grant's superb documentary "The Wilmar 8" (1981) before enrolling in the directing program at the American Film Institute. She found success with her first professional effort, the above-average TV-movie "Wanted: The Perfect Guy" (1986), which aired as an "ABC Afterschool Special" and also earned Adams a Directors Guild of America Award. She went on to collaborate with Melanie Mayron on the short "Shiny Little Shoes" and the pair co-wrote and co-produced "Sticky Fingers" (1988), an uneven female buddy comedy starring Mayron and directed by Adams. More recently, Adams served as project consultant and played the small role of Mrs. Barab in the Mayron-directed TV-movie remake of "Freaky Friday" (ABC, 1995). She was again guided by Mayron in "Toothless," a 1997 Disney/ABC telefilm starring Kirstie Alley as the Tooth Fairy.

Life Events

1970

Film acting debut, "Up in the Cellar", billed as Nira Barab

1977

Acted in first TV special, "Panic in Echo Park" (NBC)

1979

First feature acting credit as Catlin Adams "The Jerk"

1981

Served as assistant producer on the documentary "The Wilmar 8", directed by Lee Grant

1986

Directed first TV-movie "Wanted: The Perfect Guy", aired as an "ABC Afterschool Special"

1988

Feature directorial debut, "Sticky Fingers", starring Melanie Mayron; also co-produced and co-wrote with Mayron

1995

Served as project consultant and played small role in the TV-movie remake "Freaky Friday" (ABC), played character named Mrs. Barab (her birthname), project directed by Mayron

1997

Again played small role in a Mayron-directed TV-movie, "Toothless" (ABC)

Videos

Movie Clip

I Vitelloni (1953) -- (Movie Clip) What Are You Crying For? Fausto (Franco Fabrizi) upbraided by his dad (Jean Brochard) for planning to leave his pregnant girlfriend, her brother Moraldo (Franco Interlenghi) narrating and impartial, then the wedding with Eleonara Ruffo as Sandra, Alberto (Sordi) and the gang, in Federico Fellini’s I Vitelloni, 1953.
Diabolique (1955) -- (Movie Clip) Chocolate Soup Conspiring murderess teachers Christina (Vera Clouzot) and Nicole (Simone Signoret) are maneuvering to get the school pool drained, in order to advance their plot, in Henri-Georges Clouzot's Diabolique, 1955.
Year Of Living Dangerously, The (1982) -- (Movie Clip) Most Of Us Become Children Again Joining director Peter Weir's opening, Linda Hunt in her Academy Award-winning role, playing a guy and narrating as "Billy Kwan," covers the arrival of Australian newsman Hamilton (Mel Gibson), met by native Kumar (Bembol Roco), in 1965 Jakarta, in The Year Of Living Dangerously, 1982.
Deathdream (a.k.a. Dead Of Night, 1972) -- (Original Trailer) Produced for the alternate title, the original trailer for the first horror collaboration by director Bob Clark and writer Alan Ormsby, with Richard Backus, John Marley and Lynn Carlin, Deathdream, (a.k.a. Dead Of Night), 1972.
Little Dorrit, Part One (1988) -- (Movie Clip) He's Not To Be Blamed Lawyer Clennam (Derek Jacobi) fulfills his promise to meet "Little" Dorrit (Sarah Pickering), daughter of an imprisoned debtor he hopes to help, on London's Iron Bridge, in the 1988 production from the Dickens novel, Little Dorrit: Part One.
Little Dorrit, Part One (1988) -- (Movie Clip) Nobody's Fault Fredrick Dorrit (Cyril Cusack) escorts lawyer Clennam (Derek Jacobi) to meet his inmate brother William (Alec Guinness, his first scene) at the Marshalsea prison, where the author Charles Dickens' father spent some time, in Little Dorrit: Part One, 1988, Sarah Pickering the title character.

Bibliography