Character Actor

One creepy project was her episode of Night Gallery "Brenda", an adaptation of Theodore Sturgeon's classic horror title "It." Babcock played a mother whose spiteful daugthter (Laurie Prange) lets a giant swamp monster into their house "I don't remember it! That has even me stumped, " she comfesses with a grin. "I'm reminded of roles thal I have chosen to forget!"

Also forgotten is her portrayal of a ghost on the TV series "Logan's Run" (her husband
wants to put her spirit in Heather Menzies' body). "I don't remember doing that show at all," she smiles. "I've been an actor too long. haven't I? When I don't even remember my roles. I very vaguely recall it!"

Babcock appeared in the SF telefilm, "The Last Child" in which the future U.S. government outlaws pregnancy. "I do remember that. It was a fascinating experience, a well-written script and an interesting concept."

Going from The Green Hornet and Starr Trek to emmy-winning work on Hill Street Blues is quite impressive. "The reason for that is I had to fight never to he typecast,"she states. "To stay in one kind of role, to be pigeonholed into one type of part, was the last thing I wanted; I would have preferred to get out of the business.

"I always wanted to he considered a character actor, which is why I've done this kind of thing; now I want to do something totally different. Of course, producers and directors would look at what I've done and try to cast me in exactly the same kind of role. It's the easiest thing for them to do, it makes sense. There are plenty of actors, why not compartmentalize people? It's easier to say, 'Get me a Barbara Babcock type!' than deal with the diversity the actor really wants la portray. I fought very hard for that and now, after all this time, 30 years, it's begun to pay off because now they're willing to look at me as an actor with a broader range of possibilities."

As for the future, she'll do more Dr. Quinns (as frontier newspaper editor Dorothy)- " I enjoy doing that show!, some writing, (it runs in the family; her cousin Charles Bracket wrote Sunset Boulevard) and "I want to teach yoga to people my own age," she smiles.

She would also be interested in another good genre role. "I love fantasy," Barbara Babcock declares. "Even the last film I did "Far and Away'" with Tom Cruise, wasn't an obvious fantasy, but it was a fairy tale because it was so romantic. That's the sort of genre I love."

©STARLOG November 1995