Barra Grant (born Barbara Carol Wayne) is an American actress, screenwriter, film director and playwright.

Biography

Grant was born Barbara Carol Wayne in New York City, the daughter of Allan Wayne, a doll company executive, and

Bess Myerson Bess Myerson (July 16, 1924 – December 14, 2014) was an American politician, model and television actress who in 1945 became the first Miss America who was also Jewish. Her achievement, in the aftermath of the Holocaust, was seen as an af ...

Miss America 1945 Miss America 1945, the 19th Miss America pageant, was held at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on September 8, 1945. Two days prior to the actual selection and coronation, the night of the talent competition, the Army Air Force Veteran ...

. Her parents divorced in 1958 due to her father's abuse. She became Barra Grant when her mother married Arnold Grant and he adopted her in 1962. She was educated at the

Birch Wathen Lenox School The Birch Wathen Lenox School is a college preparatory K-12 school on the Upper East Side of Manhattan in New York City. Birch Wathen Lenox comprises approximately 500 students from all around New York City. The Birch Wathen Lenox School is one o ...

Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College ( ; Welsh: ) is a women's liberal arts college in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Founded as a Quaker institution in 1885, Bryn Mawr is one of the Seven Sister colleges, a group of elite, historically women's colleges in the United St ...

, and

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

. She also went to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

for three years to study acting. Grant began an acting career in the early 1970s, appearing on television and in film. One of her first roles was as Lulie in the BBC series ''

Take Three Girls ''Take Three Girls'' is a television drama series broadcast by BBC1 between 1969 and 1971 that follows three young women sharing a flat in "Swinging London" (located at 17 Glazbury Road, West Kensington, W14). It was BBC1's first colour drama se ...

''. While acting at The Mark Taper she was inspired to start writing. In 1978, she wrote and appeared in the film ''

Slow Dancing in the Big City ''Slow Dancing in the Big City'' is a 1978 American romantic drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and starring Paul Sorvino and Anne Ditchburn. This was the first film made by Avildsen after 1976's ''Rocky'' won Academy Awards for Best Picture ...

''. She began her directing career with an episode of '' NBC Special Treat'' titled "The Tap Dance Kid", based on a novel by

Louise Fitzhugh Louise Fitzhugh (October 5, 1928 – November 19, 1974) was an American writer and illustrator of children's books, known best for the novel ''Harriet the Spy'' and its sequels, '' The Long Secret'' and ''Sport''. Biography Early life Fitzhugh ...

. Grant was married to writer and producer Brian Reilly until his death in 2011.

Filmography

Film

Television

Other work

Bibliography

Stage plays

* ''A Mother, a Daughter and a Gun'' (2006). * ''Miss America's Ugly Daughter'', about her relationship to her mother, first performed on July 14, 2018, at The Edye,

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

.MISS AMERICA'S UGLY DAUGHTER Returns to Greenway Court Theatre (January 8, 2019)
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References

External links

* * * * Barra Grant with the Rebbe https://www.chabad.org/1974202 American television actresses Film producers from New York (state) American film actresses Screenwriters from New York (state) American film editors Actresses from New York City Writers from New York City Living people American people of Russian-Jewish descent American women film producers Jewish American actresses American women film editors Birch Wathen Lenox School alumni Bryn Mawr College alumni Barnard College alumni 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American women Year of birth missing (living people) {{film-editor-stub