Sandahl Bergman is an American former actress and dancer. She is best known for her role as Valeria in the film Conan the Barbarian (1982), for which she won a Golden Globe and a Saturn Award.
Sandahl Bergman | |
|---|---|
 Bergman in 2011 | |
| Born | Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. |
| Occupation(s) | Actress, dancer |
| Years active | 1970–2003 |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) |
| Spouse | Josh Taylor (divorced) |
Early life
editBergman was born in Kansas City, Missouri. She graduated from Shawnee Mission East High School in Prairie Village, Kansas. She grew up 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) tall, athletic, and statuesque.[1][2]
Career
editIn her 20s, she moved to New York City and appeared in several Broadway shows, noticed by choreographer Bob Fosse, who cast her as a replacement dancer in Pippin. She had a secondary lead in the stage version of the film Gigi in 1973, and later appeared in Mack & Mabel, and as Judy in the renowned "new New York cast" of A Chorus Line (when many of the original actors left the show in 1977).[3] She was cast again by Fosse in his critically acclaimed dance concert/musical Dancin' (1978), with many of the top dancers on Broadway at the time.[4]
Bergman's movie career began in 1978 with a small role in the TV film How to Pick Up Girls. She followed that with the Bob Fosse film All That Jazz (1979), in which she was a featured performer in the "Take Off with Us" sequence.[5] In the movie Xanadu (1980), she appears as one of the nine immortal Muses during the opening song "I'm Alive" by ELO, as well as the final title number of "Xanadu".
Bergman's participation in Xanadu also led indirectly to her eviction from her apartment in New York and subsequent relocation to California. She had been subletting her apartment in New York in defiance of a clause in her rental contract, and during her four months in California for filming, her landlord became aware of the situation. Bergman has said she did not return to New York, instead having friends pack and ship her belongings to her.[citation needed]
Her best-known role is playing Valeria opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the hit film Conan the Barbarian (1982). She won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year - Actress and the Saturn Award for Best Actress for her role in the film. Because no stunt women could be found to match her size, she learned to do all her own stunt work. She commented on the experience, "It was tough. I nearly lost a finger. Arnold smashed his head against a rock. But that was nothing compared to what the stunt men went through."
In 1984, she played the title role in the post-apocalytic comedy-adventure She, and she played queen Gedren the next year in Red Sonja (1985). She was offered the title role, but asked to play the villainess instead.[6] After that, she appeared in a series of low-budget films, such as the sex comedy Stewardess School (1986), the post apocolyptic film Hell Comes to Frogtown (1988), and the neo noir film Raw Nerve (1991). Other appearances include a lunar base officer in the movie Airplane II: The Sequel, the music video "Heavy Metal Love" by the band Helix and the Fred Olen Ray film Possessed by the Night (1994), and guest appearances on television, such as Hart to Hart and a dance sequence choreographed by Stanley Donen in an episode of Moonlighting. Her most recent work was in 2003, when at the age of 52 she appeared as a dancer in the film version of The Singing Detective.
Bergman worked as an instructor for the FIRM series of exercise videos in the 1980s.[7]
Bergman has since retired from acting, but still makes the occasional appearance at science fiction conventions.[citation needed]
Filmography
editFilm
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Mame | Dancer | Uncredited |
| 1979 | All That Jazz | Principal Dancer | |
| 1980 | Xanadu | Muse 1 | |
| 1982 | Conan the Barbarian | Valeria | Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress Saturn Award for Best Actress |
| 1982 | Airplane II: The Sequel | Officer #1 | |
| 1984 | She | She | |
| 1984 | Getting Physical | Nadine Cawley | Television movie |
| 1985 | The Ferret | Chandra | Television movie |
| 1985 | Red Sonja | Queen Gedren | Nominated—Razzie Award for Worst Supporting Actress |
| 1986 | Stewardess School | Wanda Polanski | |
| 1987 | Programmed to Kill | Samira | |
| 1987 | Kandyland | Harlow Divine | |
| 1988 | Hell Comes to Frogtown | Spangle | |
| 1991 | Raw Nerve | Gloria Freedman | |
| 1992 | In the Arms of a Killer | Nurse Henninger | Television movie |
| 1992 | Loving Lulu | Lulu | |
| 1992 | Revenge on the Highway | Python | Television movie |
| 1994 | Lipstick Camera | Lilly Miller | |
| 1994 | TekWar: TekJustice | Valkyrie | Television movie |
| 1994 | Possessed by the Night | Peggy Hansen | Direct-to-video |
| 1994 | Inner Sanctum II | Sharon Reed | |
| 1994 | Night of the Archer | Marla Miles | |
| 1995 | Ice Cream Man | Marion Cassera | |
| 1996 | The Assault | Helen | |
| 1997 | Sorceress II: The Temptress | Virginia | |
| 2003 | The Singing Detective | Dancer |
Television
edit| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970–1973 | The Dean Martin Comedy World | Golddigger | 50 episodes |
| 1978 | How to Pick Up Girls! | Blond jogger | TV movie |
| 1982 | Hart to Hart | Miranda | Episode: "From the Depths of My Heart" |
| 1986 | Moonlighting | Female Dancer | Episode: "Big Man on Mulberry Street" |
| 1988 | Dirty Dancing | Delia | Episode: "Save the Last Dance for Me" |
| 1989 | Cheers | Judy Marlowe | Episode: "Send in the Crane" |
| 1989 | Hard Time on Planet Earth | Danielle Spencer | Episode: "Battle of the Sexes" |
| 1990 | Freddy's Nightmares | Ginger 'Tracker' Morgan | 2 episodes |
| 1990 | Designing Women | Davida Daniels | Episode: "Nowhere to Run To" |
| 1991 | Swamp Thing | Sienna | Episode: "Tremors of the Heart" |
| 1992 | Dark Justice | Meredith | Episode: "Lead Rain" |
| 1993 | Murder, She Wrote | Sgt. Daisy Kenny | Episode: "The Petrified Florist" |
| 1994 | Silk Stalkings | Sgt. Steele | Episode: "The Scarlet Shadow" |
| 1994 | Under Suspicion | Petrella Gideon | Episode: "Serial Killer - Part 1" |
| 1999 | Sliders | Lead Female Dancer | Episode: "The Java Jive" |
References
edit- ^ March 22, G. Allen Johnson (March 22, 2019). "'She' is an ode to butt-kicking '80s action star Sandahl Bergman". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on September 26, 2021. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Child, Ben (March 11, 2020). "Max von Sydow could transform the trashiest pulp fantasy flick into a cultural touchstone". The Guardian. Archived from the original on March 12, 2020. Retrieved December 29, 2020.
- ^ Profile, ibdb.com; accessed August 15, 2015.
- ^ Brunner, Jeryl (March 19, 2018). "Ann Reinking on Bob Fosse and an Epic Event Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Dancin'". Parade.
- ^ King, Susan (April 4, 2019). "Chita Rivera, Carol Burnett and others talk about working with Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ "Comic Book Movies: Red Sonja". Filmwerk.co.uk. Archived from the original on October 21, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
- ^ Krucoff, Carol (March 5, 1991). "Battle the Bulge with Home Exercise Videos". The Washington Post.