Brett Butler (actress)

Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox person Brett Butler (born Brett Anderson; January 30, 1958) is an American actress, writer, and stand-up comedian. Butler gained recognition as a stand-up comedian, performing in clubs across the United States and making appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She is, however, best known for playing the title role in the ABC comedy series Grace Under Fire (1993–1998), for which she received two Golden Globe Awards nominations.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=autogenerated1>Template:Cite magazine</ref> She has also had guest appearances on various series, including My Name Is Earl and Anger Management.

Life and career

Early life

Butler was born Brett Anderson in Montgomery, Alabama, the eldest of five sisters.<ref>"Stork— St. Margaret's Hospital", The Montgomery (AL) Advertiser, February 6, 1958, p.10 ("Mr. and Mrs. R. D. Anderson Jr., of Tuskegee, a daughter, Brett, Jan. 30")</ref> She was four years old when her father, Roland Decatur Anderson Jr., an oil company executive, moved the family to Houston, Texas. Her mother Carol left Roland, an abusive alcoholic, and moved with their children to Miami, Florida. Her mother battled depression, and the family was sometimes so poor that they ate Tootsie Rolls for dinner.<ref name=peoples/> Butler briefly attended the University of Georgia.<ref name=peoples/> Before experiencing success as a stand-up comic, she worked as a cocktail waitress.<ref name=autogenerated1/><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In 1978, at the age of 20, Butler married her first husband, Charles Michael Wilson, three months after their meeting. Wilson was abusive and in 1981 she left him. Since then, he has both admitted and adamantly denied battering Butler, while claiming that she too was violent.<ref name=peoples/> Butler returned to her mother in Miami and began performing in comedy clubs, settling on the stage name "Brett Butler" as a play on the southern U.S. Gone With the Wind character of Rhett Butler. She moved to New York City in 1984, and was arrested for possession of marijuana.<ref name=peoples>Template:Cite web</ref> In New York, she met her second husband, Ken Zieger, and they were married in 1987.<ref name=peoples/>

In 1987, Butler made her television debut on The Tonight Show. Also that year, she performed on Dolly Parton's short-lived variety series, Dolly. Parton hired Butler as a writer for the remainder of the show's season, but the series was cancelled after one season of lackluster ratings.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Grace Under Fire and beyond

Butler at the 1994 Emmy Awards

In 1993, Butler starred in the ABC comedy series Grace Under Fire, created by Chuck Lorre.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Butler starred as Grace Kelly, a divorced single mother and recovering alcoholic. The show begins after the main character divorces her abusive alcoholic husband of eight years in an attempt to start life anew and prevent her children from making the same mistakes she did. For her performance, Butler received two Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1995 and 1997, and won a People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in 1994.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She reprised her role of Grace Kelly in The Drew Carey Show and Ellen in 1997.

Butler published her memoir, Knee Deep in Paradise, in 1996. The book was started before attaining her celebrity status, and candidly addresses much of this time, ending the autobiography before Grace Under FireTemplate:'s debut.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Behind the scenes, Butler battled a recurring drug addiction and spent time in rehab.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In February 1998, due to her erratic behavior stemming from substance abuse, she was dismissed from the show and ABC cancelled the series.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> After Grace was cancelled in 1998, Butler moved from Los Angeles to a farm in Rome, Georgia. In the following years she made selected screen appearances in the films Bruno (2000) and Mrs. Harris (2005), and guest-starred on an episode of the NBC sitcom My Name Is Earl in 2005. In 2008, Butler headlined at an arts fundraiser and spoke freely with a reporter about her depression, past drug addiction, television work, and current life on the farm. She also expressed interest in writing another book.<ref name=santafe>"Spitfire: Comic Brett Butler set to take the stage in Santa Fe" Santafe.com October 23, 2008 Template:Webarchive</ref>

Return to acting

In October 2011, Butler appeared on The Rosie Show and reported being sober since 1998.<ref>Template:Cite episode</ref> According to an Entertainment Tonight interview at around the same time, Butler, unable to maintain the costs of her farm, had lived in a homeless shelter, though in a 2021 Hollywood Reporter profile, Butler denied that she was ever homeless, and said she was paid to fabricate this claim for the show.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name = THR>Template:Cite news</ref> By this time Butler was attempting to make a career comeback and was working on developing a reality TV show about her self-professed psychic abilities and performing at the Downtown Comedy Club in Los Angeles.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In June 2012, Butler appeared in a recurring role on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless playing ex-psychiatrist Tim Reid's girlfriend.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> She returned for two episodes in March 2015.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Later in 2012, she began appearing in a recurring role as the bartender at the restaurant that Charlie Goodson (Charlie Sheen) frequents in the FX comedy series Anger Management.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Butler appeared in a total of 38 episodes from 2012 to 2014. In 2016, she played herself in the comedy-drama film The Comedian starring Robert De Niro.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Later, Butler began appearing in dramatic roles. She guest-starred in two episodes of HBO drama series The Leftovers, and had a recurring role as Michaela's (Aja Naomi King) adoptive mother Trishelle in the ABC legal thriller How to Get Away with Murder in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> From 2018 to 2019, she played Tammy Rose Sutton in the AMC horror series, The Walking Dead.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Also in 2019, she took a recurring role as Sandy Jackson, the mother of Reese Witherspoon's character in the Apple TV+ drama series, The Morning Show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1993	The Child Ain't Right	Herself	Showtime Stand-Up Comedy special
1994	Totally Bill Hicks	Herself
2000	Bruno	Sister Della Rosa
2000	Militia	Bobbi
2005	Mrs. Harris	Tarnowner Ex No. 1	Television film
2005	Vampire Bats	Shelly Beaudraux
2009	Brett Butler Presents the Southern Belles of Comedy	Herself
2016	The Comedian	Herself
2018	Friday's Child	Ms. LeField

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1988	Dolly	Rhonda	Episode: "1.15"
1993–1998	Grace Under Fire	Grace Kelly	112 episodes, also executive producer People's Choice Award for Favorite Female Performer in a New TV Series Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Musical or Comedy (1995, 1997) Nominated—Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Actress in a Quality Comedy Series (1994, 1996–97)
1995	Women of the House	Bre	Episode: "Women in Film"
1995	The Larry Sanders Show	Brett Butler	Episode: "I Was a Teenage Lesbian"
1997	The Drew Carey Show	Grace Kelly	Episode: "Drew Gets Married"
1997	Ellen	Grace Kelly	Episode: "Secrets & Ellen"
1997	Coach	Barbara	Episode: "Viva Las Ratings"
2005	My Name Is Earl	Connie Darville	Episode: "White Lie Christmas"
2006	Moochers	Host
2012	Archer	Trish	Episode: "Space Race – Part 2"
2012	The Young and the Restless	Beth Hortense	9 episodes
2012–2014	Anger Management<ref name = THR/>	Brett	38 episodes
2015–2017	The Leftovers	Sandy	Episodes: "No Room at the Inn" + "Don't Be Ridiculous"
2016	How to Get Away with Murder<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>	Trishelle Pratt	Episode 35: "It's About Frank" Episode 36: "Is Someone Really Dead?" Episode 39: "Who's Dead?"<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
2018–2019	The Walking Dead<ref name = THR/>	Tammy Rose Sutton	6 episodes
2019	The Morning Show<ref name = THR/>	Sandy Jackson	3 episodes
2023	Fantasy Island	Marcia	1 episode (Season 2, Episode 4: “Mystery in Miami”)

External links

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