Linda Bove

Linda Bove is a Deaf American actress, her most notable role being a fictionalized version of herself in the PBS children's series Sesame Street from 1971 to 2002. Bove was the first Deaf actress to be a member of the program's recurring cast.

Early life and education

Bove was born in Garfield, New Jersey, a Deaf child born to two Deaf parents. She has one brother, Michael, who is hearing. As a child, she attended St. Joseph School for the Deaf in The Bronx, New York and subsequently Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf in Trenton, New Jersey, from which she graduated in 1963. She attended Gallaudet College, now Gallaudet University, studying library science. From there, she became interested in theatre. She participated in several theatrical productions at Gallaudet, including The Threepenny Opera and poetic characterizations of the Spoon River Anthology. In her senior year, she studied in a Summer School Program at the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD).

Bove is an active member of the Deaf arts community.

Career

Television

Bove appeared in an episode of Happy Days as Allison, Arthur Fonzarelli's deaf love interest. She also performed on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, with the latter role making her one of the first deaf actors to become a regular on a soap opera series.

She also performed as a member of the National Theatre of the Deaf,<ref name=deafness/> founded in 1967.

Many cast members, crew, and technicians of the shows on which Bove has performed have learned sign language from her.<ref name="Great deaf Americans">Template:Cite book</ref>

Sesame Street

Linda, portrayed by Bove, was a character on the children's program Sesame Street. When Bove debuted on Sesame Street with NTD in April 1971 (Episode 0243)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> as the Deaf character of her namesake, she was the first deaf performer on the show.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Initially appearing sporadically, she became a regular member of the cast in 1975, and she continued to appear until 2002, making Linda the longest-running deaf character and Bove the longest-working Deaf actor on a single series in television history.Template:Citation needed In 2019, Linda returned to the franchise in the television special Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration, 17 years after her last appearance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> She has introduced millions of children to sign language and issues surrounding the Deaf community, increasing public awareness of Deaf culture and to reassure others who are Deaf to be proud of who they are.<ref> Template:Cite journal</ref> Her character owns a very playful dog, Barkley.

Linda communicated only in American Sign Language and interacted with other members of the Sesame Street community as a citizen and resident of the community. The person who most often interpreted for her was Bob and eventually, he and Linda were portrayed in a romantic relationship. Linda made her living as a librarian, and had an assistant, Micki Barnett, who would read stories to the children, while Linda signed them.Template:Citation needed

The staff writers at Sesame Street were initially unsure of how to write for her. Bove said: Template:Blockquote

In addition to playing Linda, Bove appeared frequently in various sketches and silent segments, where she was often paired up with Maria, played by Sonia Manzano, often playing a supporting role in Manzano's Charlie Chaplin silent film sketches (with occasional voiceovers), usually just as a woman in the sketch, but played a second Tramp if two were needed (e.g. the mirror sketch and the opening umbrellas sketch). Manzano and Bove worked in many other sketches together, both with and without dialogue, on-camera, or voiceover.Template:Citation needed

Theatre

In the 1970s, Bove and some of her colleagues started the Little Theatre of the Deaf to attract more deaf people, including children, to theater and the company gained national and international attention. It dealt with communication among deaf people and the importance of teaching sign language to deaf children.Template:Citation needed

In 1979, Bove and NTD traveled on a Template:Convert world tour. Their biggest success was in Japan, where their show was attended by the royal family and they were invited to appear on a Japanese television show.Template:Citation needed

In 1991, Bove and her husband Ed Waterstreet founded Deaf West Theatre in Los Angeles, the first theater company run by deaf actors. While working with DWT, she starred in George Bernard Shaw's Saint Joan, based on Joan of Arc. The company performs plays in sign language and adjusts dialog accordingly. Signed dialog is interpreted into spoken language in order to bridge the gap between the deaf and hearing communities.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

She appeared in several roles in the national tour of the Deaf West production of Big River in 2005.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Bove was also involved in a number of other projects in the Deaf community, several related to children. She had a brief role in The Land Before Time IV: when the dinosaur characters would speak, Bove would appear in a picture-in-picture box in the lower corner of the screen signing the dialog. She has also made many videos in American Sign Language such as Sign Me a Story and has starred in several productions of the play Children of a Lesser God.<ref name=deafness>Template:Cite web</ref>

Interpreting

In 2004, Bove obtained credentials as a Certified Deaf Interpreter from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Since then she has worked in that role in a variety of settings, including legal settings and White House briefings.<ref name=NADdirectory>Template:Cite web</ref>

Personal life

In 1970, Bove married Ed Waterstreet, whom she met when they both worked at the National Theatre of the Deaf.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1971	Sesame Street	Linda	TV series, 1971–2002
1973	Search for Tomorrow	Melissa Hayley Weldon	TV series, unknown episodes
1978	Christmas Eve on Sesame Street	Linda	TV movie
1979	A Walking Tour of Sesame Street		TV movie
1980	Happy Days	Allison	TV series, one episode "Allison"
1983	Don't Eat the Pictures	Linda	TV movie
1985	Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird		Movie
1986	Children of a Lesser God	Marian Loesser	Movie
1987	Sign me a Story	Herself, Various Characters	Educational video featuring signed versions of fairy tales
1989	Sesame Street: 20 and Still Counting	Herself	TV special
1996	Somebody to Love	Computer	Voice only/Sign
2005	Friends to the Rescue	a fictional version of herself	Direct to video
2010	Weeds	Child Protective Services Officer	3 episodes
2019	Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration	Linda	TV special

Publications

In 1980, Sesame Street and the National Theatre of the Deaf collaborated on publishing a book, Sign Language Fun With Linda Bove<ref name="Great deaf Americans"/>

Recognition

• Bove received an award in 1974 from AMITA, an Italian-American women's organization, in recognition for her work on television.
• 1991 - received an honorary degree from Gallaudet University<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
• 1992 - Bernard Bragg Artistic Achievement Award<ref>Lang, H. G., & Meath-Lang, B. (1995). Deaf persons in the arts and sciences: A biographical dictionary. Westport, CN: Greenwood Press.</ref>
• July 3, 2012 Bove was presented with the Media Advocacy Award in recognition of her "success in advancing the civil, human and linguistic rights of the American deaf and hard of hearing community through use of the media and social networking".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Further reading

• Template:Cite book
• Template:Cite book

External links

• Template:IMDb name
• http://www.bookrags.com/essay-2005/1/4/23912/63095