Bernadette Peters Bio
Bernadette Peters is an American Actress, singer, and children's book author. Born Bernadette Anastasia Lazzara on February 28, 1948, in New York City, New York, she has also been credited as The Queen of Broadway. She appeared in Playboy in December 1981 at 33, adding the feature to her public career. Her appearance came during Playboy's polished, high-production 1980s period.
Peters has natural breasts, brown eyes and brown hair. Her measurements are 35-23-36.
Bernadette Peters brought Broadway glamour to the cover of Playboy’s December 1981 Gala Christmas Issue, appearing in an elegant, non-nude lingerie feature rather than a conventional celebrity pictorial. By then, she had already established herself as a distinctive stage and screen performer, recognised for her expressive singing voice, comic precision and unmistakable cascade of curls. Playboy presented her with festive theatricality, capturing a woman whose sensuality felt inseparable from wit, personality and the disciplined confidence of a seasoned performer.
Peters had been performing professionally since childhood, but her emergence as a major Broadway talent came through productions including Dames at Sea, On the Town and Mack and Mabel. Her portrayal of Mabel Normand in the latter earned particular admiration and established the combination that would define much of her career: emotional vulnerability delivered with star-level polish. Hollywood soon took notice, leading to memorable roles in Silent Movie, The Jerk and Pennies from Heaven, the last of which placed her musical gifts inside a dark and visually extravagant screen fantasy.
The timing of her Playboy appearance was especially fitting. Peters stood at the intersection of Broadway sophistication and growing film celebrity, while her highly publicised relationship with comedian Steve Martin added another layer of public fascination. Yet the magazine did not need scandal or full nudity to make the feature memorable. Dressed in elaborate lingerie created by Bob Mackie, she approached the photographs as a performer might approach a costume: playfully, knowingly and with complete command of the character being presented. The result was glossy, flirtatious and unmistakably theatrical.
Her greatest stage achievements were still ahead. Peters became one of the foremost interpreters of Stephen Sondheim, originating memorable roles in Sunday in the Park with George and Into the Woods and later starring in acclaimed productions of Gypsy, Follies and A Little Night Music. She won Tony Awards for Song and Dance and Annie Get Your Gun, while her performances on cast recordings, solo albums and concert stages confirmed that her appeal extended far beyond a single theatrical role. Her screen career likewise continued across film and television, demonstrating an unusual ability to move between comedy, drama and musical performance.
Bernadette Peters’s Playboy feature remains notable because it captured her before the full scale of her theatrical legacy had become apparent. The magazine recognised not merely a beautiful actress, but a sophisticated entertainer whose glamour came alive through movement, humour and dramatic imagination. She did not pose as an anonymous pin-up; she turned the page into a miniature stage, offering Playboy a sparkling holiday portrait of a performer already poised for Broadway greatness.
