Brenda Buell Vaccaro was born in Brooklyn on November 18, 1939, daughter of Mario Vaccaro and his wife Christina (Pavia). The family moved to Dallas, Texas where at the age of seven while attending the Ursuline Academy Brenda played an Old Woman in a school production of The Land Where Dreams Come True.

Brenda attended Thomas Jefferson High School where she appeared in a number of high school productions. She studied dramatics at the Neighborhood Play-house School of the Theatre in 1960 and made her professional debut in 1961 with the Margo Jones Theatre as Angelina in The Willow Tree.

Brenda’s Broadway debut was at the Longacre Theatre on Oct. 11, 1961 as Gloria Gulock in Everybody Loves Opal for which she won a Theatre World Award. After that she won a starring role on Broadway as well as a Tony nomination in the London production of The Affair, and subsequently received Tony nominations for outstanding performances in Cactus Flower, How, Now, Dow Jones and The Goodbye People.

Her film career began with Midnight Cowboy (1969) and continued with a stream of major films including I Love My Wife (‘70), Summertree (‘71), Airport ‘77 (‘77) Capricorn One (‘78), The Guyana Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (‘80), A Long Way Home (‘81), Ten Little Indians (‘89), Love Affair (‘94), and The Mirror Has Two Faces (‘96).

Brenda won an Oscar nomination for best supporting actress in Once Is Not Enough (‘75). TV appearances have included the series “Sara� and “Dear Detective� as well as appearances on “Ally McBeal,� “The King of Queens� (starring Brooklynite Leah Remini) and “Nip/Tuck.�

Brenda was crowned Queen of Brooklyn alongside King Martin Landau in 1992. 1990 marks the year she was given her rightful place on Brooklyn’s Celebrity Path in Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

— Vernon Parker

Questions? Comments? Sound off to the Editor

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2009 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net