The corkscrew-curled stage and screen star is Bernadette Peters.
Photographed on this day in 1981, Peters was captured during a glamorous promotional campaign for her second solo album Now Playing, a record that perfectly reflected the unusual artistic space she occupied at the time. The album blended contemporary adult-pop production with affectionate nods to the golden age of American musical theatre and the sparkling sophistication of 1930s show tunes. In those soft-focus photographs—lace, curls, luminous lighting, and movie-star poise—you can see a performer in the midst of a major transition: no longer simply a Broadway favorite, but an increasingly visible film actress and recording artist with crossover ambitions.
By 1981, Bernadette Peters was already a legend in the making on the New York stage. Born Bernadette Lazzara on February 28, 1948, in Queens, New York, she had been performing almost since childhood. Her mother recognized her talent early, entering her in television talent shows and encouraging professional auditions while she was still a little girl. Peters made appearances on programs such as The Horn and Hardart Children’s Hour and worked steadily in television and theatre long before most performers have even chosen a career.
What set her apart from the beginning was not just her extraordinary singing voice, but her unmistakable presence. The mass of auburn corkscrew curls, expressive eyes, and slightly mischievous smile made her instantly recognizable. She could project vulnerability and comic intelligence at the same time, a combination that would become one of her greatest strengths.
Her Broadway breakthrough came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with acclaimed performances in productions such as George M!, Dames at Sea, and Mack and Mabel. Theatre insiders quickly understood that Peters was not merely another talented musical-comedy performer; she possessed a rare emotional transparency. When she sang, audiences felt as though they were hearing a character think in real time.
No composer recognized this more profoundly than Stephen Sondheim. Their artistic partnership would become one of the defining collaborations in modern musical theatre. Peters became one of the supreme interpreters of Sondheim’s work, bringing depth, wit, and aching humanity to songs that can defeat less nuanced performers.
Yet the photograph from 1981 captures a moment before some of those later triumphs had fully crystallized. At that point, the entertainment industry was beginning to see Bernadette Peters as a potential film star.
The catalyst was Pennies from Heaven (1981), Herbert Ross’s daring musical film starring Steve Martin and Jessica Harper. Peters played Eileen, a troubled schoolteacher whose romantic entanglement with Martin’s character leads her into a world of fantasy, disappointment, and longing. The film was unlike traditional Hollywood musicals; instead of having actors sing live, it used lip-synched recordings from the 1930s, creating a haunting contrast between glamorous musical numbers and the harsh realities of Depression-era life.
Critics were fascinated by Peters’s performance. She brought both sensuality and sadness to Eileen, and the film’s stylized visual approach suited her perfectly. Suddenly, there was serious buzz that this Broadway star might become a major screen actress.
That is where Now Playing becomes especially important.
Released in 1981, the album was carefully positioned to capitalize on her expanding profile. Rather than presenting a straightforward cast-album-style collection, it showcased Peters as a sophisticated recording artist. The arrangements moved between contemporary pop ballads, jazz-inflected standards, and theatrical material that echoed the elegance of pre-war American entertainment.
Songs on the album highlighted her versatility. She could deliver a modern pop lyric with intimacy, then pivot into a number that evoked the shimmer of a 1930s nightclub or Broadway revue. The “show-tune sparkle” mentioned in your clue is exactly what made the record distinctive: it did not abandon her theatrical roots, but reframed them within a contemporary commercial context.
The promotional imagery was equally strategic. The soft-focus photography, lace styling, and glamorous poses were designed to emphasize cinematic sophistication rather than backstage Broadway energy. This was Bernadette Peters presented as a screen-ready star, inhabiting a world of romance, nostalgia, and timeless glamour.
It is fascinating to compare those images with her stage persona. On Broadway, Peters often radiated nervous energy, comic timing, and emotional immediacy. In the Now Playing photographs, she appears almost dreamlike, closer to a classic Hollywood portrait subject than a live-wire theatre performer. The campaign understood that audiences were beginning to encounter her through film and television as much as through the theatre district.
Despite the push toward mainstream stardom, Peters never abandoned Broadway—and that ultimately became the key to her longevity.
Just a few years later, she would create one of her most celebrated roles as Dot/Marie in Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George opposite Mandy Patinkin. Her performance of “Move On” remains one of the benchmark achievements in musical-theatre history. She later starred in Into the Woods, Song and Dance, Annie Get Your Gun, Gypsy, and numerous other landmark productions, accumulating Tony Awards and an almost unparalleled reputation among theatre professionals.
What makes Bernadette Peters unique is that she succeeded in multiple entertainment worlds without fully belonging to any single one. She was too theatrically sophisticated to become a conventional pop star, too emotionally idiosyncratic to fit the standard Hollywood leading-lady mold, and too visually distinctive ever to disappear into generic character roles. Instead, she became something rarer: a performer whose individuality was the brand.
The early 1980s were also a period when Broadway itself was changing. The era of concept musicals, megamusicals, and increasingly international productions was beginning to reshape the industry. Peters served as a bridge between the classic American musical tradition and the more experimental, psychologically rich work of Sondheim and his contemporaries.
Her recording career deserves more attention than it often receives. Albums such as Bernadette Peters, Now Playing, and later collections of Sondheim songs demonstrated that cast recordings were only part of her musical identity. She approached studio recordings with the same dramatic intelligence she brought to the stage, treating each song as a miniature scene rather than simply a vocal showcase.
Beyond performance, Peters has also become widely admired for her animal advocacy. She co-founded Broadway Barks with Mary Tyler Moore, helping promote pet adoption and rescue efforts. This philanthropic work has become a significant part of her public legacy and reflects the warmth and compassion that colleagues frequently describe in private.
Looking back at that 1981 photograph, what is most striking is how accurately it captures a moment of possibility. The curls, the lace, the soft-focus glamour, the Pennies from Heaven momentum, the Now Playing album—all of it reflects an artist standing at a crossroads between Broadway royalty and broader American stardom.
Many performers who attempt that transition lose the qualities that made them special. Bernadette Peters did the opposite: she carried her theatrical authenticity into film, television, recordings, and concert work, allowing each medium to reveal a different facet of the same unmistakable talent.
So the answer is Bernadette Peters—the corkscrew-curled stage and screen star photographed in 1981 during the promotional campaign for Now Playing, the album that mixed contemporary pop with vintage show-tune sparkle. At that moment, with Pennies from Heaven generating film buzz and her glamorous image circulating far beyond Broadway, she was emerging not just as a theatre icon, but as one of the most distinctive and enduring entertainers of her generation.
