Charleroi native, CMU grad actress Barbara Bosson dead at 83

Actress Barbara Bosson, a Charleroi native raised in Belle Vernon, died Saturday in Los Angeles.

The 83-year-old actress was best known for her roles on ex-husband Steven Bochco’s series, including as Fay Furillo on “Hill Street Blues,” a performance that earned her multiple prime-time Emmy nominations.

In 1983, Bosson, Bochco and “Hill Street” actors Charles Haid and Bruce Weitz – all graduates of then-Carnegie Tech – returned to the Carnegie Mellon campus for homecoming when the 1981-87 cop drama was in its critical heyday.

The series took the “Hill” of its title from Pittsburgh’s Hill District, though the geographic location of the show’s inner-city setting was never specified.

“We work in a business where the odds are against you,” Bosson said, per a UPI report, during her homecoming appearance at CMU. “People kept suggesting I should pursue a career in stage management rather than try to be an actress. I always had these fantasies of returning triumphantly [to Carnegie Mellon] and now I have.”

Bosson’s other leading roles included three Bochco-produced ABC series. She played the boss of John Ritter’s character on “Hooperman” (1987-89), the mayor of Los Angeles on “Cop Rock” (1990) and a prosecutor on “Murder One” (1995-97).

David Bianculli, TV critic for public radio’s “Fresh Air,” remembers being most impressed by Bosson in the critically savaged “Cop Rock.”

“I thought she was good on ‘Hill Street’ in a very thankless role but I enjoyed her the most in a role most people didn’t see, which was in ‘Cop Rock,’” Bianculli said Tuesday. “She really seemed to be having fun in what was such a weird show. She bought into it. Barbara was singing and dancing and wasn’t doing any of it especially well – it wasn’t like, there’s a Broadway baby about to break – but she threw herself into it so gleefully, it was fun to watch.”

In a 1985 Los Angeles Times interview, Bosson acknowledged that she landed roles in Bochco series due to her relationship with Bochco, but she said, “It hurts me to believe that maybe everything that was good was because of Steven.”

Robert Thompson, founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, acknowledged the “delicate conversation” around Bosson’s best work occurring in TV series where her husband was in charge.

“However, I don’t think that should be necessarily held against her. She was part of that ensemble repertory that he kept going to: Charles Haid, Michael Warren, [James Sikking] and all those other folks,” Thompson said. “It was a solicitous relationship that I think led to some very good work by her in some very good shows that he did.”

“Hill Street Blues” marked a turning point in television. Before “Hill Street,” one-hour evening dramas were episodic; “Hill Street” brought serialized storytelling to prime time.

“I don’t think there’s ‘The Sopranos’ without a ‘Hill Street Blues.’ And there wouldn’t have been a ‘Breaking Bad’ without a ‘Sopranos.’ ‘Hill Street Blues’ was ground zero for television learning to be this literary art form, and it’s amazing that all happened within a commercially supported network environment,” said Thompson, who ranks “Hill Street” as the second most influential entertainment TV series in American history behind only “All in the Family,” the first scripted TV show to acknowledge real-world controversies around race, gender and politics.

Thompson noted that “Hill Street,” where Bosson played the ex-wife of the show’s lead character (Daniel J. Travanti), also ushered in a cast that looked like regular people, not the glamourous stars out of central casting.

“It had Betty Thomas. It had Charles Haid. And it had Barbara Bosson, who all looked like more regular people than what we saw in so many things up ‘til then,” Thompson said. “Even her delivery and acting, it didn’t seem nearly as performative for some reason. She brought a sense of being a normal character even when she was playing outrageous kinds of roles.”

Bosson’s family moved from Western Pennsylvania to Gulfport, Fla., where she graduated from high school in 1957. Bosson was accepted into what is now Carnegie Mellon University to study drama, but couldn’t afford tuition. She worked in New York for several years while taking acting classes and enrolled in Carnegie at age 26. It’s where she first met Bochco. They reconnected later in Los Angeles and were married from 1970-97 before divorcing. Bochco died of Leukemia at age 74 in 2018.

Bosson acted as a guest star in 1970s shows “Mannix,” “Ironside,” “Emergency!” and “Alias Smith and Jones.” She was a series regular on “Richie Brockelman, Private Eye” in 1978. Bosson played the mother of the title character in the 1985 sci-fi film “The Last Starfighter.” She pretty much retired from acting on camera after “Murder One.”

“I never talked to her specifically to confirm this but I got the sense that for her acting was something she could take or leave,” Bianculli said. “When it was given to her or when she asked for it or however she got [the roles] from Bochco, she was fine with them and did her job but she didn’t seem to seek it out like, ‘Now that I have this visibility I can leverage this into a TV movie of my own.’ She could have done that if she wanted to, but I don’t think she had that drive.”

Bosson’s son, TV director Jesse Bochco (“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”), posted to his Instagram Monday, “More spirit and zest than you could shake a stick at. When she loved you, you felt it without a doubt. If she didn’t, you may well have also known that too. Forever in our hearts. I love you Mama. Barbara “Babs” Bosson Bochco 1939-2023 ❤️”

Actor Titus Welliver, who appeared alongside Bosson on “Murder One,” tweeted, “The beautiful and wonderful Barbara Bosson has left us. Colleague, friend and surrogate mother. My heart is shattered by her departure. Bow your heads for her loved ones who are so very devastated by her departure. Love you Babs, you made us all better with your kindness.”

In addition to son Jesse Bochco, Bosson is survived by daughter Melissa and two grandchildren.