Famous 70s bombshell, whose work spans acting, directing and coaching some of Hollywood’s best-known performers, was recently photographed running errands in Los Angeles, according to the Daily Mail.
The 75-year-old appeared opposite Steve Martin in The Jerk and Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer before directing projects that included an early performance by Ben Affleck.
Today, she works primarily as an acting teacher, with her professional website listing clients including Nicole Kidman, Brad Pitt, Amy Adams, Zoe Saldana, Naomi Watts and Jane Fonda.
Teaching became a major part of her career
yes you were right, it’s Catlin Adams. Adams’ own training began long before the film roles that introduced her to wider audiences.
Born Nira Barab in Los Angeles in 1950, she developed an interest in acting at four. By 14, she had become the youngest student at Lee Strasberg’s Actors Studio.
Speaking on The Wordslinger Podcast, Adams explained that her access came through Anna Mizrahi, an acquaintance of her parents who was dating Strasberg and later married him.
She also studied with Stella Adler and Sanford Meisner, incorporating elements of their approaches into her subsequent teaching.
Her website names Michael Douglas, Lily Tomlin, Rachel Weisz, Charlie Hunnam, Jamie Bell and Megan Fox among the performers she has coached.
Teaching has not entirely replaced her screen work. In 2012, Adams appeared in Underworld: Awakening alongside her student Kate Beckinsale.
The film role that brought wider recognition
Adams played motorcyclist Patty Bernstein in Carl Reiner’s 1979 comedy The Jerk, sharing the screen with Steve Martin and Bernadette Peters.
Patty becomes romantically involved with Martin’s character before his attention shifts to the woman played by Peters.
According to the Daily Mail, Adams’ audition included an improvised moment in which she tore open Martin’s shirt and bit his nipple. Despite his television fame, she did not recognize him because she did not own a television.
The following year, she joined the cast of The Jazz Singer, appearing with Neil Diamond, Laurence Olivier and Lucie Arnaz.
Those films followed years of television work. Acting under her original name, Adams had appeared in The Rat Patrol, Adam-12 and McMillan & Wife.
She was also a founding member of the Los Angeles improvisational troupe The Groundlings in 1974. Her television-film credits included Katherine, starring Sissy Spacek and Henry Winkler, and Panic in Echo Park with Dorian Harewood.
Directing a young Ben Affleck
Adams’ work behind the camera included the 1986 ABC Afterschool Special Wanted: The Perfect Guy.
The Emmy-winning production starred a then-13-year-old Ben Affleck as a boy trying to find a romantic partner for his mother, played by Madeline Kahn.
Her directing career continued with the 1988 film Sticky Fingers, starring Helen Slater and Melanie Mayron, and an episode of Beverly Hills, 90210.
From improvisational comedy and film performances to directing and teaching, Adams’ credits cover several different areas of the entertainment industry. Her recent Los Angeles outing comes as coaching remains the principal focus of her professional life.
