Phoebe or Phebe may refer to:

Nature[link]

• Phoebe (bird), the common name for birds of genus Sayornis in the tyrant flycatcher family
• Phoebe (moon), a small outer moon of Saturn
• Phoebe (plant), a genus of flowering plants in the Lauraceae family

People[link]

• Phoebe (given name), a female given name meaning "bright and shining"
• Phoebe (Bible), Corinthian woman mentioned by the Apostle Paul in Romans 16:1
• Anna Phoebe (born 1981), violinist
• Phoebe, nickname of Freddie Mercury's assistant Peter Freestone

Mythology[link]

• Phoebe (mythology), one of the Titans
• Phoebe, one of the Heliades
• Phoebe (Leucippides), the daughter of Leucippus
• Phoebe, an epithet of Artemis, feminine equivalent of Phoebus as a surname for Apollo
• Phoebe, Helen's sister, daughter of Leda
• Phoebe, a Hamadryad, one of Danaus' many wives or concubines, mother of several of the Danaides
• Phoebe, one of the Amazons who fought against Heracles

Entertainment[link]

• Phoebe (magazine), a literary journal
• Phoebe Daring, a mystery novel for juvenile readers
• For Phoebe Still a Baby, a song by the Cocteau Twins

Other[link]

• HMS Phoebe
• Phoebe (computer), Acorn Computers's never-released successor to the Risc PC

See also[link]

• Phoebus (disambiguation)

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan is a fictional character on the U.S. television sitcom Friends (1994–2004), portrayed by Lisa Kudrow.^[1] Kudrow received an Emmy Award, Screen Actor Guild's Award and a Golden Globe nomination for her performance. Her twin sister is Ursula Buffay, who first appeared on Mad About You and eventually becomes Governor of New York.^[2]

Background[link]

Early life[link]

Phoebe Buffay is the younger twin daughter born to Phoebe Abbott (Teri Garr) and Frank Buffay on February 16, 1967; her twin sister, Ursula (Lisa Kudrow), was born one minute earlier. Frank was married to Abbott's best friend, Lily, at the time; Lily adopted Phoebe and Ursula. Phoebe does not talk much about her early years except to note that she was from upstate New York, her father abandoned the family when she was very young, and Lily killed herself. She occasionally mentions Lily's strange behaviour and methods of raising her children. Phoebe's life changed dramatically when she was 13 and Lily committed suicide and her stepfather was in prison. By age 15, Phoebe was living on the streets. Many references to Phoebe's colourful past on the streets are made throughout the series. Phoebe lived in many locations such as in a burnt-out Buick LeSabre automobile, in an AMC Gremlin with "a guy named Cindy who talked to his hand," and with an albino man who washed windows outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal. She did not attend high school or college, but claimed that she met behind a dumpster with a small group to learn French, in which she is fluent. Phoebe occasionally resorted to mugging to survive; at one point, when she was fourteen, she mugged Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) near a comic shop, stealing the only copy of Ross's comic Science Boy, of which she claims "taught me well". Phoebe also mentioned that she once lived in Prague, Czechoslovakia but refuses to discuss it further. She also claims that she contracted hepatitis when a pimp spat in her mouth; was stabbed by a police officer, whom she stabbed in return; learned to box at a YMCA; has been tortured; and at one point made sombreros (and got called 'bad little white girl' by her employer for not making them big enough).

She moved in with Monica Geller (Courteney Cox) when she answered a roommate ad, which began their friendship. While living with Monica, she married Duncan (Steve Zahn), a gay Canadian ice dancer, in order to help him obtain a green card. He later revealed that he is straight, and was just pretending to be gay "to fit in", resulting in a divorce, although Phoebe had feelings for him. She moved out when she could no longer handle Monica's controlling tendencies, choosing to live with her grandmother at 5 Morton Street, New York City. After her grandmother's death, Phoebe inherited the apartment and her yellow taxi.

Personality[link]

Having not experienced a normal childhood, Phoebe is childlike, innocent, and considered the "weird one" of the group. Paradoxically, she is also known in the group for having the best street smarts. Although usually friendly, Phoebe, when sufficiently exasperated, reverts to a harsher "Street Phoebe" persona, noting that "Street Phoebe" would never have befriended the other characters. In later seasons, Phoebe can often be seen ridiculing the other friends (especially Monica and Chandler), and doing things for self-gain but always maintains her good heart.

Career as masseuse and singer[link]

Although her career was not clearly mentioned initially unlike her other friends her singing career begins to appear kind of casually then when her working at Central Perk as a singer start it emerges. Her songs with too unusual lyrics almost refreshes Central Perk atmosphere at a times. As time passes and her former singing partner friend and a sound studio betray her and stole her works her masseuse career gradually emerge. During her working as a masseuse she kept fine professional relationship with her customers despite few occasions.

"Regina Phalange"[link]

Phoebe frequently uses the alter ego Regina Phalange (Phalanges are bones in the fingers). The first reference to Regina Phalange is during season 5, when Phoebe is trying to contact Mrs. Waltham in England after Ross and Emily's wedding. She pretends to be Dr. Regina Phalange, who is Ross's brain doctor, claiming that names are interchangeable in his mind. When the friends go to Vegas, Phoebe introduces herself to the blackjack dealer as Regina Phalange. When Phoebe, Rachel, and Melissa go out to lunch (The One With Rachel's Big Kiss), when asked by Melissa if she was in a sorority, she replies 'Yeah. Thigh Mega Tampon.' Melissa replies 'What?' and Phoebe says 'Yeah, we were really huge too, until they had to shut us down when Regina Phalange died of alcohol poisoning.' She also used her fake name to show Chandler and Monica that people sometimes lie about their names and introduces herself to them as Regina Phalange. Phoebe uses the name when helping Chandler with his interviewing skills in season 8. In the season 10 episode "The One Where Joey Speaks French", Phoebe attempts to spare Joey from humiliation by introducing herself as "Regine Phalange" and stating that Joey is speaking an obscure regional dialect from her "hometown" of "Estée Lauder". Her attempts to convince the casting director fail and she eventually admits that Joey is her younger brother who is "un peu retardé" (a little retarded), and requesting that the casting director humour Joey's French-speaking abilities. The last reference is in the series finale when Phoebe successfully stalls Rachel's plane to Paris by saying there is a problem with the "left phalange", causing everyone on the plane to evacuate, including Rachel. A woman on the plane asks a flight attendant, "You fixed the phalange?" to which he replied, "Yes, the phalange is fixed. In fact, we put a load of extra phalanges on board just in case."

Relationships[link]

Chandler[link]

Chandler behaves like a little brother to Phoebe, demanding on several occasions, "Pheebs! Play with me!" In "The One with the Metaphorical Tunnel", Phoebe and Chandler play hide and seek. He comes with her the first time she visits her estranged father's house. They also play games, like coming up with Superhero names and reclining the Barcaloungers like cowboys. They share a duet of "Endless Love" at the end of one episode, when Chandler is sad after a breakup with Janice. They spend a Thanksgiving pretending to watch football together to get out of helping to cook dinner, that Monica is preparing. They share a distaste for Monica's aggressive side, and instead of being angry at Phoebe for firing Monica as her wedding planner during the rehearsal dinner, he chuckles and raises his glass.

Chandler views Phoebe as strange, making references to her being an alien from outer space in "The One with All the Resolutions" in Season 5. ("A plane? Better make it a space ship so you can get back to your home planet.") She seems to enjoy toying with him more as the seasons progress. In "The One Where Everyone Finds Out", he tells her in a comforting way that she can tell him anything, but she is merely attempting to trick him into believing that she is attracted to him. He is baited until Monica tells him that Phoebe finds him charming in a "sexless" way, indicating that any hints towards romance are jokes. She and Chandler face off in a seduction match they both know is a farce, with Chandler visibly more shaken, though Phoebe is also uncomfortable. They share an awkward kiss and Chandler almost touches her breast but awkwardly moves his hand to her shoulder. He pulls away, saying that Phoebe has won and he is in love with Monica.

On some occasions, Phoebe hints that she has affection towards Chandler, as in "The One Where Ross Meets Elizabeth's Dad" when Phoebe tells Chandler that she will be waiting for him to make a move on her. In "The One With The Tea Leaves", Phoebe reads her tea leaves and learns that she will soon meet the man of her dreams. She says, "Probably not the guy I had a dream about last night" and then points towards Chandler and mouths the word "you". In "The One With All the Football" she throws Chandler off guard by flashing him, and he is visibly pleased. Chandler also asks Phoebe to help him select an engagement ring for Monica after she walks in on him looking at ring brochures. Chandler gives Phoebe away when she marries Mike, although Chandler is the only member of the group available; originally, Joey would have given her away but he is called on to perform the ceremony (he was ordained for Monica and Chandlers wedding in season 7). Chandler tells her that she looks "beautiful", and she seems happy, waving and saying "Hi, new dad!". He and Monica play a role in getting Mike and Phoebe back together in Barbados. They also spend time together in "The One with the East German Laundry Detergent", both trying to dump their significant others; Phoebe points out that they should spend more time together. He responds that maybe later they can run over puppies, which she tells him she does not want to do. However, she breaks up with Janice on his behalf, and he states that they should always break up together, to which she responds, "I'd like that!". She also decides that she would name one of the surrogate children of her brother after Chandler after trying to decide between the name Chandler or Joey. Much to Chandler's embarrassment, the baby named Chandler turns out to be a girl, whom Alice calls "Channy Fanny".

Over the course of the series, Phoebe's attitude to Chandler noticeably declines, to the extent that her mocking of him becomes something of a running joke. On more than one occasion she puts him down in front of Monica, suggesting she can do better, or that he doesn't suit her (most noticeably when she deliberately introduces Monica to a man she believes to be her "soulmate", despite Chandlers obvious insecurity).

Phoebe is the initial reason that Chandler quit smoking in "The One With the Thumb", after an argument between the group about his smoking he is leaving the apartment when she offers him $7,000 never to smoke again. Whether she actually does or not remains unspecified.

[edit] Joey Tribbiani

Phoebe and Joey appear to understand each other. They are the only members of the group who lack a college education. Joey is Phoebe's best male friend; they have dinner together once a month to talk about the rest of the group. Both characters show a softness for each other, even when joking or when they are upset with the others. In "The One with the Race Car Bed", it is implied that Phoebe can hear Joey's thoughts. In "The One With the Ride Along", she explains that "when the revolution comes, I will have to destroy you all...not you, Joey". When Rachel and Phoebe conspire to split up the group, Phoebe vigorously suggests to add Joey. In The One Where Ross Hugs Rachel, when Ross makes a small pass at Joey, Phoebe responds with anger, "Hey! You could do a lot worse than Joey Tribbiani!" Joey is angered when Ross does not support his "identical hand twin" idea, and Joey says that none of the group can live in his hand-shaped mansion "except for you, Pheebs, you can live in the thumb". Later, she helps Joey by pretending to be Regina Phalange, a businesswoman interested in hiring identical hand twins. However, she says that she does not want her surrogate kids to "grow up in a world where Joey is right" after an argument in which Joey insisted all good deeds are selfish.

Joey respects Phoebe's knowledge of such things as reincarnation. Phoebe unsuccessfully tries to teach Joey how to speak French because he claims fluency on his résumé. She also tries to teach him the guitar, but forbids him to touch one, and they have a brief falling out when he seeks out a qualified teacher. Phoebe reportedly had a crush on Joey, and was jealous of his relationship with Ursula. Phoebe and Joey's relationship never goes past a kiss (which happens five times during the course of the show). Joey proposes to Phoebe in the episode "The One with the Red Sweater" thinking that she is pregnant and doesn't want her to 'go through it alone'. She responds with "Hell yeah, I'll marry you!", but before anything actually happens, Monica steps in and tells him that Rachel is the one who is actually pregnant, and that Phoebe was only covering for her. He takes back the proposal and asks for the ring back from Phoebe. In "The One Where They All Turn Thirty", Phoebe laments all the things she has failed to do before turning 31, including having "the perfect kiss" and meeting a Portuguese person. Joey kisses her and says, "Oh, I'm 1/16 Portuguese". Phoebe frequently hits on Joey. On two separate occasions, Joey suggested that since Ross and Rachel and Chandler and Monica had become couples, if she thought that the two of them should do the same. She tells him that they will get married because she thinks that Chandler and Monica's marriage will fail. In her prediction, Joey marries Rachel for her children and Phoebe marries Chandler for his money, then they both get divorces and marry each other with Chandler's money and Rachel's children.

When Phoebe's identical twin sister, Ursula, breaks up with Joey without telling him, Phoebe poses as Ursula to give Joey some closure. Joey ends up kissing Phoebe, at which point he realizes it's actually her.

Kudrow later revealed in an interview that she and LeBlanc had pitched an idea to the writers involving Joey and Phoebe having casual sex all along, but the pitch was rejected. David Crane and Marta Kauffman have also said that they "always assumed Joey and Phoebe were having a secret affair".

Ross[link]

Phoebe and Ross, while loving, do not always get along. They debate the theories of evolution and gravity, and whether Phoebe's dead mother had been reincarnated as a cat. Phoebe suggests that, at some point in the future, she and Ross will have a disagreement that ends with her killing him. In "The One With Joey's Big Break", Phoebe claims to be mad at Ross but "can't remember" why. She remembers that he called her boring, but this turned out to be merely a dream. When she is getting ready to celebrate her birthday during the 9th season, Ross and Rachel say that only one of them can attend a dinner with her, she quickly chooses Rachel, leaving Ross to sarcastically comment - "Gee, thanks. I'll make sure to put a lot of thought into your gift". She finds it amusing to argue with Ross and get him riled up. Despite their differences, both turn to one another for advice or help.

While they were teenagers, Phoebe mugged Ross, stealing his backpack and the only existing copy of his cartoon "Science Boy". She returns "Science Boy", which she has stored in a box labeled "Crap from the Street" ever since. She claims that she had kept it only because it was too good to sell or smoke. Apparently, Phoebe learned a lot from "Science Boy" whilst she was growing up on the street. She also thinks the history is "neat", because it gives her and Ross a link from their childhood that she does not share with the others, which Ross replies with "It's not the best!"

When Ross discovers that Phoebe has never ridden a bike, he buys her an exact copy of a neighbour's bike that she used to envy. She does not ride it, so Ross gets annoyed and convinces her the bike will die unless she rides it. She scoffs at this, but when he leaves, she whispers to the bike, "Please don't die!". When Ross realizes that he is in love with Rachel, Phoebe pushes him to tell Rachel how he feels. She is also the one he chooses to tell that he did not annul his marriage to Rachel in season 6, and Phoebe stays loyal to his confidence. Ross and Phoebe sometimes turn to one another when they need emotional or sexual advice. Ross asks Phoebe for advice about telling Monica about Rachel moving in, and Phoebe turns to Ross for advice about Mike. Ross upsets Phoebe by telling her that he thought marriage was "too normal" for her, although it was okay for "a guy like him". He upsets her when discussing the fact that she had never had a long-term relationship, and then makes things worse by revealing that fact to Mike.

The two also bond over Ross's supposed musical talent. Despite the fact that Ross's music is rudimentary and reliant on sound effects such as doorbells, cow sounds and whistles, Phoebe is the only friend who thinks he's a genius that is "not appreciated in his own time", even going so far as to say she feels "dwarfed" by his "gift". She eventually hears it for what it is, although Ross feels that he intentionally plays poorly just once in order to make sure Phoebe continues to play.

In a "flashback" scenario episode, it is revealed that after Ross and Carol's relationship broke down, she and Ross almost had sex. She hits on him a couple of times, some in jest, others to get what she wants, like when she and Rachel compete to be a bridesmaid. He sometimes returns the flirtations, as they boost his ego, but she usually makes him uncomfortable with her sexuality, like when she calls him "daddy" and asks him if he is going to spank her in the episode "The One with the Lottery". In "The One with George Stephanopoulos", she declares that she thinks Ross is "kind of cute". They kiss in "The One with All the Resolutions", and when Joey lies and says that Ross wanted to kiss her, she smirks and says it is obvious. They also date a divorcing couple in one episode and end up fighting in the same manner as a married couple.

In the last episode of Friends, Phoebe drives Ross to the airport in her taxi, and delays Rachel's flight so that Ross can declare his love to Rachel. When they realise they have gone to the wrong airport, Phoebe calls Rachel and causes a commotion that delays the flight. Rachel initially turns him down, and Phoebe comforts him as he cries.

Monica[link]

Although Phoebe and Monica are close, Phoebe often finds her competitive and compulsive behavior bothersome. During one of Monica's outbursts Phoebe jokes about how she "woke the beast". When explaining why she is moving out of Monica's apartment, Phoebe says, "I need to live in a world where people can spill!" She moves out surreptitiously, taking one possession at a time to avoid discovery. Once she is discovered, she states that she still wishes to be Monica's friend. Before the first episode, she attempted to "cut Monica out" of her life. This is revealed in "The One With Ross's Tan" (Season 10) and causes a brief rift between them. They also clash when Monica becomes Phoebe's wedding planner and annoys Phoebe with her demanding behavior. Monica is annoyed and embarrassed when Phoebe sings outside of her restaurant; Phoebe responds by insulting Monica's cooking and restaurant.

During Monica and Chandler's engagement, Monica tells Rachel and Phoebe that she cannot decide who to pick to be her maid of honor at the wedding, so leaves the decision to them. Initially, it is decided that Phoebe could be Monica's maid of honor, as Phoebe says that she has never been a maid of honor for anyone before. When Rachel discovers that this is not true, Joey and Ross hold a competition in which Rachel and Phoebe act out potential maid of honor scenarios. Phoebe wins, but later tells Rachel that she can be Monica's maid of honor since it means more to her. Phoebe is soon glad, however, that she does not have to put up with Monica's controlling nature during the planning. When Monica takes control of Phoebe's wedding, Phoebe tells Monica that she is tired of her bossiness and fires her.

Rachel[link]

Phoebe and Rachel are roommates for a time in season six, although this leads to some minor clashes. Rachel becomes embarrassed at Phoebe's jogging style but then runs like Phoebe after realizing that she hurt her feelings. Phoebe admits that, if she had to choose which of her two female friends to have a lesbian relationship with, she would pick Rachel because she is not as high-maintenance as Monica. At the end of the episode, while Rachel tells Phoebe that she would pick her above Monica to have a relationship.At one point, Phoebe insults Rachel's waitressing, saying to her, "Yeah, otherwise someone might actually get what they ordered". This sparks a huge fight between some of the other friends.

In another early episode, Phoebe talks Rachel into getting tattoos together. Rachel gets a heart tattooed on her hip, but Phoebe ends up getting only a tiny blue dot because she can't stand the pain of the needles. She rationalizes it by saying the blue dot is what Earth looks like from where her mother would see it, in heaven.

The pair get closer as the show goes on, but Rachel is forced to move out when a fire destroys their home. When it is rebuilt, Phoebe thinks Rachel would rather live with Joey. She tries to make life miserable for Rachel in Joey's apartment so that Rachel will move back in with her. When trying to comfort Phoebe, Rachel says that they should leave and make their own group because they are "the best ones". Phoebe agrees and says, "Alright, but let's try to get Joey".

In the seventh season, Phoebe does not believe Rachel when she said that she had kissed a girl (her old college friend Melissa), so Rachel brings Phoebe to dinner with Melissa, the girl she claimed to have kissed. Melissa denies it at first, but later states that she is a lesbian and has never forgotten the kiss. When Melissa leaves, Phoebe kisses Rachel to find out "what all the fuss was about". Rachel, looking shocked asks, "And?" Phoebe shrugs and says, "I've had better".

Marriage[link]

In Season 9, Joey introduces Phoebe to Mike Hannigan by randomly selecting him for a date with Phoebe. Phoebe and Mike begin a long relationship, which temporarily ends after Phoebe learns that Mike, having already been through one failed marriage, never wants to marry again. Mike then learns that Phoebe's first boyfriend, David, is planning to propose to her; he changes his mind about marriage and proposes to Phoebe before David can. Phoebe rejects the proposal because she only wanted to know that marriage was a possibility; she and Mike become a couple again. They become officially engaged in "The One Where Rachel's Sister Baby-Sits". In "The One with Phoebe's Wedding" during the final season, they are married in the street outside Central Perk, with Monica as maid of honor, Rachel as a bridesmaid, Joey officiating, Chandler giving Phoebe away, and Ross holding Mike's childhood dog as a groomsman.

When she changes her name after the wedding, Phoebe learns she can change it to anything. She briefly becomes "Princess Consuela Bananahammock" but requests that the friends call her "Valerie". To show her how ridiculous it sounds, Mike suggests changing his name to "Crap Bag". Phoebe relents but wants to keep the name "Bananahammock" until learning that it is slang for a Speedo. She changes her name to Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan.

Phoebe has been married at least once before. Her previous husband, Duncan, was an apparently gay Canadian ice dancer, an old friend, and someone Phoebe was in love with. They married so that he could get a green card; he later confesses that he is straight but divorces Phoebe anyway. It is also possible that Phoebe was previously married in Las Vegas at some point in the past. She indicates her belief that people married in Las Vegas are only married within the city limits, and is surprised when Monica informs her such a union is legal all over the world. After a moment of mild distress, she shrugs off the revelation.

Phoebe is also briefly engaged to Joey. In "The One with the Red Sweater", Joey believes that Phoebe is pregnant and proposes to her. Phoebe agrees and accepts his ring, but Joey takes the ring back and proposes to Rachel when he learns that she is actually the pregnant friend.

Production[link]

Phoebe's pregnancy during Season 4 was to account for Lisa Kudrow's actual pregnancy. Kudrow gave birth to a boy after production ended for the season.

Phoebe's first line at the show was "Wait, does he eat chalk? Just, 'cause, I don't want her to go through what I went through with Carl". Phoebe's last line is "So, I guess this is it" before everyone leaves Monica and Chandler's apartment.

Casting[link]

Lisa Kudrow won the role because the producers liked her recurring role as Ursula, the waitress in Mad About You.^[3][4] The characters were retconned to make them twin sisters. The producers said they liked the elements of Lisa in Ursula, but they needed Phoebe to be sweeter.

Reception[link]

TV Guide ranked her #11 on their list of "TV's Top 100 Characters".^{[citation needed]} Entertainment Weekly voted Phoebe Buffay on Friends as Lisa Kudrow's best performance.^[5]

References[link]

Friends portal

Phoebe Cates
Phoebe Cates at 81st Annual Academy Awards, February 22, 2009
Born	Phoebe Belle Cates (1963-07-16) July 16, 1963 (age 48) New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1981–94, 2001
Spouse	Kevin Kline (1989–present)

Phoebe Cates (born Phoebe Belle Cates; July 16, 1963) is an American film actress, model, and entrepreneur known for her roles in several teen films, most notably Fast Times at Ridgemont High and Gremlins.

Early life[link]

Cates was born Phoebe Belle Cates in New York City to a family of TV and Broadway production insiders. Her father, Joseph Cates was a major Broadway producer and a pioneering figure in television, who helped create The $64,000 Question.^[1][2] Her late uncle, Gilbert Cates, produced numerous TV specials, often in partnership with Cates' father, and several annual Academy Awards shows.^[3] Her paternal grandparents and maternal grandmother were Russian Jews, and her maternal grandfather was Chinese Filipino.^[4][5][6]

Cates attended the Professional Children's School and the Juilliard School.^[7] When she was ten, she wanted to become a dancer. She eventually got a scholarship to the School of American Ballet, but after suffering a serious knee injury at age 15, she gave up her dancing career.^[8] She next began a career as a professional model, which was short-lived although successful.^[8]

Acting career[link]

After ending her modeling career, Cates decided upon acting.^[8] Although her father was an actor as well, he was not enthusiastic about his daughter's becoming an actress.^[8] Cates' movie debut was in Paradise (released 1982).^[9] At the age of 17, she played a starring role and did several fully nude scenes in the movie, which had a plot very similar to The Blue Lagoon. Cates later regretted being in the movie and said: "What I learned was never to do a movie like that again."^[8] According to her co-star Willie Aames, "she will have nothing to do with the film. She's really upset about it. She won't do any promotion with me."^[10]

Later in 1982, Cates starred in Fast Times at Ridgemont High which features "the most memorable bikini-drop in cinema history."^[11] She was quoted as saying that she had the most fun in filming that movie.^[8] The following year, she was in the sex comedy Private School (which co-starred Matthew Modine and Betsy Russell), for which she sang on two songs of the film's soundtrack.

Her later film roles were more modest and largely oriented toward younger audiences, such as the two Gremlins films and the 1991 film Drop Dead Fred. Her face graced the covers of teen magazines such as Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen Beat and others. In 1984, she starred in the TV mini-series Lace. She sought the role of Lili "to get away from a sameness in her movie portrayals."^[12] During her audition, she so impressed the writer, that he wanted to hire her there and then.^[12] Cates struggled with the portrayal of a bitter movie star because, despite her character's vicious persona, she intended for the audience to sympathize with her.^[13] She did not read the novel on which the movie was based because she did not want to have a "fixed image".^[13]

In 1985, Cates appeared Off-Broadway in Rich Relations, written by David Henry Hwang of the Second Stage Theatre.^[14] In 1994, she starred in the romantic comedy Princess Caraboo.

Cates retired from acting in the mid-90s in order to raise her children. She did return in 2001, however, for one film with her family, The Anniversary Party, as a favor to the director, her best friend, Jennifer Jason Leigh.

Music career[link]

Cates sang the title song (of the same name) for the film Paradise.^[15] She also sang the songs Just One Touch and How Do I Let You Know for the Private School soundtrack.

Personal life[link]

In 1989, Cates and actor Kevin Kline were married having first met in 1983 during Cates' audition for the movie role that Meg Tilly ultimately won in The Big Chill. Kline and Cates currently live in New York City with their two children, Owen Joseph Kline born in 1991 and Greta Simone Kline born in 1994. Both Owen and Greta appeared along with their mother in the 2001 movie, The Anniversary Party. Owen also appeared in the 2005 film, The Squid and the Whale.

In 2005, Cates opened her own boutique called Blue Tree on New York's Madison Avenue.^[16]

Filmography[link]

Cates at the Governor's Ball party after the 1989 Academy Awards, March 29, 1989

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Phoebe Cates

• Phoebe Cates at the Internet Movie Database
• Blue Tree Cates' NY boutique website

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (April 2011)

Phoebe Snow (born Phoebe Ann Laub; July 17, 1950^[1][2] – April 26, 2011^[1]) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for her chart-topping 1975 hit "Poetry Man". She was described by The New York Times as a "contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves."^[3]

Personal life[link]

She was born in New York City in 1950,^[1] and raised in a musical household in which Delta blues, Broadway show tunes, Dixieland jazz, classical music, and folk music recordings were played around the clock. Her father, Merrill Laub, an exterminator by trade, had an encyclopedic knowledge of American film and theater and was also an avid collector and restorer of antiques. Her mother, Lili Laub, was a dance teacher who had performed with the Martha Graham group.^[4]

Snow grew up in Teaneck, New Jersey and graduated from Teaneck High School.^[5] She subsequently attended Shimer College in Mount Carroll, Illinois, but did not graduate.^[6]

As a student, she carried her prized Martin 00018 acoustic guitar from club to club in Greenwich Village, playing and singing on amateur nights. Her stage name is a fictional advertising character created in the early 1900s for the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad: Phoebe Snow was a young woman who appeared dressed all in white. Also, a DL&W passenger train called the Phoebe Snow ran from Hoboken to Buffalo between 1949 and 1960.^[7]

Snow was briefly married to Phil Kearns, and in December 1975 she gave birth to a severely mentally impaired daughter, Valerie Rose.^[8] Snow resolved not to institutionalize Valerie, and cared for her at home until Valerie died on March 18, 2007 at the age of 31. Snow's efforts to care for Valerie nearly ended her career.^[9] She continued to take voice lessons, and she studied opera informally.^[9]

Professional life[link]

It was at The Bitter End club in 1972 that Denny Cordell, a promotions executive for Shelter Records, was so taken by the singer that he signed her to the label and produced her first recording.^{[citation needed]} She released an eponymous album, Phoebe Snow, in 1974. Featuring guest performances by The Persuasions, Zoot Sims, Teddy Wilson, David Bromberg, and Dave Mason, Snow's album went on to sell over a million copies in the United States and became one of the most acclaimed recordings of the era.^{[citation needed]}

This spawned a Top Five single on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Poetry Man" and was itself a Top Five album in Billboard, for which she received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and established her as a singer/songwriter. The cover of Rolling Stone magazine followed, while she performed as the opening act for tours by Jackson Browne and Paul Simon (with whom she recorded the hit single "Gone at Last" in 1975). 1975 also brought the first of several appearances as a musical guest on Saturday Night Live, on which Snow performed both solo and in duets with Paul Simon and Linda Ronstadt. During the 1975 appearance, she was seven months pregnant with her daughter, Valerie. Her backup vocal is heard on Paul Simon's hit song "50 Ways To Leave Your Lover" along with Valerie Simpson and Patti Austin, from 1975. She also duets with him on the song gospel-tinged "Gone At Last". Both songs appear on Simon's Grammy-winning 1975 album "Still Crazy After All These Years".

Legal battles took place between Snow and Shelter Records. Snow ended up signed to Columbia Records. Her second album, Second Childhood, appeared in 1976, produced by Phil Ramone. It was jazzier and more introspective, and was an RIAA Certified Gold Album for Phoebe,with the Gold Album awarded on July 9th, 1976.^[10] She moved to a harder sound^{[clarification needed]} for It Looks Like Snow, released later in 1976 with David Rubinson producing. 1977 saw Never Letting Go, again with Ramone, while 1978's Against the Grain was helmed by Barry Beckett. After that Snow parted ways with Columbia; she would later say that the stress of her parental obligations degraded her ability to make music effectively. In 1981, Snow, now signed with Mirage Records, released Rock Away, recorded with members of Billy Joel's band; it spun off the Top 50 hit "Games".^{[citation needed]}

The 1983 Rolling Stone Record Guide summed up Snow's career so far by saying: "One of the most gifted voices of her generation, Phoebe Snow can do just about anything stylistically as well as technically ... The question that's still unanswered is how best to channel such talent." Snow would spend long periods away from recording, often singing commercial jingles for AT&T and others in order to support herself and her daughter.^[11] During the 1980s she also battled her own life-threatening illness.^{[clarification needed][11]}

Snow returned to recording with Something Real in 1989 and gathered a few more hits on the Adult Contemporary charts. Also, Snow composed the Detroit's WDIV-TV Go 4 It! campaign in 1980. She sang Ancient Places, Sacred Lands composed by Steve Horelick on Reading Rainbow's tenth episode The Gift of the Sacred Dog which was based on the book by Paul Goble and narrated by actor Michael Ansara. It was shot in Crow Agency, Montana in 1983.

Snow performed in 1989 on stage at Avery Fisher Hall in New York City as part of Our Common Future, a five hour live television broadcast originating from several countries.^[12]

In 1990, she contributed a cover version of the Delaney & Bonnie song "Get ourselves together" to the Elektra compilation Rubáiyát which included Earth Wind & Fire guitarist Dick Smith. In 1992, she toured with Donald Fagen's New York Rock and Soul Revue and was featured on the group's album recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City. Throughout the 1990s she made numerous appearances on the Howard Stern radio show. She sang live for specials and birthday shows. In 1997, she sang the Roseanne theme song a cappella during the closing moments of the final episode.^{[citation needed]}

Snow joined the pop group, Zap Mama, who recorded its own version of "Poetry Man," in an impromptu duet on the PBS series, "Sessions At West 54th." Hawaiian girl group Na Leo also had a hit on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1999 with their cover version of "Poetry Man".

In May 1998, Snow received the Cultural Achievement Award by New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. She was also the recipient of a Don Kirschner Rock Award, several Playboy Music Poll Awards, New York Music Awards and the Clio Award.^{[citation needed]}

Snow performed for U.S. President Bill Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, and his cabinet at Camp David in 1999.

In 2003, Snow released her album Natural Wonder on Eagle Records, containing ten original tracks, her first original material in fourteen years. Snow's single "Harpo's Blues" was wrongly referred to as "Harpo's Song" in Series 5 of The Sopranos, where Tony cites the song as the source for his sister Janice's son Harpo's name. Snow performed at Howard Stern's wedding in 2008, and made a special appearance in the film Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom as herself. Some of her music was also featured on the soundtrack of the film. Her Live album (2008) featured many of her hits as well as a cover of "Piece of My Heart".^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Phoebe Snow suffered a cerebral hemorrhage on January 19, 2010 and slipped into a coma,^[13] enduring bouts of blood clots, pneumonia, and congestive heart failure. Snow died on April 26, 2011 at age 60 in Edison, New Jersey.^[14]

Discography[link]

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Albums[link]

1974: Snowbird 1974: Phoebe Snow (Platinum) 1976: Second Childhood (Gold) 1976: It Looks Like Snow 1977: Never Letting Go 1978: Against the Grain 1981: The Best of Phoebe Snow 1981: Rock Away 1989: Something Real

1991: The New York Rock and Soul Revue: Live at the Beacon 1994: Phoebe Snow (Gold Disc) 1995: P.S. 1995: Good News In Hard Times (with The Sisters of Glory) 1998: I Can't Complain 2002: Very Best of Phoebe Snow 2003: Natural Wonder 2008: Live

Compilations[link]

1981: The Best of Phoebe Snow 1995: P.S.

2001: The Very Best of Phoebe Snow

Singles[link]

"Poetry Man" b/w[clarification needed] "Easy Street" (non-album track included as a bonus on CD) (January 1975) – U.S. #5 Pop / #1 adult contemporary[citation needed] "Harpo's Blues" (May 1975) – U.S. #20 adult contemporary[citation needed] "Gone at Last" (August 1975) (with Paul Simon and Jessy Dixon Singers) – U.S. #23 Pop / #9 adult contemporary[citation needed] "Shakey Ground" (January 1977) – U.S. #70 pop[citation needed] "Every Night" (January 1979) – UK #37[15] "Games" (February 1981) – U.S. #46 pop[citation needed]

"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" (May 1981) – U.S. #52 pop "Dreams I Dream" (with Dave Mason) (January 1988) – U.S. #11 adult contemporary "Three Little Birds" duet with Gregory Abbott (2003) – pop Caribbean[citation needed] "If I Can Just Get Through the Night" (April 1989) — U.S. #13 adult contemporary "Something Real" (July 1989) — U.S. #29 adult contemporary

With other artists[link]

• "Hymn" (Aftertones album 1975) – with Janis Ian
• "Thankful N'Thoughtful" (Night Lines album 1984) – with Dave Grusin
• "Between Old and New York" (Night Lines album 1984) – with Dave Grusin
• "Tossin' and Turnin'" (Johnnie Be Back album 1991) – with Johnnie Johnson
• "Sometimes Love Forgets" ("Hot Spot") Elektra Asylum album 1980; [with Steve Goodman]
• "Gone at Last" ("Still Crazy After All These Years") Columbia album 1975; [with Paul Simon]
• "Baby I'm Yours" (Naked City feat. Jeff Golub) Atlantic Recording Company 1996; with Avenue Blue
• "One Too Many Mornings" (Steve Howe, "Portraits of Bob Dylan") 1999

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	Music portal

• List of people from New York City
• List of people from Teaneck, New Jersey
• List of singer-songwriters
• Phoebe Snow (passenger train)

• Phoebe Snow (fictional character)

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Thursby, Keith (April 27, 2011). "Phoebe Snow dies at 60; singer of 1974 hit 'Poetry Man'. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
2. ^ ^{a b} Matt Schudel (April 27, 2011). "Phoebe Snow, powerful singer of 1970s hit ‘Poetry Man,’ dies at 60". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 27, 2011.
3. ^ Abdella, Fred T. (July 2, 1989). "Singing Her Way Back to the Top". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/07/02/nyregion/new-jersey-q-a-phoebe-snow-singing-her-way-back-to-the-top.html. Retrieved April 27, 2011. "It was the summer of 1974 and the voice was everywhere - a contralto grounded in a bluesy growl and capable of sweeping over four octaves on the slightest provocation into a gospel-charged upper range." 
4. ^ "The Blues of Phoebe Snow" by Don Shewey
5. ^ Nash, Margo (June 22, 2003). "Still Singing, Still a Fan Of Trains", The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2007. "Her first record, Phoebe Snow (Shelter 1974), with the single "Poetry Man", went gold, and Snow, who had been discovered performing in a Greenwich Village coffeehouse, shortly after graduating from Teaneck High School, found herself a sudden success."
6. ^ "Named for a Train, Phoebe Snow Is on the Right Track". People. http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20066289,00.html. Retrieved September 9, 2010. 
7. ^ Kadden, Jack (April 10, 2005). "On a Train Back To a Golden Age". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E4DF173EF933A25757C0A9639C8B63. Retrieved April 27, 2011. "The other two are tavern-lounge cars built in 1949 for the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad's premiere train, the Phoebe Snow, which ran from Hoboken, N.J., to Buffalo. The name came from a character -- dressed all in white -- in an advertising campaign dating to the early 1900's, touting a train that ran on clean-burning anthracite coal. (The singer Phoebe Snow, born Phoebe Laub, took her stage name from the train.)" 
8. ^ Holden, Stephen (October 21, 1983). "Things Are Looking Up Again For Phoebe Snow". The New York Times. Retrieved August 23, 2008.
9. ^ ^{a b} Friedman, Roger. "Saying goodbye to Valerie"., Fox News Channel, March 22, 2007. Retrieved August 23, 2008. Substory of "Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie Likely Guests at Cannes".
10. ^ "Recording Industry Association of America". RIAA. http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?content_selector=gold-platinum-searchable-database. Retrieved 2012-04-25. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "Music: Throwing In the Crying Towel". Time. May 1, 1989.
12. ^ Pareles, Jon (June 5, 1989). "Review/Television; The Pop World Wrestles With 'Our Common Future'". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/06/05/arts/review-television-the-pop-world-wrestles-with-our-common-future.html. 
13. ^ "Phoebe Snow, the Greatest Voice of Her Generation, Dies at 60". Showbiz411. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
14. ^ Holden, Stephen (April 26, 2011). "Phoebe Snow, Bluesy Singer-Songwriter, Dies at 60". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/27/arts/music/phoebe-snow-bluesy-singer-songwriter-dies-at-58.html. Retrieved April 26, 2011. "Phoebe Snow, whose signature hit, “Poetry Man”, established her as a leading light of the singer-songwriter movement and whose swooping vocal acrobatics transcended musical genres, died on Tuesday in Edison, N.J. She was 60.
    Her death, at a hospital in Edison, was caused by complications of a stroke she suffered in January 2010, her manager, Sue Cameron, said. Some sources give Ms. Snow’s age as 58, though New Jersey voter records say she was born on July 17, 1950." 
15. ^ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 511. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 

External links[link]

• Biography at her official Web site
• Unofficial fan site
• Soul Covers by Michael Awkward featuring research on Phoebe Snow

Persondata
Name	Snow, Phoebe
Alternative names	Laub, Phoebe Ann
Short description	American singer, songwriter and guitarist
Date of birth	1952-07-17 <! ISO YYYY-MM-DD format -->
Place of birth	New York City, New York, United States
Date of death	2011-04-26 <! ISO YYYY-MM-DD format -->
Place of death	Edison, New Jersey, United States

The suicide of Phoebe Prince, on January 14, 2010, led to the criminal prosecution of six teenagers for charges including statutory rape and civil rights violations,^[1] as well as to the enactment of stricter anti-bullying legislation by the Massachusetts state legislature.^[2]

Prince had moved from Ireland to South Hadley, Massachusetts.^[3] Her suicide, after suffering months of bullying from school classmates, brought international attention to the problem of bullying in US schools. In March 2010, a state anti-bullying task force was set up as a result of her death. The Massachusetts legislation was signed into law on May 3, 2010.^[2]

The trial for those accused in the case occurred in 2011, with pre-trial hearings beginning on September 15, 2010.^[4][5] Sentences of probation and community service were handed down after guilty pleas on May 5, 2011.^[6]

Background[link]

Phoebe Nora Mary Prince was born in Bedford, England, United Kingdom, on November 24, 1994,^[7][8] and moved to the seaside community of Fanore^[9] in County Clare, Ireland, when she was two.^[10] Prince attended Villiers Secondary School, a private school in County Limerick, where she reportedly suffered problems, including self mutilation^[11] and a failed suicide attempt.^[12] She immigrated to the U.S. in the fall of 2009 with her mother and four siblings. Her mother lived in Boston for a few years.^[13] The choice of South Hadley, Massachusetts was reportedly because of the presence of extended family, including an aunt, identified in news accounts as Eileen Moore.^[14][15] Her father, a British national, reportedly chose to remain in nearby Lisdoonvarna, rather than emigrate.^[16] Prince was attending South Hadley High School at the time of her death at age 15, on January 14, 2010.

Bullying incidents and suicide[link]

Having recently moved to the U.S. from Ireland, Prince was taunted and bullied for several months by at least two groups of students at South Hadley High School, reportedly because of disputes with other girls over her brief relationships with their boyfriends, a senior high school football player and another male student. Her aunt allegedly warned school officials in August 2009, prior to Prince's enrollment at the school, to watch after Prince, as she was "susceptible" to bullying and was both bullied and a participant in bullying others in Ireland.^[11][15]

On January 14, 2010, after a day of harassment and taunting, followed by a final incident in which a student threw a can at her from a passing car as she walked home from school, Prince committed suicide by hanging herself in the stairwell leading to the second floor of the family apartment. Her body was discovered by her 12-year-old sister. After her death, many crude comments about her were posted on her Facebook memorial page, most of which were removed.^[17] Her parents chose to have Prince interred in Ireland.

Reaction[link]

A meeting held at the school to discuss the problem of bullying within the school brought parents who stated that bullying of their children had been completely ignored by the school administration. Massachusetts state lawmakers sped up efforts to pass anti-bullying legislation as a result of this incident,^{[18][19][20][21]} and the measure was signed into law on May 3, 2010.^[2] Inspired by the Massachusetts bill, similar legislation was introduced in New York State.^[22] In efforts to promote national anti-bullying legislation, a "Phoebe’s Law" has been proposed.^[23] In July 2010, the South Hadley school committee adopted a more comprehensive anti-bullying policy.^[24] The six accused were themselves subjected to bullying and death threats, and Phoebe's father expressed concern regarding the treatment of the accused who had yet to face trial.^[12]

Criminal case[link]

On March 29, 2010, Northwestern District Attorney Elizabeth Scheibel announced at a press conference^[25] that six teenagers from South Hadley High School were indicted as adults on felony charges by a Hampshire County grand jury. Charges ranged from statutory rape for the two male teenagers involved (both adults under Massachusetts law) to violation of civil rights, criminal harassment, disturbance of a school assembly, and stalking. Additional delinquency complaints were also filed against the three female minors indicted by the grand jury. One was charged with assault with a deadly weapon for throwing a can at Phoebe Prince. A separate delinquency complaint was filed against one of the three female minors for assault and battery against another victim at South Hadley High School (a girl who was attacked at school after appearing in a TV news report describing the bullying that took place at South Hadley High School).^[26] At least four of these six students reportedly were still attending South Hadley High School when the charges were announced.^{[27][27][28][29][30][31]}

In her statement, D.A. Scheibel directly contradicted previous claims by school Superintendent Gus Sayer that school officials had been unaware of the bullying at the school:

Contrary to previously published reports, Phoebe’s harassment was common knowledge to most of the South Hadley High School student body. The investigation has revealed that certain faculty, staff and administrators of the high school also were alerted to the harassment of Phoebe Prince before her death. Prior to Phoebe’s death, her mother spoke with at least two school staff members about the harassment Phoebe had reported to her.

Some bystanders, including at least four students and two faculty members, intervened while the harassment was occurring or reported it to administrators. A lack of understanding of harassment associated with teen dating relationships seems to have been prevalent at South Hadley High School. That, in turn, brought an inconsistent interpretation in enforcement in the school’s code of conduct when incidents were observed and reported.

In reviewing this investigation, we’ve considered whether or not the actions or omissions to act by faculty, staff and administrators of the South Hadley public schools individually, or collectively, amounted to criminal behavior. In our opinion, it did not. Nevertheless, the actions or inactions of some adults at the school are troublesome.^[32][33]

Scheibel indicated that the investigation was ongoing and that charges against additional South Hadley students were likely. She urged schools to adopt anti-bullying awareness and training programs for staff and students and expressed the wishes of the Prince family to refrain from vigilantism and to seek justice only through the criminal justice system.^[29] "Now is not the time for retributions or reprisals," Scheibel said.^[34]

Two days after the District Attorney's news conference, school superintendent Gus Sayer again denied that school administrators had ignored the bullying of Phoebe Prince.^[35][36] South Hadley school officials released a statement that "we have taken disciplinary action with an additional small group of students and they have been removed from the high school."^[37] However, the school statement was unclear as to whether any of the accused individuals were actually expelled from the school. At least one news report stated that all of the accused were still at the school.^[38]

Three of the accused pleaded not guilty through their lawyers in Hampshire Superior Court on April 6. Another three, minors under Massachusetts law (under age 17), pleaded not guilty to delinquency charges on April 8 in Franklin-Hampshire Juvenile Court in Hadley. The three female minors were also arraigned as youthful offenders on the adult felony charges.^[39][40] All six defendants waived their right to appear in court and did not appear at their arraignment hearings. All were ordered to stay away from the Prince family.^[40][41][42]

Initial media reports that nine teenagers had been charged were incorrect and were caused by DA Scheibel's sequential listing of the grand jury and Juvenile Court charges in her press conference. The confusion came about because Scheibel could not release the names of those charged in the juvenile delinquency complaints because of confidentiality laws. However, subsequently it has been confirmed that there were only six teenagers charged in all.^[43][44][45]

On the day of Prince's suicide, three of the accused, including the male football player who had earlier had the relationship with Prince, allegedly engaged in persistent taunting and harassment of Prince at school, in the library and school auditorium. One of the accused allegedly followed Prince home from school in a friend's car, threw an empty can at her, and yelled an insult. It was right after this final incident that Phoebe Prince hanged herself at home.^[44][46][47]

Copies of the court documents with the full details of the case against the three female minors were posted on a CNN webpage.^[48]

In May 2011, the case was resolved, after agreements to plead guilty to lesser charges. Five of the defendants were placed on probation, with several also sentenced to community service.^[6] The charges against a male student were dropped at the request of the Prince family.^[12]

Settlement with town[link]

Phoebe Prince's mother, Anne O'Brien, settled with the town of South Hadley in October 2010. She agreed not to sue or reveal details of the settlement for $225,000. Her brother stated that she agreed to settle in order to find some peace and put the tragedy behind her.^[49]

References[link]

External links[link]

Massachusetts portal

• Chapter 92 of the Acts of 2010 - Massachusetts anti-bullying law.
• Phoebe Prince at Find a Grave