On February 18, Barbara Bosson passed away at a Santa Monica, California, hospital. She was an actress who had a brief appearance on the hit station-house drama series “Hill Street Blues” as a dissatisfied single mother before landing a regular part as the determined former spouse of a police captain. Her age was eighty-three.
Her son Jesse Bochco confirmed her death but did not provide an explanation.
“Hill Street Blues,” which Steven Bochco, Ms. Bosson’s then-husband, co-created, revolutionized the police-show genre from 1981 to 1987 with its cinéma vérité-style camera work and people who were transparent about their shortcomings, fears, and conflicts. Few characters have as much emotional weight as Fay Furillo, played by Ms. Bosson.
In the opening episode of the NBC series, Fay raced into the station to confront Capt. Frank Furillo when his child support check bounced. The role was portrayed by Daniel J. Travanti. Fay chastises the captain in front of the other officers without holding back.
Steven Bochco claims that Ms. Bosson’s scene was staged as a one-off event to avoid any issues with nepotism with network officials. Viewers did, however, express their opinions. Fay quickly gained popularity and was cast in the show.
Ms. Bosson has received five Emmy Award nominations in as many years, largely due to her portrayal of a character who reinvents herself to assist crime victims and takes on a cheeky confidence with catchphrases like “Hey, buster.”
Ms. Bosson stated to The Washington Post in 1987 that “I sort of had a constituency.”
She said that women would write to her, saying things like, “You are me, and if you can do well, I can, too,” and how much they related to Fay’s problems.
Thus, Ms. Bosson stated, “I began to feel like I represented some important folks who aren’t portrayed on television.”
Steven Bochco left the show after the fourth season due to conflicts over budget and storyline with MTM Enterprises, the producers. Co-creator of the show Michael Kozoll left after the second season. Ms. Bosson quit the show after the fifth season, alleging that the producers and creators were gradually stripping her character of her nuance.
She asserted in a 1983 interview with Playboy magazine that “I’m like Fay in some of the amusing ways.” Sometimes something enrages me so much that I say something aloud in public. Fay will always be a victim.
Ms. Bosson often mentioned that studying the job of a victim advocate and persuading Bochco to incorporate it into the creation of her “Hill Street Blues” character was one of her most fulfilling experiences.
She told The Post, “The people who work in this field are truly courageous.” “After researching the duties of that role, I told my husband, ‘Lead the way, let’s turn Fay into a victim advocate.’” For heaven’s sake, she is the quintessential victim. It’s a really good progression. It took him a whole year, but in the end, he caved in to me.
The show garnered a dedicated audience of watchers who were perplexed by aspects such as the setting (a rough, unnamed northern city that Steven Bochco once proposed was a hybrid of “Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York, and Newark”). Sgt. Phil Esterhaus (Michael Conrad) ends the precinct’s morning briefing with a line that has grown ingrained over time: “Be careful out there!”
A new generation of television dramas that linked plotlines and character nuances, such as Bochco’s “NYPD Blue” on ABC from 1993 to 2005 and NBC’s “St. Elsewhere” (1982–1988), were greatly influenced by the show.
Ms. Bosson kept making appearances in crime dramas, including three that Bochco produced for ABC: “Murder One” (1995–1997), in which she played a deputy district attorney; “Hooperman” (1987–1989), in which she costarred as a police captain with John Ritter; and “Cop Rock” (1990), in which she played a mayor. For that performance, she received a nomination for a sixth Emmy in the category of supporting actress in a drama series.
Born in Charleroi, Pennsylvania, on November 1, 1939, Barbara Ann Bosson grew up in the nearby town of Belle Vernon, which is situated south of Pittsburgh. Her father, a driven tennis coach who also worked as a milkman, was a stay-at-home parent. In the final year of Ms. Bosson’s high school career, the family moved to Gulfport, Florida.
She was admitted into the theater school at Carnegie Tech, which is now known as Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, but she was unable to afford the tuition. After moving to New York, she worked as an assistant in television production and as a hostess at the Playboy Club in Manhattan while attending acting classes.
At the age of 26, she enrolled in Carnegie Tech as a freshman in 1965. There, she met Charles Haid, Bruce Weitz, and Bochco, three young performers who would go on to collaborate with her on “Hill Street Blues” (the two became married in 1969). While on summer vacation, Ms. Bosson received a job offer from the Committee, an improv group based in San Francisco. She chose not to return to Pittsburgh to complete her degree.
Starring with Steve McQueen in the 1968 crime drama “Bullitt,” Ms. Bosson made her acting debut as a nurse. She also acted in the thriller “Capricorn One” (1977) and the 1974 film adaption of the Broadway musical “Mame,” starring Lucille Ball.
Bochco and Ms. Bosson’s union was terminated. Her son, a daughter called Melissa Bochco, a brother, and two grandkids survive her.
Ms. Bosson expressed her satisfaction that viewers were moved by her “Hill Street Blues” performance. In 1983, she mentioned two types of fan mail in an interview.
She continued, “It’s clear from the messages I get from men who say they hate me that they think I’m their ex-wife.” However, the majority of my feedback is from people who thank me for showing them some of their struggles on TV. I didn’t even know that I was alive.