Bibi Besch

Bibi Besch
Born	Bibiana Maria Köchert (1942-02-01)February 1, 1942 Vienna, Greater Germany, (now Austria)
Died	September 7, 1996(1996-09-07) (aged 54) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1954–1996
Spouse(s)	Donald B. Mathis ​ ​ (m. 1965; div. 1973)​
Children	Samantha Mathis
Parent(s)	Gotfrid Köchert Gusti Huber

Bibi Besch (born Bibiana Maria Köchert; February 1, 1942 – September 7, 1996) was an Austrian-American film, television, and stage actress. She is best known for her portrayal of Dr. Carol Marcus in the science fiction film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Her other notable film roles were in Who's That Girl (1987), Steel Magnolias (1989), and Tremors (1990). Besch also appeared in a number of television series, including The Jeff Foxworthy Show, and received two Primetime Emmy Award nominations.

Early life[]

Bibiana Maria Köchert was born in Vienna in 1942, the younger of two daughters born to theater actress Gusti Huber, who starred in German films during World War II, and Gotfrid Köchert, an Austrian racing driver, who served in the Wehrmacht. She had an elder sister, Christiana Barbara Köchert (August 17, 1939 – August 13, 2004). Gusti and her two daughters remained in Vienna throughout World War II, immigrating to the United States after the war ended.^[1] Joseph Besch, a radio executive and former U.S. Army captain, married Huber, a divorcee, in 1946, and became Huber's daughters' stepfather; his stepchildren took his surname. Huber and Besch later had two children, born in the United States, Drea and Andrew, the half-siblings of Bibiana and Christiana.^[2] Bibi, her sister and half-siblings,^[3] grew up in Chappaqua, New York, where they attended local elementary and junior high schools. She graduated from Horace Greeley High School there in 1959, and attended Connecticut College for Women, but, before graduating, moved to New York City to become an actress. Her only child is Samantha Mathis, also an actress.

Career[]

Most of Besch's early TV experience came from years spent on New York-based daytime soap operas — The Secret Storm (1966), The Edge of Night (1969), Love Is a Many Splendored Thing (1973) and Somerset (1974). In later years she was seen in primetime soaps, such as Secrets of Midland Heights (1980), The Hamptons (1983), Dynasty (1984), Dallas (1985), Falcon Crest (1986), Knot's Landing (1989) and an episode of Melrose Place which aired on September 9, 1996, two days after her death.

Besch guest starred in a variety of television series, including Street Hawk, The Rockford Files, The Golden Girls, Murder, She Wrote, Backstairs at the White House, It's Garry Shandling's Show, and Date with an Angel. Having appeared on a 1979 episode of James Arness' western series, How the West Was Won, she reunited with him in the 1981 made-for-TV film McClain's Law which served as the two-hour debut episode of Arness' 1981–82 same-named police detective series.

She played Dr. Carol Marcus, the early love of Admiral James T. Kirk in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982). Her other films included Victory at Entebbe (1976), The Pack (1977), The Promise (1979), Meteor (1979), The Beast Within (1982), The Lonely Lady (1983), The Day After (1983), Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986), He's My Girl (1987), Who's That Girl (1987), Steel Magnolias (1989), Tremors (1990), and Betsy's Wedding (1990).

In 1992, she received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance in Doing Time on Maple Drive, which starred William McNamara and Jim Carrey as her sons. She received another Emmy nomination in 1993 for her recurring-character role as the neurotic mother of Janine Turner's character on Northern Exposure. She continued to act, with 11 television and film credits in 1996, her final year.

Death[]

Bibi Besch died at Daniel Freeman Hospital in Los Angeles on September 7, 1996, at age 54, following a long battle with breast cancer.^[4]

Filmography[]

Awards and nominations[]

References[]

External links[]

• Bibi Besch at IMDb
• Bibi Besch at AllMovie
• Bibi Besch at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Bibi Besch at Find a Grave