Belinda Bauer (actress)

Belinda Bauer was born Belinda Sylvia Taubman on 13 June 1950 in Sydney, Australia.^[4][2] Her great-grandfather, Nathaniel James Taubman, co-founded the Australian paint manufacturer Taubmans in 1901. Bauer grew up in Sydney and attended Abbotsleigh. She trained in ballet and performed as a dancer on Barry Crocker’s television program, The Sound of Music, in the late 1960s.^[2]

Under her birth name, Bauer entered beauty pageants.^[5] She won the Miss Queen of the Pacific title in 1968 and was a finalist in the Miss New South Wales contest in 1967.^[6] In the early 1970s, Bauer travelled abroad and eventually settled in New York City to pursue modelling and acting. During this period, she adopted the surname Bauer. She worked as a fashion model, including for Revlon cosmetics, and took acting classes.^[2]

Bauer's screen debut was a leading role in the conspiracy thriller Winter Kills (released 1979), appearing with Jeff Bridges and John Huston.^[2] She co-starred with Bridges again in the comedy The American Success Company (1980).^[2][7] Her subsequent roles included the time-travel film Timerider: The Adventure of Lyle Swann (1982) and a supporting part in Flashdance (1983).^[7][3] On television, she played the title role in the TV movie The Sins of Dorian Gray (1983) and the biblical character Delilah in the miniseries Samson and Delilah (1984).^[7] She also played the female lead in the pilot episode of the series Airwolf (1984).^[7]

Throughout the mid-1980s, Bauer appeared in thrillers and action films, including The Rosary Murders (1987) with Donald Sutherland and Act of Piracy (1990) with Gary Busey.^[7][4] She also had a cameo in the comedy UHF (1989).^[7] In 1990, she portrayed Dr. Juliette Faxx, an antagonist in the film RoboCop 2.^[3] The following year, she starred in Servants of Twilight (1991), a thriller adapted from a novel by Dean Koontz.^[3][4]

Bauer's final acting roles were in the mid-1990s. She starred in the television film A Case for Murder (1993) and had a supporting role in Poison Ivy II: Lily (1996).^[7][4] She retired from acting in 1996. Bauer has one screenwriting credit, for co-writing the screenplay for the film Happy Now (2001).^[4]

After retiring from acting, Bauer pursued a degree in psychology. In 2000, she completed a master's program in spiritual psychology at the University of Santa Monica. She also trained at Oneness University in India. Since 2001, Bauer has operated a private counseling practice in Los Angeles.^[8]