Television, theater and movie producer Jacqueline Babbin, 80, died Oct. 6 in
Kent, Conn.
She produced network series and specials, and her productions of Sybil
won both anEmmy Award and a Peabody Award. Sally Field, who played
the title role, won an Emmy for her portrayal.
Babbin was associated early on with literary legend Audrey Wood, and she
worked on a number of Broadway productions, including A Streetcar Named
Desire.
She then segued into television, where she rose to become one of the first
female producers. She was long associated with David Susskind. Susskind, not
noted for handing out compliments, said to Babbin, 'Jackie, next to me, you're
the best TV producer I know.'
She produced Armstrong Circle Theater, Oldsmobile Live
Theatre, DuPont Show of the Month, DuPont Show of the Week and
live adaptations of movies including The Philadelphia Story, Miracle
on 34th Street, The Bells of St. Mary's and The Scarlet
Pimpernel. Her production of The Human Voice starred Ingrid
Bergman.
In 1954, working for Susskind's company, Talent Associates, she teamed up
with Audrey Gellen and the two did highly honored TV adaptations of literary
works and plays including Member of the Wedding, The Heiress,
Ethan Frome, The Browning Version and The Four Poster.
Babbin produced TV versions of The Picture of Dorian Grey, Men in
White and Flight Into Egypt. Her production of Hedda Gabbler
starred Bergman.
The authors whose work she brought to TV represent the crème de la crème of
the literary world: Arthur Miller, Edith Wharton, Henrik Ibsen, Jean Cocteau,
Carson McCullers, Sidney Kingsley, Oscar Wilde and Aldous Huxley.
She also produced CBS' Beacon Hill, which was considered an American
version of Upstairs Downstairs.
After Beacon Hill, Babbin became vice president of novels and
miniseries at ABC. She produced All My Children from 1982 through
1986.
