by Michael Brown, staff writer
Happy Birthday to Patricia Tallman, who is probably best known as Psi-Corps agent Lyta Alexander from the J. Michael Stracynski epic Babylon 5. Tallman was born on September 4, 1957.
In addition to her time on the last of the Babylon stations, and certainly no stranger to science fiction prior to that, Tallman worked on the soap opera Generations, and guest-starred on Tales From the Darkside; Star Trek: The Next Generation; Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Star Trek: Voyager; and, under heavy make-up, played the possessed witch in Bruce Campbell’s vehicle Army of Darkness. She and fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus George A. Romero collaborated on several films such as Monkey Shines, Knightriders, and Creepshow 2, in which Tallman, already a professional stuntwoman, did the stunts. Horror icon Romero would employ Tallman one more time, this time as Barbara in the 1990 remake of his classic 1968 zombie classic Night of the Living Dead.
Afterward, Tallman would appear in the pilot of Babylon 5 as Lyta Alexander, would have a recurring role as Alexander in seasons two and three, and would permanently join the cast for seasons four and five. But fandom’s favorite redhead has stayed busy since the end of B5. In addition to keeping busy as a stuntwoman, Tallman has had guest spots on the now-defunct CBS drama Without a Trace, and the ABC hit, Castle. In 2011, she published her autobiography titled Pleasure Thresholds- Patricia Tallman’s Babylon 5 Memoir, and in 2012 she became CEO and executive producer of Studio JMS with J. Michael Stracynski. With Studio JMS, she is developing a series for Netflix titled Sense8, and is redeveloping the Joe’s Comics imprint, formerly at Top Cow Comics, for Image Comics. And most recently, in May, starred in the male role of Lespere in Ray Bradbury’s Kaleidoscope at Sci-Fest L.A.: the 1st Annual Los Angeles Science Fiction One-Act Play Festival.
Author’s Aside: I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Tallman at Dragon Con in Atlanta, Georgia a few years ago, and she was the kindest, sweetest lady I have ever met. She is gracious and truly appreciates her fans– MB
SCIFI.radio would like to wish the beautiful and talented Patricia Tallman a very happy birthday and all the best with many more birthdays to come.
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Michael Brown is a comics nerd and a father who lives in small town Tennessee. When he's not making his players mad in his "Shadowrun" RPG or experimenting with new and inventive uses of duct tape on his children, you can find him checking out the latest comics and movies for SCIFI.radio!
