Linda Bove is a Deaf American actress, her most notable role being a fictionalized version of herself in the PBS children's series Sesame Street from 1971 to 2002.
23 Facts About Linda Bove
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Linda Bove was born in Garfield, New Jersey, a Deaf child born to two Deaf parents.
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Linda Bove attended Gallaudet College, now Gallaudet University, studying library science.
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Linda Bove participated in several theatrical productions at Gallaudet including The Threepenny Opera and poetic characterizations of the Spoon River Anthology.
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Linda Bove is an active member of the Deaf arts community.
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Linda Bove appeared in an episode of Happy Days as Allison, Arthur Fonzarelli's deaf love interest.
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Linda Bove performed on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow, with the latter role making her one of the first deaf actors to become a regular on a soap opera series.
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Linda Bove performed as a member of the National Theatre of the Deaf, founded in 1967.
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Many cast members, crew, and technicians of the shows on which Linda Bove has performed have learned sign language from her.
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When Linda Bove debuted on Sesame Street with NTD in April 1971 as the Deaf character of her namesake, she was the first deaf performer on the show.
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In 2019, Linda Bove returned to the franchise in the television special Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration, 17 years after her last appearance.
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Linda Bove has introduced millions of children to sign language and issues surrounding the Deaf community, increasing public awareness of Deaf culture and to reassure others who are Deaf to be proud of who they are.
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Linda Bove communicated only in American Sign Language and interacted with other members of the Sesame Street community as a citizen and resident of the community.
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The person who most often interpreted for her was Bob and eventually, he and Linda Bove were portrayed in a romantic relationship.
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Linda Bove made her living as a librarian, and had an assistant, Micki Barnett, who would read stories to the children, while Linda Bove signed them.
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Manzano and Linda Bove worked in many other sketches together, both with and without dialogue, on-camera, or voiceover.
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Linda Bove performs plays in sign language and adjusts dialog accordingly.
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Linda Bove appeared in several roles in the national tour of the Deaf West production of Big River in 2005.
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Linda Bove was involved in a number of other projects in the Deaf community, several related to children.
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Linda Bove had a brief role in The Land Before Time IV: when the dinosaur characters would speak, Bove would appear in a picture-in-picture box in the lower corner of the screen signing the dialog.
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Linda Bove has made many videos in American Sign Language such as Sign Me a Story and has starred in several productions of the play Children of a Lesser God.
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In 2004, Linda Bove obtained credentials as a Certified Deaf Interpreter from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
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In 1970, Linda Bove married Ed Waterstreet, whom she met when they both worked at the National Theatre of the Deaf.