Bebe Crane

Bebe Louise Crane is a fictional character on Center Stage. She is portrayed by Michelle Carson.

Creation
Kathy Parish wrote the character with Michelle Carson in mind. Carson has said that she based Bebe on Norma Desmond from Sunset Blvd and her characteristic voice on Katharine Hepburn.

Biography
Little is known about Bebe's past. She was born in upstage New York and attended a liberal arts college. After graduating, she initially worked as an actress and was apparently quite successful. She and some fellow actors eventually created their own theatre company, but it was shut down after staging a musical version of Angels In America (which featured songs titled "Life's A Bitch When You've Got AIDS" and "KS Waltz").

Bebe relocated to Los Angeles and started working as an agent, earning a reputation as a fierce, if highly unethical, representative for up-and-coming actors.

Leona Crane
Leona is Bebe's mother. Bebe and Leona argue almost constantly, and Leona frequently expresses her disapproval about Bebe's career choice.

Roger Crane
Roger is Bebe's younger brother. He has never been seen, but Bebe describes him as a "grade-A, muscle-headed d-bag." He attended Princeton University on a golf scholarship and was a member of a fraternity. He is a successful businessman, and is part owner of Qweefs restaurant. Bebe once told Bobby that her dream is to make more money that her brother and buy out his investments so as to "wipe the smile off that smug bastard's face."

Personality
Bebe is portrayed as incredibly cynical, unscrupulus, and immoral. She has stolen, lied, and blackmailed for her own advantage. She is also very manipulative and conniving.

In season two, Alex was rejected for a role. The actor who did get the role eventually became violently ill and it was implied that Bebe had something to do with it, even though she flatly denied it. In Season Four, it was revealed that Bebe really didn't have anything to do with it, causing Alex to believe that maybe she wasn't as evil as he thought. However, she admitted that she did try to poison him, but no pharmacist in town would sell her what she needed because "they know mama's game."

Bebe is very misanthropic, expressing hatred for most all people. She has stated on numerous occasions that she finds public displays of affection nauseating. Indeed, she became physically ill and had to step outside upon seeing Michael and Jeff kiss.

She has a greatly inflated ego, and once told Alex that she considers herself superior to 97% of society "in every conceivable way."

In one episode, Bebe and Jack hire a PR consultant to improve their image, and discover that Bebe and Jack are two of only four people in the world to have a negative Q score, the other two being Casey Anthony and Tom Cruise.

A recurring joke on the series is the suggestion that Bebe is not human. When Bebe had to get a checkup for insurance purposes, the nurse was unable to locate a heartbeat. On another occasion, Bebe told Jack that she has no biological components of any kind.

Bebe does not take the effort to learn peoples' names, instead referring to them by their negative attributes ("Frat Douche", "Closet Homosexual", "Unibrow").

Beliefs
Bebe appears to be very liberal politically, but holds complex political views that are shaped by her misanthropy. She opposes same-sex marriage only because she opposes any form of marriage on principle. She is strongly opposed to organized religion, once remarking "isn't that redundant?" upon seeing a bookstore section labeled Christian Fiction. She also openly mocks Jack's Catholicism.

Bebe has remarked that she believes that marriage was invented by Satan and is in fact one of the circles of hell (although she was most likely speaking figuratively as she does not believe in Satan or hell).

She believes that all people are inherently selfish, manipulative, and untrustworthy. She does not respect anyone until they earn it, and there are only seven people in her life who have done this (Jack and Alex being two).

Jack Reese
Jack is Bebe's business partner and close friend. Alex once described Bebe and Jack as "hating each other so much that their hate cancels itself out and morphs into love". Though Bebe once mentioned that she and Jack "agree on virtually nothing" and the two frequently exchange insults, it is clear they ultimately respect each other.

Alex Porter
Bebe once referred to Alex as "the son I never wanted".

Reception
Michelle Carson has been nominated for an Emmy three times for her portrayal of Bebe Crane.

Michelle Carson remarked that the key to playing Bebe is to maintain a perpetual look of disinterest and contempt.

Trivia
Got a LifeAlert just so she could prank the people who respond to a distress signal

Quotes
"I like to give the people I hate a lollipop for Christmas. It's my way of telling them to suck it"

"Well, aren't you an adorable little sterotype?"

"Go stand over there and try not to annoy me."

"I don't have friends. I have people I hate less than others."

(After seeing Kyle naked) "Oh my God! You should have to register that thing as a concealed weapon!"

"Please, darling, I am everything you wish you could have been and then some."

"Well, I do enjoy watching people fail."