Since her graduation in 1968, Betty Buckley has been a trailblazer, making TCU proud as a prestigious alumnus with a successful theater and music career.

Buckley came to TCU on a journalism scholarship, but she said her heart was always for the theatre. Her father would not allow her to study theatre as a major, but the theatre department director created a theatre minor program that she participated in.

“They wanted me to be editor of the Daily Skiff, but I was too busy,” Buckley said.

While at TCU, she stayed busy and was very active on campus. She was a cheerleader her sophomore through senior year, a Zeta Tau Alpha member, and was crowned Miss Fort Worth her junior year.

“Of all my accomplishments at TCU, being the TCU head cheerleader my junior year was one of the greatest.”

Buckley graduated at the height of the Vietnam War, and joined the Miss America group on a USO tour to Japan to visit wounded soldiers.

“I got to experience a lot of things, and learned about multitasking,” Buckley said.

Soon after graduating, Buckley’s acting and musical career took off. She has starred in countless plays including the year and a half she spent performing in the Broadway musical “Cats”, where she won a Tony Award for her role. She also notes one of her most unique experiences was acting in the film Tender Mercies where the song she sang won a Golden Globe. She has received two Grammy nominations and two Emmy nominations.

Buckley is currently performing concert work across the country and occasionally makes trips back to Fort Worth. When in town she teaches song interpretation at the Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth. She has acted in a few television roles this year as a guest star. Her most recent was in a show called “Ride Along,” an action series that will debut on Fox this year. If that wasn’t enough to keep her busy, she has been working with industry executives on another album coming out next year.

“I’m really excited about it, it’s in the process and it’s very beautiful.”