Oscar-nominated actress Barbara Barrie dies at 95 after longtime battle with rectal cancer
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK: Oscar-nominated actress Barbara Barrie has died. The veteran star was 95 when she breathed her last on Wednesday, October 28.
Barrie’s death was confirmed by her daughter Jane Harnick, PEOPLE reported, citing The New York Times. She also shared that her mother’s death was medically assisted following a rectal cancer diagnosis
Barbara Barrie received a Tony nomination for her work in Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Company’
The late actress’ decades-long career included stage performances, as well as film and television roles. On Broadway, she was nominated for a Tony Award for best featured actress in the original production of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Company.’
She even received an Oscar nomination for 1979’s ‘Breaking Away, ’ in which she was seen as a supportive mother.
Barbara Barrie shifted to New York with her then boyfriend
Born in 1931 as Barbara Berman, Barrie began taking interest in acting while in college. At the time, she was doing a major in journalism at Del Mar College, but eventually shifted to the University of Texas, where she was awarded several times for drama.
Later, she moved to New York. Speaking with the Akron Beacon Journal in 1963, she had shared, “To tell you the truth, the only reason I went was because I had a boyfriend who was living there. We were supposed to get married, but couldn’t right away. Since I had gone to all the trouble of moving to New York, I figured I might as well try to act.”
The actress began her career on stage before moving to TV and movies. Her remarkable TV roles included ‘The Defenders,’ ‘Route 66,’ ‘Naked City,’ ‘Dr. Kildare,’ ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ‘The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,’ and ‘The Fugitive.’
Barbara Barrie earned her breakthrough with ‘One Potato, Two Potato’
Her first big opportunity in films came in 1964 when she starred in 1964’s ‘One Potato, Two Potato,’ a movie about an interracial relationship for which Barrie was honored with the best actress award at the Cannes Film Festival.
“To me the story of the picture is primarily the dilemma of a woman. The racial part seemed coincidental. Since we actresses are all narcissistic people, I read it for the part first. Then the situation seemed eminently playable,” the late author had told The New York Times in 1964.
At the time, she also added, “When we began to dig in and work on One Potato, I really saw what films are all about. I thought—hoy, this is exciting! This is what I want. It is, too.”
Barbara Barrie had a decades-long battle with cancer
On the personal front, Barrie battled rectal cancer for decades after being diagnosed with it in 1994. She revealed to the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1997 that the disease ran in the family.
“My cousins called me and said, ‘Didn’t you know this is a disease that’s been running in our family for three generations?’ No, I didn’t know this was in our family because in those days, you didn’t say rectum, or cancer,” she explained.
But Barrie decided to end the stigma by writing two books, 1997’s ‘Second Act’ and 1999’s ‘Don’t Die of Embarrassment’. “I think if I can get the word out on this thing, that will be my legacy,” she had reportedly added at the time.
Barrie’s “medically assisted death” came in the wake of her terminal cancer battle, years after she was also diagnosed with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a degenerative lung disease that makes even breathing difficult.
