Oscar-nominated actress Barbara Barrie has died after receiving a terminal cancer diagnosis.
She was 95 years old.
Her daughter, Jane Harnick, said her mother died at her Manhattan home and that her death was medically assisted, The New York Times reported.
Barrie said she had been diagnosed in 2014 with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. She also had been diagnosed with rectal cancer in 1994, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The actress’s representatives told the Los Angeles Times that she advocated for New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, which took effect in August.
Barrie was born Barbara Berman in Chicago in 1931, but her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. She went to Del Mar College, majoring in journalism, but became interested in acting, People magazine reported. She eventually transferred to the University of Texas, where she earned drama awards, before moving to New York after graduation.
She made her Broadway debut in “The Wooden Dish” in 1955 and went on to appear in several productions in New York.
Barrie also appeared on television and the big screen, with her first movie role in “Giant.” She also appeared in shows such as “Route 66,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “The Twilight Zone.”
Her first big movie role was “One Potato, Two Potato,” for which she won the Best Actress award at the Cannes Film Festival. She was a divorcée who is in an interracial relationship with Bernie Hamilton.
“To me the story of the picture is primarily the dilemma of a woman. The racial part seemed coincidental,” she told The New York Times in 1964. “Since we actresses are all narcissistic people, I read it for the part first. Then the situation seemed eminently playable.”
“When we began to dig in and work on ‘One Potato,’ I really saw what films are all about,” she said. “I thought—hoy, this is exciting! This is what I want. It is, too.”
Barrie was part of the original production of Steven Sondheim’s “Company,” and received a Tony nomination for her role.
She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in “Breaking Away,” where she played a mother whose four sons graduate from high school and must decide their next steps, People said.
One of her best-known roles was as Elizabeth, Barney Miller’s wife on the show of the same name. She appeared in 11 episodes of the show. She also appeared on “Suddenly Susan,” “Law & Order,” and “Law & Order: SVU.” On the big screen, she was in “Private Benjamin” and lent her voice to the Disney film “Hercules.”
She leaves behind her two children, Jane and Aaron, the Los Angeles Times reported.
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