Actress Barbara Barrie, 95, dies by medically assisted death after terminal cancer diagnosis
Oscar- and Tony-nominated actress Barbara Barrie died at her Manhattan home following a medically assisted death after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
Actress Barbara Barrie, 95, passed away on Wednesday at her Manhattan residence, according to a report by the New York Times. Her daughter, Jane Harnick, confirmed that her mother’s death was medically assisted following a terminal cancer diagnosis.
Barrie, who was born Barbara Berman in Chicago in 1931 and later moved to Texas, began her career on Broadway in the mid-1950s before achieving success on television and film. She earned an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the 1979 drama Breaking Away and a Tony nomination for the original production of Stephen Sondheim’s Company in 1971.
Among her notable screen roles were Elizabeth Miller on the sitcom Barney Miller, Goldie Hawn’s mother in Private Benjamin, and Brooke Shields’ grandmother on Suddenly Susan. In later years she appeared in series such as Pushing Daisies, Nurse Jackie and Enlightened, and received Emmy nominations for guest appearances on Law & Order and its spin-off.
"We had no idea this movie was going to become what it became," Barrie told Entertainment Weekly in 2012, referring to Breaking Away.
Barrie had previously disclosed in 2014 that she was living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disease. She is survived by her two children; her husband, artistic director Jay Harnick, died in 2007.