Barbara Barrie

Barbara Barrie, born Barbara Ann Berman on May 23, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American actress and author whose career has spanned stage, film, and television for more than six decades.

Barrie's early stage work included a season as a resident actress with a theatre company in Corning, New York, where she played the lead in The Moon is Blue in 1953, followed by work at the Rochester Arena Theatre. She made her Broadway debut in 1955 in The Wooden Dish, appearing alongside Louis Calhern. In 1958 and 1959, she was a repertory member of the American Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford, taking on numerous Shakespearean roles. Her Off-Broadway work during that period included a 1958 production of The Crucible, in which she played Elizabeth Proctor, and a production of Mädchen in Uniform, in which she played Ilse, directed by Walt Witcover. Also in 1959, she appeared on Broadway in George Farquhar's The Beaux' Stratagem as Cherry. In 1961, she toured Europe playing Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker.

Barrie's Broadway career continued through the 1960s and into the 1970s with appearances in The Selling of the President and The Prisoner of Second Avenue. In 1969, she played Viola in a production of Twelfth Night directed by Joseph Papp at the Delacorte Theater. Her most celebrated stage achievement came in 1970, when she originated the role of Sarah in Stephen Sondheim's Company, sharing the stage with Elaine Stritch and Susan Browning. The production won the Tony Award for Best Musical, and Barrie received a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1971. In 1974, her Off-Broadway performance as Sparky in Jay Broad's The Killdeer earned her both an Obie Award for Best Actress and a Drama Desk Award for Most Outstanding Performance. She returned to Broadway in 1976 in Neil Simon's California Suite and also appeared in the comedy Happily Ever After. In 1979, she played the female lead in the United States premiere of Botho Strauß's Big and Little at the Phoenix Theatre in Manhattan's East Village.

In 1995, Barrie performed in After-Play, written by Anne Meara, at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2004, she was announced to play Yente in David Leveaux's Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof and appeared during previews, but departed over creative differences and was replaced by Nancy Opel. She performed in I Remember Mama Off-Broadway in 2014, receiving an Outer Critics Circle nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Play. Her final Broadway credit came in 2017, when she appeared in Joshua Harmon's Significant Other at the Booth Theatre, having previously performed in the play's Off-Broadway premiere at the Roundabout Theatre Company in 2015.

Barrie made her film debut, uncredited, in Giant in 1956. Her first credited film role was as Edna in The Caretakers in 1963. The following year, she took on her first leading film role in One Potato, Two Potato, portraying Julie Cullen Richards, a divorced woman whose remarriage to an African-American man prompts her ex-husband to seek custody of their child on racial grounds. The film, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Screenplay, was considered controversial for its direct engagement with racial tensions of the era, and Barrie's performance earned her the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1979, she played Evelyn Stohler, the mother of a young man who dreams of becoming an Italian bicycle racer, in Breaking Away, a film nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Her performance brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. The following year, she played the mother of Goldie Hawn's title character in Private Benjamin. In the 1999 film Judy Berlin, she portrayed Sue Berlin, the mother of Edie Falco's character, a role for which she received an Independent Spirit Award nomination.

Barrie made her television debut in 1955 on Kraft Television Theatre. In 1956, she appeared in Horton Foote's teleplay Flight. During the 1960s, she guest-starred on numerous prominent series, including Naked City, The Defenders, Ben Casey, Route 66, The Twilight Zone, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, in which she played lead roles in two separate episodes. She also appeared in a 1965 episode of The Fugitive. From 1975 to 1978, she was credited in 37 episodes of the detective sitcom Barney Miller, playing Elizabeth, the wife of Hal Linden's title character. In 1979, she portrayed Mamie Eisenhower in the television miniseries Backstairs at the White House. When a television series based on Breaking Away debuted on ABC in 1980, Barrie reprised her role as Evelyn Stoller and received an Emmy Award nomination for her performance. She also reprised her role as Harriet Benjamin in the 1981 television series Private Benjamin. That same year, she played Ethel Banks in a televised production of Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park. In 1992, she received an Emmy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama for her guest appearance on Law & Order. In 1994, she played Pauline Robillard in the Emmy-winning miniseries Scarlett. She voiced Alcmene in the 1997 Disney animated film Hercules and was credited in 92 episodes of Suddenly Susan as the grandmother of Brooke Shields's character. A 2003 guest appearance on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit brought her an Emmy nomination for Best Guest Actress in a Drama.