Barbara Tarbuck

Barbara Tarbuck (January 15, 1942 – December 26, 2016) was an American actress who worked in film, television, and stage, with a Broadway career spanning from 1972 to 1988. Born in Detroit, Michigan, she became widely recognized for her recurring role as Lady Jane Jacks on the television series General Hospital.

Tarbuck's early performance experience began in Detroit, where between the ages of nine and thirteen she appeared regularly on Storyland, a children's program broadcast on AM radio station WWJ. Through that work she was exposed to veteran actors performing on radio programs including The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, and The Green Hornet, which shaped her foundational acting skills. She attended Cooley High School before enrolling at Wayne State University, where she received the Eva Woodbridge Victor Scholarship and completed her bachelor's degree in 1963. During her undergraduate years she took part in a production of Where's Charley that toured Europe. She subsequently earned a master's degree in Theatre from the University of Michigan, then joined Indiana University Bloomington as the lead actress for the inaugural season of their theatre touring company. While pursuing doctoral studies and teaching beginning acting at Indiana University, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to attend the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.

Following her studies, Tarbuck relocated to New York City to pursue a professional career across stage, film, and television. Her Broadway work included the play Broadway Boy, in which she starred, as well as appearances in Happiness, The Crucible, and Brighton Beach Memoirs. In her later career she taught acting at the University of California, Los Angeles, alongside her continued work as a performer.

Tarbuck married James Denis Connolly in 1980; he died in 2005. The couple had one child, Jennifer Lane Connolly, a documentary producer. Tarbuck developed Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease, a neurodegenerative condition, and died from complications at her Los Angeles home on December 26, 2016.