Barbara Rush

Barbara Rush (January 4, 1927 – March 31, 2024) was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. In 1954, she won the Golden Globe Award for most promising female newcomer for her role in the 1953 American science-fiction film It Came from Outer Space.^[1] Later in her career, Rush became a regular performer in the television series Peyton Place, and appeared in TV movies, miniseries, and a variety of other programs, including the soap opera All My Children and the family drama 7th Heaven, as well as starring in films such as The Young Philadelphians, The Young Lions, Robin and the 7 Hoods, and Hombre.

Barbara Rush
Rush as part of the Peyton Place cast, 1968–1969
Born	(1927-01-04)January 4, 1927 Denver, Colorado, U.S.
Died	March 31, 2024(2024-03-31) (aged 97) Westlake Village, California, U.S.
Education	University of California, Santa Barbara (1948)
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–2007, 2017
Spouses	Jeffrey Hunter ​ ​ (m. 1950; div. 1955)​ Warren Cowan ​ ​ (m. 1959; div. 1969)​ Jim Gruzalski ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 1973)​
Children	2, including Claudia Cowan
Relatives	Carolyn Hennesy (niece)
Awards	1954 Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer – Female 1970 Sarah Siddons Award

Early life and education

Rush was born in Denver on January 4, 1927.^[2][3] Her parents were Roy and Marguerite Rush. Her father was a lawyer for a Midwest mining company.^[4] She grew up in Santa Barbara, California.^[5] Rush attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and graduated in 1948,^[6] starting her career in the university's theatre program.^[7] After graduating from UCSB, she moved to Los Angeles. She lived at the Hollywood Studio Club, a hostel for young women working in the film industry. She also took acting classes at the accredited Pasadena Playhouse School for Performing Arts, also known as the Pasadena Playhouse College of Theatre Arts.^{[citation needed]} Just two years after graduating from UCSB, Rush was contracted to do her first feature-length film, The Goldbergs, in 1950.

Career

Rush's career began on the stage in the 1940s and quickly expanded to film and TV. She performed on stage at the Lobero Theatre^[8] and the Pasadena Playhouse^[9] before signing with Paramount Pictures.^[7] She made her screen debut in the 1950 movie, The Goldbergs. In 1951, she co-starred in the classic George Pal sci-fi film When Worlds Collide. In 1952, she starred in Flaming Feather with Sterling Hayden and Victor Jory. In 1953, she starred in the sci-fi thriller It Came From Outer Space, for which she won the 1954 Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer – Female" for her performance.^[1]

In the acclaimed 1956 drama, Bigger Than Life, Rush played the role of Lou Avery, the wife of James Mason's character, Ed Avery, a teacher who has a chronic, inflammatory disease that is incurable. He uses cortisone for symptom relief but then begins to abuse the medication, putting his family in peril. In the 1958 film The Young Lions, she played the love interest of reluctant soldier Dean Martin, and the following year she was cast in the 1959 movie The Young Philadelphians as the on-again,off-again, hot-cold girlfriend of ambitious lawyer Paul Newman.

Rush's characters were often those of willful women of means or as polished, high-society doyenne. She was occasionally cast as a villainess or femme fatale, such as Marian Stevens in the Rat Pack's 1964 gangster musical Robin and the 7 Hoods. Marian either seduces or attempts to seduce five different men to control the Chicago mobs from behind the scenes. In the 1967 Western drama Hombre, working with Paul Newman again, she played Audra Favor, the rich, younger, and condescending wife of a thief – and ends up being taken hostage and tied to a stake.

Rush began working in television in the 1960s. In 1964, she was billed as "Special Guest Star" for the episode, "The Form of Things Unknown", in the popular 1960s sci-fi series on ABC, The Outer Limits (1963–1965). She portrayed the devious Nora Clavicle in the popular TV series Batman (1966–1968). Rush soon became a regular in TV movies, miniseries, and dramas such as Peyton Place and the daytime soap opera All My Children.

(L-R): Jimmy McHugh, Anna Maria Alberghetti, Barbara Rush and Louella Parsons from Modern Screen, 1960

Screenshot of Barbara Rush from the trailer for Bigger Than Life (1956)

Rush began her career on stage, which remained a part of her professional life until she retired. In 1970, she earned the Sarah Siddons Award (Chicago Actress Of The Year) for dramatic achievement in Chicago theatre for her leading role in Forty Carats.^[10]

In 1976, Rush played the role of Ann Sommers/Chris Stewart, the mother of female sci-fi action character Jaime Sommers in The Bionic Woman.

After appearing in the 1980 disco-themed film, Can't Stop the Music, Rush returned to television. She was cast as Eudora Weldon in the early 1980s soap opera, Flamingo Road. In 1983 and 1984 she played widow Elizabeth Knight in the two-part episode "Goliath” in the Knight Rider series. (Part 1 aired 10/2/1983; Part 2 aired 2/19/1984.)

In 1984 Rush returned to the theatre and brought her one-woman play, A Woman of Independent Means, to Broadway in New York City. In 1989 she toured with the national company of Steel Magnolias as the character M'Lynn.

During the 1990s and up to 2007 Rush continued to make guest appearances on television. In 1998, she was featured in the episode, "Balance of Nature", in the series reboot of The Outer Limits on Showtime (1995–2002). Rush was one of five actors who appeared in both the original series and the reboot, and the only actress to do so. In 2007, Rush played the recurring role of Grandma Ruth Camden in the long-running and very popular series 7th Heaven (1996–2007). After the series ended in 2007, it appears that she "retired" from TV and films and focused her energy on her first love – the stage. She occasionally appeared on stage at the Theatre Guild in Orange County, CA in the mid-2000s. She made her final film appearance in 2017 in a "horror short" titled Bleeding Hearts: The Arteries of Glenda Bryant. She starred alongside her niece, actress Carolyn Hennesy.

Personal life and death

Rush married actor Jeffrey Hunter in 1950; they divorced in 1955. She married publicist Warren Cowan in 1959 but divorced in 1969. Rush married sculptor Jim Gruzalski in 1970 after they met at an Engelbert Humperdinck concert.^[4] They divorced in 1973.^{[citation needed]}

Rush had two children including daughter Claudia Cowan.^[11] The latter is a journalist with Fox News. Rush was also the aunt of actress Carolyn Hennesy.^{[citation needed]}

Since 1997 Rush had lived in the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills, California, and was a neighbor of David Geffen.^[12] Her final residence was a care home in Westlake Village, California. Rush died there on March 31, 2024, at the age of 97, due to complications from dementia.^[13][14]

Acting credits

Filmography

• The Goldbergs (1950) as Debby Sherman
• Quebec (1951) as Madelon
• The First Legion (1951) as Terry Gilmartin
• When Worlds Collide (1951) as Joyce Hendron
• Flaming Feather (1952) as Nora Logan
• Prince of Pirates (1953) as Countess Nita Orde
• It Came from Outer Space (1953) as Ellen Fields
• Taza, Son of Cochise (1954) as Oona
• Magnificent Obsession (1954) as Joyce Phillips
• The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) as Meg
• Captain Lightfoot (1955) as Aga Doherty
• Kiss of Fire (1955) as Princess Lucia
• World in My Corner (1956) as Dorothy Mallinson
• Bigger Than Life (1956) as Lou Avery
• Flight to Hong Kong (1956) as Pamela Vincent
• Oh Men! Oh Women! (1957) as Myra Hagerman
• No Down Payment (1957) as Betty Kreitzer
• The Young Lions (1958) as Margaret Freemantle
• Harry Black and the Tiger (1958) as Christian Tanner
• The Young Philadelphians (1959) as Joan Dickinson
• The Bramble Bush (1960) as Margaret 'Mar' McFie
• Strangers When We Meet (1960) as Eve Coe
• Deadline: San Francisco (1962 TV movie)
• Come Blow Your Horn (1963) as Connie
• The Unknown (1964 TV movie) as Leonora Edmond
• Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964) as Marian
• The Jet Set (1966 TV movie)
• Hombre (1967) as Audra Favor
• Strategy of Terror (1969) as Karen Lownes
• Suddenly Single (1971 TV movie) as Evelyn Baxter
• Cutter (1972 TV movie) as Linda
• The Eyes of Charles Sand (1972 TV movie) as Katharine Winslow
• The Man (1972) as Kay Eaton
• Moon of the Wolf (1972 TV movie) as Louise Rodanthe
• Crime Club (1973 TV movie) as Denise London
• Peege (1973 short) as Mom
• Superdad (1973) as Sue McCready
• Fools, Females and Fun (1974 TV movie) as Karen Markham
• The Last Day (1975 TV movie) as Betty Spence
• Death Car on the Freeway (1979 TV movie) as Rosemary
• Can't Stop the Music (1980) as Norma White
• Summer Lovers (1982) as Jean Featherstone
• The Night the Bridge Fell Down (1983 TV movie) as Elaine Howard
• At Your Service (1984 TV movie) as Barbara Stonehill
• Web of Deceit (1990 TV movie) as Judith
• Widow's Kiss (1996 TV movie) as Edith Fitzpatrick
• My Mother's Hairdo (2006 short) as Fate
• Bleeding Hearts: The Arteries of Glenda Bryant (Short 2017) as Barbara Irons. Co-starred with niece Carolyn Hennesy.

Theatre

• The Golden Ball (1937) stage debut
• Personal Appearance (1948) Lobero Theatre
• The Little Foxes UC Santa Barbara, 1948 & 1975
• Antony and Cleopatra (1950) Pasadena Playhouse
• Summer Stock (1951) with Anthony Perkins
• The Madwoman of Chaillot (1951) with Jeffrey Hunter
• The Voice of the Turtle (1953), with Jeffrey Hunter
• Always April (1969)
• Forty Carats (1969-1971,1972) national tour
• The Fourposter (1971)
• Unsinkable Molly Brown (1972)
• Butterflies Are Free (1972, 1981)
• Private Lives (1973) national tour with Louis Jourdan
• Father's Day (1974) national tour with Carole Cook
• Finishing Touches (1974 & 1978)
• Hay Fever (1975 & 1980)
• Kennedy's Children (1975 & 1976)
• Endangered Species (1976)
• Same Time, Next Year (1976-1978) national tour
• The Night of the Iguana (1978)
• Twigs (1980)
• The Supporting Cast (1982) national tour with Carole Cook and Sandy Dennis
• Blithe Spirit (1982-1983)
• Disabled Genius (1983)
• Woman of Independent Means (1983-1988) Broadway and national tour
• Steel Magnolias (1988-1989) national tour with Carole Cook, June Lockhart, and Marion Ross
• Love Letters (1990-1993)
• The Vagina Monologues (1995-1997)
• A Delicate Balance (1993)
• The Golden Age (1997)
• Make Me A Place at Forest Lawn (2002-2007)

Television

• Lux Video Theatre (1954-1956, 4 episodes) as Cathy / Ruth / Charlotte / Joyce Gavin
• Playhouse 90 (1957-1960, 2 episodes) as Liz / Clara
• The Eleventh Hour (1962, 1 episode) as Linda Kincaid
• Saints and Sinners (1962-1963, 4 episodes) as Lizzie Hogan
• The Outer Limits (1964, 1 episode: "The Forms of Things Unknown") as Leonora Edmond
• Dr. Kildare (1965, 2 episodes) as Madge Bannion
• The Fugitive (1965, 2 episodes) as Marie Lindsey Gerard
• Custer (1967, 1 episode) as Brigid O'Rourke
• Batman (1968, 2 episodes) as Nora Clavicle
• Peyton Place (1968-1969, 75 episodes) as Marsha Russell
• Mannix (1968–1975, 2 episodes) as Rebekah Bigelow / Celia Bell
• Marcus Welby, M.D. (1969-1972, 2 episodes) as Dorothy Carpenter / Nadine Cabot
• Medical Center (1969-1974, 4 episodes) as Claire / Pauline / Judy / Nora Caldwell
• Love, American Style (1970, 1 episode) as Carol (segment "Love and the Motel")
• The Mod Squad (1971, 1 episode) as Mrs. Hamilton
• Ironside (1971-1972, 2 episodes) as Lorraine Simms / Mme. Jabez
• Night Gallery (1971, 1 episode) as Agatha Howard (segment "Cool Air")
• Maude (1972, 1 episode) as Phyllis 'Bunny' Nash
• The Streets of San Francisco (1973, 1 episode) as Anna Slovatzka Marshall
• The New Dick Van Dyke Show (1973-1974, 3 episodes) as Margot Brighton
• Cannon (1975, episode "Lady on the Run") as Linda Merrick
• The Bionic Woman (1976, 1 episode) as Ann Sommers / Chris Stuart
• The Eddie Capra Mysteries (1978, 1 episode)
• Fantasy Island (1978-1984, 3 episodes) as Mildred Koster / Kathy Moreau / Professor Smith-Myles
• The Love Boat (1979, 2 episodes) as Eleanor Gardner
• The Seekers (1979 miniseries) as Peggy Kent
• Flamingo Road (1980-1982, 38 episodes) as Eudora Weldon
• Knight Rider (1983, Part 1 of "Goliath";1984, Part 2 of "Goliath") as Elizabeth Knight
• Magnum, P.I. (1984-1987, 2 episodes) as Phoebe Sullivan / Ann Carrington
• Murder, She Wrote (1987, 1 episode) as Eva Taylor
• Hearts Are Wild (1992, 1 episode) as Caroline Thorpe
• All My Children (1992-1994, 35 episodes recurring) as Nola Orsini
• Burke's Law (1995, 1 episode) as Judge Marian Darrow
• The Outer Limits (1998, 1 episode) as Barbara Matheson
• 7th Heaven (1997-2007, 10 episodes) as Ruth Camden

References

1. Warren 1982, pp. 151–63.
2. Monush, Barry (2003). The Encyclopedia of Hollywood Film Actors: From the Silent Era to 1965. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 654. ISBN 978-1557835512.
3. "UPI Almanac for Friday, Jan. 4, 2019". United Press International. January 4, 2019. Archived from the original on January 5, 2019. Retrieved September 4, 2019. actor Barbara Rush in 1927 (age 93)
4. "Barbara Rush Maintains Image". The Beaver County Times. January 16, 1971. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
5. Turner, Diane (September 1, 1967). "Actress Spurns Roles That Disrupt Home Life". Montreal Gazette. p. 8. Retrieved October 13, 2014.
6. "UCSB Notable Alumni". UC Santa Barbara Alumni Association. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
7. Ruskin, Zack (September 20, 2019). "The Starry Hollywood Career of Barbara Rush". Marin Magazine. Retrieved February 4, 2020.
8. "Santa Barbara News-Press 29 May 1948, page 5". Newspapers.com. Retrieved July 3, 2023.
9. Kaufman, Dave (1968). TV 69: Who's Who, What's What in the New TV Season. New York: Signet. p. 137.
10. "Barbara Rush Named Chicago Actress Of Year". Park City Daily News. July 15, 1970. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
11. Hyman, Jackie (March 6, 1982). "Barbara Rush Insists On Glamorous Image". The Schenectady Gazette. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
12. Stack, Peter (May 25, 1997). "Barbara Rush Still Striking Gold". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
13. Hume, Ashley; Wright, Tracy (March 31, 2024). "Barbara Rush, Golden Globe-winning star of 'It Came from Outer Space' and 'Peyton Place,' dead at 97". Fox News. Retrieved April 1, 2024.
14. Gates, Anita (April 1, 2024). "Barbara Rush, Award-Winning TV and Film Actress, Dies at 97". The New York Times. Retrieved April 1, 2024.

External links

• Barbara Rush at the American Film Institute Catalog
• Barbara Rush at IMDb 
• Barbara Rush at the Internet Broadway Database
• Barbara Rush at the TCM Movie Database

Awards
Preceded by Helen Hayes	Sarah Siddons Award - Sarah Siddons Society, Chicago 1970	Succeeded by Irene Dailey