Barbara Barrie, Oscar-nominated star of 'Breaking Away' and 'Barney Miller,' dies at 95

Barbara Barrie, the actress whose seven-decade career ran from live TV anthologies to Broadway’s original “Company” and an Oscar-nominated turn in “Breaking Away,” died Wednesday, Oct. 28, at her home in Manhattan. She was 95.

Her daughter, Jane Harnick, told The New York Times that her mother’s death was medically assisted following a terminal cancer diagnosis, according to Deadline, Variety and People. Barrie’s representatives also confirmed the death to the Los Angeles Times. They said she had been a supporter of New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, a state law that took effect on Aug. 5.

Who was Barbara Barrie?

Barrie was one of those performers audiences knew instantly even if they couldn’t always place the name. The Los Angeles Times counted more than 120 screen credits. She was nominated for an Oscar, Emmys and a Tony, and she won the best actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1964 for “One Potato, Two Potato,” Variety and Entertainment Weekly reported.

Her film debut came with an uncredited part in the 1956 classic “Giant,” according to Deadline. Later film work included playing the mother of Goldie Hawn’s character in “Private Benjamin” (1980), and she also had a voice role in Disney’s animated “Hercules.”

Her role in ‘Breaking Away’

Barrie’s best-remembered movie performance came in 1979’s “Breaking Away,” the coming-of-age story about four friends in a small Indiana college town after high school. She played Evelyn Stohler, the mother of Dennis Christopher’s character, a young man obsessed with competitive bike racing.

The film earned five Oscar nominations, and Barrie was nominated for best supporting actress, losing to Meryl Streep for “Kramer vs. Kramer,” Deadline noted. People reported her part wasn’t originally as big as it ended up on screen. She later played the same role in a short-lived TV version of “Breaking Away,” which brought her first Emmy nomination.

Barbara Barrie on ‘Barney Miller’

Many TV viewers remember Barrie as Elizabeth “Liz” Miller, the wife of Hal Linden’s police captain on ABC’s “Barney Miller.” People reported she appeared in 11 episodes. Deadline noted that the character faded after the first season as the sitcom shifted its focus to the precinct and away from Barney’s home life, though Barrie kept a recurring role for five seasons.

A newer generation knew her as “Nana” Keane, the grandmother of Brooke Shields’ character on NBC’s “Suddenly Susan,” which ran from 1996 to 2000. Deadline said she appeared in 92 episodes.

A long run on stage and TV

On Broadway, Barrie earned a Tony nomination for the original 1970 production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.” Her TV résumé stretched back to the 1950s and 1960s, with guest roles on “Naked City,” “The Twilight Zone,” “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour,” “Route 66,” “The Fugitive” and “Ironside,” among many others.

Deadline singled out a 1974 episode of “The Mary Tyler Moore Show” in which she flirted with Gavin MacLeod’s Murray Slaughter. Decades later she drew Emmy nominations for guest work on “Law & Order” and “Law & Order: SVU,” Variety reported. Entertainment Weekly listed other one-episode appearances on “Family Ties,” “Thirtysomething,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Army Wives” and “Nurse Jackie.”

Why her death is drawing attention

Barrie often played the mother, wife or grandmother, and she made those roles memorable for several generations of viewers, from 1970s sitcom fans to 1990s prime-time audiences. The Los Angeles Times described her as an actor “who was not just any on-screen mom.”

The circumstances of her death have also drawn notice, since New York’s medical aid in dying law is only a few months old. Beyond what her family and representatives have said, no further details have been reported.

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