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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.Warren 1982, pp. 151–63. 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.
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.
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.
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. In 1979, Rush played Eleonor, the love interest of captain Stubing in a double episode of The Love Boat
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 theatre 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.
Rush had two children including daughter Claudia Cowan, a journalist with Fox News. Rush was also the aunt of actress Carolyn Hennesy.Podcast: Maurice Benard State of Mind with Carolyn Hennesy
Since 1997 Rush had lived in the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills, California, and was a neighbor of David Geffen. 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.
| 1950 | The Goldbergs | Debby Sherman | |
| 1951 | Quebec | Madelon | |
| The First Legion | Terry Gilmartin | ||
| When Worlds Collide | Joyce Hendron | ||
| 1952 | Flaming Feather | Nora Logan | |
| 1953 | Prince of Pirates | Countess Nita Orde | |
| It Came from Outer Space | Ellen Fields | ||
| 1954 | Taza, Son of Cochise | Oona | |
| Magnificent Obsession | Joyce Phillips | ||
| The Black Shield of Falworth | Meg | ||
| 1955 | Captain Lightfoot | Aga Doherty | |
| Kiss of Fire | Princess Lucia | ||
| 1956 | World in My Corner | Dorothy Mallinson | |
| Bigger Than Life | Lou Avery | ||
| Flight to Hong Kong | Pamela Vincent | ||
| 1957 | Oh Men! Oh Women! | Myra Hagerman | |
| No Down Payment | Betty Kreitzer | ||
| 1958 | The Young Lions | Margaret Freemantle | |
| Harry Black and the Tiger | Christian Tanner | ||
| 1959 | The Young Philadelphians | Joan Dickinson | |
| 1960 | The Bramble Bush | Margaret 'Mar' McFie | |
| Strangers When We Meet | Eve Coe | ||
| 1963 | Come Blow Your Horn | Connie | |
| 1964 | Robin and the 7 Hoods | Marian | |
| 1967 | Hombre | Audra Favor | |
| 1969 | Strategy of Terror | Karen Lownes | |
| 1972 | The Man | Kay Eaton | |
| 1973 | Peege | Mom | Short |
| Superdad | Sue McCready | ||
| 1980 | Can't Stop the Music | Norma White | |
| 1982 | Summer Lovers | Jean Featherstone | |
| 2006 | My Mother's Hairdo | Fate | Short |
| 2017 | Bleeding Hearts: The Arteries of Glenda Bryant | Barbara Irons | Short; Co-starred with niece Carolyn Hennesy |
| 1962 | Dateline: San Francisco | |
| 1964 | The Unknown | Leonora Edmond |
| 1966 | The Jet Set | |
| 1971 | Suddenly Single | Evelyn Baxter |
| 1972 | Cutter | Linda |
| The Eyes of Charles Sand | Katharine Winslow | |
| Moon of the Wolf | Louise Rodanthe | |
| 1973 | Crime Club | Denise London |
| 1974 | Fools, Females and Fun | Karen Markham |
| 1975 | The Last Day | Betty Spence |
| 1979 | Death Car on the Freeway | Rosemary |
| 1983 | The Night the Bridge Fell Down | Elaine Howard |
| 1984 | At Your Service | Barbara Stonehill |
| 1990 | Web of Deceit | Judith |
| 1996 | Widow's Kiss | Edith Fitzpatrick |
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