50s Starlet Barbara Rush is Dead to Me!

Other things like "Can't Stop the Music"!

So young!

Forgot that she was in Can't Stop the Music

Barbara was in no rush.

97? What a wimp.

Also Flamingo Road and Nola Orsini in the early 90s on All My Children.

“Glitter”, “Knight Rider,” “McCloud”, and “Batman”; she was truly America’s Treasure.

“Starlet” seems like a bit of a reach.

She exuded class.

Well if she was in the original Batman series, she must be among the DL pantheon.

I had no idea Janis Paige was still living. Honestly astounding that she outlived Doris Day — they were born the same year and Doris, who is among my top four or five favorite actresses, was absolutely ancient when she died a few years ago.

Jill Farren Phelps tried to get Barbara to play Alexandra Spaulding on Guiding Light in late 1992 for a few months while they searched for a permanent replacement for Beverlee McKinsey.

Barbara declined the GL role, instead going to All My Children in early 1993 to play the role of Nola Orsini, the mother of Tad Martin-lookalike Ted Orsini.

Was she in THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO?

I always remember Barbara Rush as Pat Hingle’s prejudice wife in “No Down Payment.” It was sort of a forerunner to “Knots Landing” also starring Joanne Woodward, Cameron Mitchell, Sheree North and Tony Randall. Jeffrey Hunter & Patricia Owens - years ago that movie ran a lot. ……….. wasn’t Barbara Rush related to Diane from General Hospital?

She was the female lead ("Marian") in the Rat Pack film "Robin and the Seven Hoods."

She had just decided to start a family with in vitro.

She was on Maude as a successful career woman, not a housewife.

I always thought she was so beautiful and glamorous and a fine actress.

I’m sure she had some stories to tell…

RIP

Barbara Rush - Dark Secrets About A Beloved Hollywood Star

This guy went on for 8 minutes and said the same thing over and over again in different ways. And he pronounced Cochise as Co-chyce.

Her daughter, Claudia Cowan, is a senior Fox News correspondent.

Did you hear about her skiing accident in 1972 that left her on crutches for 2 months?

When Worlds Collide (73 years ago)

OP, do you think that if you had really tried, you could have found a stupider and more inappropriate word for the thread title than "starlet"?

Wasn't she married to hunky Jeffrey Hunter when he was at the height of his beauty? For that alone, Barbara Rush must be remembered.

She played the Maid Marian character in the Rat Pack's ROBIN AND THE 7 HOODS.

Barbara was on Batman in 1968, one of the last eps.

She was Jaime Sommers' supposed mother on The Bionic Woman.

I liked her as Tippy Walker's mother on Peyton Place, she was the replacment for Dorothy Malone who was the original top billed star on PP, then saw her role diminished when Mia Farrow left.

She was lovely

R26 is not R15.

I saw her in "steel magnolias" at the Pasadena playhouse. She played the part sally field eventually played in the movie. Barbara's breakdown scene at the end of the play was heart wrenching. Thank you ms. Rush for a theatre experience I'll never forget.

Yes, Barbara was married to Jeffrey Hunter for five years, 1950-55, when both were in their early 20s and just getting started in Hollywood.

R23 Produced by our old friend Cecil B. DeMille. Silently.

That’s how Jane Fonda should’ve aged.

I remember her in a western with Paul Newman, At least I think it was her. She was left out in the desert sun as a test to see if Paul could take her calls for help.

r33, I agree. Barbara aged really nicely!

She had Jeffrey Hunter’s peen for a while…lucky her.

R36- She didn’t just have his penis but she had his fully erect penis inside her for a while.

🍆🍆

She layed Paul NEwman's wife or his lover in one of those movies I forget the name of.

And she was in Strangers When We Meet another potboiler where Kirk Douglas cheats on her with Kim Novak, I think.

[quote] She layed Paul NEwman's wife or his lover in one of those movies I forget the name of.

Hot lesbo action?

The Young Philadelphians ^^^

I think ELizabeth Taylor got Barbie's career.

[quote]When Worlds Collide (73 years ago)

Just watched this on MGM+ early yesterday morning. I knew she was still alive so IMBD'd her during the movie and saw she was 97. A few hours later she was dead.

It's your fault, r42.

[quote]Other things like "Can't Stop the Music"!

Only real laugh in the movie was when this gorgeous woman enters the room and Bruce Jenner (at the time) introduces her as his Mother and Valerie Perrine blurts out "THAT's your Mother?!"

NYT obit

Did Caitlyn Jenner pick up some beauty and fashion tips from Barbara?

RIP Barbara Rush. Often "the good wife," like "Strangers When We Meet," starring Kirk Douglas & Kim Novak in 1960. This adult soap opera was based on an Evan Hunter novel. The entire cast is quite good, and so is Rush as the Kirk's frustrated wife. One disturbing moment is when neighborhood playboy Walter Matthau (!!!) creeps into the home, when Rush's wife is about to shower!

Rush had a wife in that one, R47? More hot lesbo action!

Will she now be buried in a Kirk yard?

I always got her mixed up with Dana Wynter.

Was also in "The Man" in 1972 with James Earl Jones about the first black President who's line "We've got a Jigaboo in the White House" is immortalized on the movie poster.

^ I hope "The Man" didn't wear a tan suit!

^r51 - It's on Youtube...

Strangers When We Meet is on You Tube for free, too. I'm watching it right now. Kirk Douglas's chin dimple is distracting. But I have to say, after everything I've read about him, I don't think he had to do much acting to get into character.

R50 Dana Wynter was a Brit. Barbara may have spoken with a mid-Atlantic but she was from Denver, Colorado.

I didn't realize she was from Denver, r55. Denver never played her up as a hometown girl who made it.

Does anyone remember her in Flamingo Road?

R13 - that was Deborah Rush.

Oooh gurl! Barbara Rush is being a real bitch to Kirk Douglas. She's literally pushing him into Kim's arms. But Barbara dresses beautifully.

Has Kirk yelled at her?

R60 here. And Kim's husband may be family. He won't fuck her. He's frigid. LOL! Gotta love these period pieces.

No, Kirk hasn't yelled at her. He keeps trying to make her understand his creative needs as an architect and she refuses to understand. Kim, of course is fascinated by his architecture.....

Damn. I want to like Kim Novak but she is fucking embarrassing. Cannot act her way out of a paper bag.

R56

She did an unsuccessful pilot in the mid 60s tat was produced by Donna Reed and her husband.

Tats were déclassé at that time. She was too far ahead of the curve^

[quote]“Glitter”, “Knight Rider,” “McCloud”, and “Batman”; she was truly America’s Treasure.

Well now she's America's Buried Treasure.

[quote]R36- She didn’t just have his penis but she had his fully erect penis inside her for a while.

I know she was married to Jeffrey Hunter, but wasn't he supposed to be gay - at least that's what's been said about him around here.

Hunny, in King of Kings, when he was flirting with Peter on the shores of Lake Galilee and he said, "come with me, and I'll make you a fisher of men!" And smiled that smile with those lazy bedroom eyes, you know he knew.

[quote] the first black President who's line

Oh, dear.

I love STRANGERS WHEN WE MEET, a great understated melodrama about suburban sex. Interesting to see Walter Matthau playing a creepy supporting role which is a lot of what he did before he belatedly became a star a few years later in The Fortune Cookie.

And for the theatre queens, Broadway musical star Helen Gallagher makes a rare choice film appearance as Matthau's nosy wife.

I think I'm going to watch Barbara Rush movies this week.

I'm going to watch Strangers tonight. I hate the way Kirk rejects Kim in the end but I love Kim in anything.

I didn't realize Jeffrey Hunter was in No Down Payment!!!OMG. First Jesus, now this.

Watch her Maude episode.

No Down Payment had quite a cast. Joann Woodward playing ayoung white trash newly wed. Tony Randall did quite a job portraying an abusive alcoholic.Pat Hingle,

WEHT Jeffrey Hunter and Barbara Rush's son Chris? He must have been quite a looker.

R34

[quote] I remember her in a western with Paul Newman, At least I think it was her. She was left out in the desert sun as a test to see if Paul could take her calls for help.

That movie was "Hombre".

I remember when Nichols and May had a routine about a bimbo starlet on a talk show ... her name was Barbara MUSK. Every time I hear Barbara Rush, that name springs to mind.

I never dated Al...Schweitzer(?).

But the Bimbo in Strangers wasn't Barbara it was Kim. Movies like Strangers When We Meet and No Down Payment show the hypocrisy of the false morality standards of the day. And they show how the American Dream can turn you into a raving alcoholic or a brutal rapist.

I loved Barbara Rush and Carole Cook in "Summer Lovers" with Daryl Hannah, Peter Gallagher and Valerie Quinnessen.

Carole Cook had the best line as she and Barbara traipsed around the ruin: "When are they ever going to finish Greece."

^^My condolences.

But not a peep from Daryl Hannah, Peter Gallagher and Valerie Valerie Quennessen.

Well, Valerie is dead, but still.

In the early '80s I attended a two day est seminar/work shop that was directed at actors. There was this one woman who really resented Barbara Rush. She brought her up at least three times when she was "sharing", all "*I* should be getting the roles that Barbara Rush is getting!". This was around 1980 and I thought, is Barbara Rush getting all these plum roles that I'm unaware of? Whatever, she really seemed to be jealous of Miss Barbara Rush.

Thanks for reminding me why I never took part in seminars/workshops directed at actors, R85.

Barbara & son Chris in 2021

Well he's not very attractive.

I just watched Strangers When We Meet. Fantastic melodrama with Kim at her best and Kirk as sexy as ever. Barbara's very, very good in it as the betrayed wife.

I had never cared much for her until I saw her standing in a crowded UCLA Hospital elevator in the early 80's, superbly regal with a faint smile I'll never forget. She was visiting her mother who was in the hospital at the time (I worked there and confirmed it was in fact her). She looked so fantastic I had to permanently rethink my silly dislike for her.

I don’t remember the details and I haven’t googled it now - but years ago I fell down the rabbit hole of The Strangers When We Meet House. As I recall, it was built for the movie to be Kirk as architect building it. It was a real showplace. I don’t know if it is still there - it was about ten years ago. ……. that 2001 photo of Barbara and her son Chris- she is well into her nineties and standing on her own and looks lucid. My poor mom is 87 and can barely stand anymore …

2021 !^

I just realized that for this whole thread I’ve been mixing her up with Barbara Bain.

I often made that mistake, R92.

[quote] I just realized that for this whole thread I’ve been mixing her up with Barbara Bain.

And I thought this thread was about Barbara Bush &, like Nancy Davis, her early acting career.

R6 I remember reading that there was supposed to be more to that story, with Ted Orsini being Tad's long lost twin, sold by Ray Gardner to the Orsini's

R12 Wow, never knew that. I know Robin Strasser was also up for Alexandra around the same time, opting to return to OLTL as Dorian instead. There's a story behind that, someone here possibly mentioned it here as well.

R14 Yes. Carolyn Hennessey, GH's Diane, is her niece. There seems to be a slight resemblance, imo