Barbara Rush, the acclaimed American actress famous for her role in It Came From Outer Space, has passed away at 97 years of age, as confirmed by her daughter. She was born in Denver and had a successful acting career that included performances alongside Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in the Chicago-based gangster musical Robin And The 7 Hoods. Legal drama The Young Philadelphians, starring her and Paul Newman, was another feather in her cap. Barbara’s demise on Sunday evening was confirmed by Claudia Cowan, her daughter with the late publicist Warren Cowan, who works as a senior correspondent for Fox News Channel.
Cowan revealed to Fox News Digital that her loving mother passed away peacefully at 5.28pm that very evening, and she was with her earlier that day. Barbara enjoyed marital bliss with Jeffrey Hunter, a Star Trek pilot actor, and Jim Gruzalski. She bagged the Golden Globe for new actress of the year in 1954, thanks to her outstanding performance in the cult sci-fi flick It Came From Outer Space.
In this pioneering 3D film, she portrayed schoolteacher Ellen Fields who gets a fright when an alien spacecraft crash lands on Earth. With her screen fiance John Putnam, played by Richard Carlson, she investigates the crater and the bizarre happenings in the small town. She shone in TV shows including Peyton Place, All My Children and 7th Heaven and scored a Golden Globe nomination for Hell And High Water, about a submarine expedition in Alaska.
In the 1960s Batman series, she caused trouble as villain Nora Clavicle, trying to outsmart the superheroes. Barbara played the spouse of British actor James Mason in the drug drama Bigger Than Life, acted opposite Rock Hudson in the romantic drama Magnificent Obsession and featured in the sci-fi movie When Worlds Collide.
She teamed up with Newman for the 1967 western Hombre, Sinatra for the 1963 comedy Come Blow Your Horn and Martin for the 1958 Second World War film The Young Lions featuring Marlon Brando as well. With Jeffrey Hunter, she had a son named Christopher Hunter. Jeffrey was recognised for his portrayal of Jesus in the biblical movie King Of Kings and western The Searchers. – PA