Barbara Barrie

A versatile character actress, Barrie has a slightly wry, worried expression and some interesting credits, especially on stage and television. Often playing warm, mature, sometimes wisecracking comedic and dramatic roles, she acted regularly on early TV, Broadway and in theatre festivals in the early 1960s. After several small parts in features she landed a lead in the interracial love story, "One Potato, Two Potato" (1964), winning the Best Actress award at Cannes. Barrie acted less during the late 60s as she began to raise a family, but enjoyed a notable Broadway comeback as part of the landmark Stephen Sondheim-Harold Prince musical, "Company" (1970). Subsequent stage work included two Neil Simon comedies, "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" (1972) and "California Suite" (1976), a stint in "Isn't It Romantic?" (1984) and Anne Meara's "After Play" (1995-96).

TV work picked up as well, and in 1975 Barrie essayed one of the roles for which she is best remembered, Hal Linden's sensible, quietly sardonic wife on the dry-witted ABC sitcom, "Barney Miller." After the first season the show moved into Barney's workspace, with Barrie only making the occasional appearance. She resumed her feature career with an Oscar-nominated turn as the bicyclist hero's witty, yet supportive, mother in the sleeper "Breaking Away" (1979), and enjoyed further success as Goldie Hawn's mother in "Private Benjamin" (1980). Barrie later reprised both roles in the TV spinoffs, and appeared in several other series during the 80s, though none turned into hits. She kept busy, bringing her smooth professionalism to the feature "After the Rain" (1988) and the TV-movies "The Execution" (1985), "My First Love" (1989) and "The Odd Couple: Together Again" (1993). She returned to series TV as Brooke Shields' wise, knowing grandmother in the sitcom "Suddenly Susan" (NBC, 1996-2000).