By Salma El-Sakka
Oscar-nominated actor Barbara Barrie died Wednesday at her New York City home at age 95 with medical assistance, her agent Gary Gersh confirmed Thursday. The death was carried out under New York State’s Medical Aid in Dying law, which took effect Aug. 5 and allows terminally ill adults with less than six months to live to obtain a self-administered prescription to end their lives.
Medical aid in dying
Barrie had been a proponent of the law. Her daughter, Jane Harnick, told The New York Times that her mother had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and also lived with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disease. In a 2014 interview with Playbill, Barrie said she was “living full steam ahead and am now trying to help other people do the same.”
Acting career
Barrie earned a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her role as Evelyn Stohler in the 1979 film “Breaking Away.” She received a Tony nomination in 1971 for best featured actress in a musical for “Company,” and her stage credits included “The Selling of the President” and “The Prisoner of Second Avenue.”
She also received Emmy nominations for her work on “Law & Order,” “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” and the television series “Breaking Away.” Other notable screen roles included the film “Private Benjamin” and the series “Double Trouble” and “Suddenly Susan.”
