An attractive leading lady often cast in well-bred roles, Barbara Rush entered films at the tail end of the studio system, making her debut in a small role in "Molly" (1950), based on the popular radio show "The Goldbergs". She went on to play leading ladies in some top pictures, but appeared in numerous forgettable ones before breaking into TV in the 1960s. Although Rush won her first leading roles in such Paramount films as "The First Legion" (1951), she is probably better remembered as Joan, the woman who loves Paul Newman even after he chooses a job over her hand in marriage, in "The Young Philadelphians" (1959), and opposite Frank Sinatra in "Come Blow Your Horn" (1963). She also had key roles in "The Young Lions" (1958), "The Man" (1972), and an amusing supporting role in "Can't Stop the Music" (1980).
Rush first worked as a series regular playing a Washington newspaper correspondent in "Saints and Sinners" (NBC, 1962). She garnered some notice for her season-long (1968-69) stint as Marcia Russell on ABC's primetime soap "Peyton Place". Rush then tried her hand at comedy, portraying a temperamental soap opera star on "The New Dick Van Dyke Show" (CBS, 1973-74). In the early 80s, it was back to the real thing as the matriarch Eudora Weldon on NBC's "Flamingo Road" (1981-82) and a brief turn on ABC's daytime staple "All My Children".
Approaching the age when actresses find roles difficult to land, Rush stayed active on stage appearing throughout the USA in such fluff as "Forty Carats" and "Same Time, Next Year". She commissioned and earned rave reviews in the solo theatrical piece "A Woman of Independent Means", based on the novel by Elizabeth Forsythe Hailey in New York and Los Angeles. More recently, Rush returned to the small screen appearing in the recurring role of Stephen Collins' mother in "7th Heaven" (The WB).
Family
FATHER: Roy L Rush.
MOTHER: Marguerite Rush.
SON: Chris Hunter. Photographer. Son with Jeffrey Hunter.
DAUGHTER: Claudia Cowan. TV news anchor. Daughter with Warren Cowan; married to sports agent Steve Baker with whom she has has twins Benjamin and Sabrina.
Companion
HUSBAND: Jeffrey Hunter. Actor. Married in 1950; divorced in 1955.
HUSBAND: Warren Cowan. Public relations executive. Married and divorced; renewed relationship in late 1980s but separated in the 1990s.
HUSBAND: James Gruzalski. Married in 1970; divorced.
Milestone
1937: At age 10, made first stage appearance at the Loberto Theater in Santa Barbara, CA, in the fantasy play, "Golden Ball" (date approximate)
Won an acting award while in college for her performance as Birdie in a staging of Lillian Hellman's play, "The Little Foxes"
1950: Feature film debut in a small supporting role in "Molly"
1951: Played first leading lady roles in "The First Legion" and "Flaming Feather"
1962 - 1963: First TV series, "Saints and Sinners"
Cast as Marsha Russell on ABC's "Peyton Place"
1971: TV-movie debut, "Suddenly Single" (ABC)
Appeared as soap opera actress Margot Brighton on the revamped CBS sitcom "The New Dick Van Dyke Show"
1973: Last feature film for seven years, "Superdad"
1980: Returned to features to play a supporting role in "Can't Stop the Music"
Played matriarch Eudora Weldon on the NBC primetime soap "Flamingo Road"
1996: Co-starred in "Widow's Kiss" (HBO)
1997 - Present: Had recurring role as Stephen Collins' mother on "7th Heaven" (The WB)
Education
University of Southern California - Los Angeles, California
Pasadena Playhouse - Pasadena, California - won a scholarship to the Playhouse's Theatre Arts College
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