Barbara Barrie's life as an activist: Oscar nominee championed Roe v. Wade, euthanasia and destigmatising rectal cancer before dying at 95 with medical assistance

She was best known for her illustrious acting career, being a scene-stealing star of stage and screen. 

Yet Barbara Barrie also dedicated herself to activism, serving as a trailblazer for many campaigns in her lifetime. 

While she spent seven decades in the acting industry and was nominated for many accolades she insisted her campaigning was more important than awards, saying: 'I can't stand that kind of thing, I can't stand it. Your life is more important than your work.'

This week, the Oscar-nominated actress ended her life via medical aid after she had been diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The Suddenly Susan star was able to fulfil her wish of dying at her home in Manhattan because of New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, of which she was a 'proponent and advocate'.

The practice allows certain terminally ill patients with less than six months to live to administer drugs to end their own life, and was made legal in New York on August 5 of this year. 

Barbara Barrie championed Roe v. Wade, euthanasia and destigmatising rectal cancer before dying at 95 with medical assistance (pictured in 2021) 

In 2014, Barbara had disclosed a diagnosis of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic, incurable lung disease, and vowed to dedicate the time she had left to advocacy. 

She said in a statement at the time: 'I have a very full, active life, but what lies ahead is unknown and yet known at the same time. 

'I am living full steam ahead and am now trying to help other people do the same.' 

Barbara had previously been diagnosed with rectal cancer in 1994, resulting in being fitted with a colostomy bag. 

After successful treatment she set out to destigmatise the disease, writing two books about her experience. 

Her 1997 memoir, Second Act: Life after Colostomy and Other Adventures, saw her discuss her health issues with 'resolute optimism and a sense of acceptance'.

It was followed up by Don’t Die of Embarrassment: Life After Colostomy and Other Adventures, a 1999 memoir billed as 'a helpful guide for anyone facing this life-altering surgery'.

Barbara spoke openly about the stigma of the disease, revealing a cousin called her and mentioned that the family had cases of colon cancer going back three generations. 

While she spent seven decades in the acting industry and was nominated for many accolades she insisted her campaigning was more important than awards (pictured in 1974) 

She recalled: 'Didn’t you know this is a disease that’s been running in our family for three generations?

'No, I didn’t know this was in our family because in those days, you didn’t say rectum, or cancer...

'I think if I can get the word out on this thing, that will be my legacy.' 

She added in another chat: 'It's not the end of the world. What I'm trying to tell people is that you can have this thing and survive it.

'I work out, I go to the gym, we make love, we go bicycling in Europe every year.'

Barbara was also a vocal champion of women's and reproductive rights, lending her voice to a pro-choice campaign.

She joined voices with pioneering feminist and activist Gloria Steinem who had just founded Ms Magazine, the first magazine owned, run and written by women.

The first issue published in 1972 included a petition titled We Have Had Abortions, in which Barbara and more than 50 prominent women, including the likes of Nora Ephron and Billie Jean King, signed their name to a public manifesto demanding the legalisation of abortion.

It also had a coupon for readers to send in and add their own names as part of this list.

The issue, which had a print run of 300,000 copies, sold out in just eight days, generating 26,000 subscription orders.

A year after the petition the landmark Roe v Wade US Supreme Court decision established a nationwide constitutional right to an abortion. It was later overturned in 2022. 

Barbara also helped out in her community, leading the charge to save the PS 9 Sarah Anderson School in New York from demolition, organising protests and petitions. 

Along with her activism work, Barbara had an illustrious acting career. She was perhaps best known to sitcom fans as Brooke Shields’s eccentric grandmother on Suddenly Susan

Along with her activism work, Barbara had an illustrious acting career. 

Her signature role as a nurturing mother in the big-screen hit Breaking Away, earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1979.

She lost the award to Meryl Streep, who took home her first Oscar that year for Kramer v Kramer.

Barbara went on to earn an Emmy nod when she reprised her Breaking Away role in the short-lived 1981 television series based on the film.

Barbara later made up for that truncated theatrical run with subsequent star turns in a pair of Neil Simon's 70s comedy classics: The Prisoner of Second Avenue and California Suite, as well as a run as Harvey Fierstein’s nagging mama in the groundbreaking Torch Song Trilogy in 1983.

She earned her Tony nomination for originating the role of fad-diet aficionado Sarah opposite Elaine Stritch in Stephen Sondheim's iconic 1970 musical, Company.

The seven-decade showbiz veteran was perhaps best known to sitcom fans as the wife of eponymous cop Barney Miller (played by Hal Linden) from 1975 to 1982 on ABC, as well as her role as Brooke Shields’s eccentric grandmother on Suddenly Susan, a part of NBC's 'must-see TV' lineup from 1996 to 2000.

Barbara was preceded in death by her husband Jay Harnick, founder and artistic director of TheaterWorksUSA, in 2007.

She is survived by her daughter Jane, son Aaron and three granddaughters.