Barbara Barrie (born May 23, 1931) is an American actress of film, stage and television. She is also an accomplished author.Her film breakthrough came in 1964 with her performance as Julie in the landmark film One Potato, Two Potato, for which she won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. She is best known for her role as Evelyn Stoller in Breaking Away, which brought her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1979 and an Emmy Award nomination in 1981 when she reprised the role in the television series created based on the film Breaking Away (series).Barrie also is known for her extensive work in the theatre, receiving a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actress in a Musical in 1971 for originating the role of Sarah in Stephen Sondheim's Company.
Wrote "Second Act" in 1997, a frank and irreverently humorous book chronicling her 30-year experience first with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and subsequent cancer.
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Was in Charleston, South Carolina, making the TV mini-series Scarlett (1994) when she became dizzy and passed out. Taken to a nearby hospital, they did a sigmoidoscopy of the lower colon the following day and discovered her cancer.
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Long married to Jay Harnick, the founder and longtime artistic director of TheatreworksUSA, the nation's largest company for young audiences and a training ground for some of the more noted names in entertainment, including F. Murray Abraham, for almost 40 years. During his tenure, Harnick's company performed for 50 million children and earned Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel awards, the only children's theatre to do so. Harnick retired in 2000 and died on February 27, 2007.
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Was replaced in the role of Yente during previews of "Fiddler on the Roof" (2004) starring Alfred Molina. The production itself was vilified in the Los Angeles Times for the production's deliberate "ethnic cleansing." Apparently, the endearing Yiddish-speaking character that Barbara had personified had been stripped down to have a WASPish-sounding voice. The other characters, including that of Molina's Tevye, were stripped of their ethnic influences as well except for those directly required by the script. The revival, however, did quite well on Broadway and ran for nearly two years.
Received a 1971 Tony nomination as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her performance in Stephen Sondheim's "Company," and is also featured on the landmark documentary by D.A. Pennebaker on the making of the show's cast album.
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She created Tomato Lightning, a spicy chutney available in gourmet food stores.
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She is the author of two critically acclaimed novels for young adults: "Lone Star" (1989) and "Adam Zigzag" (1995).
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