Barbara Baxley

Barbara Baxley
Baxley in 1960.
Born Barbara Angie Rose Baxley
(1923-01-01)January 1, 1923
Porterville, California, U.S.
Died June 7, 1990(1990-06-07) (aged 67)
New York, New York, U.S.
Occupation Film, stage, television actress
Years active 1950–1990

Barbara Angie Rose Baxley (January 1, 1923 – June 7, 1990) was an American actress and singer.

Early life

Barbara Baxley was born in Porterville, California, the daughter of Emma (née Tyler) and Bert Baxley.[1] She acted for six years in productions of schools and Little Theaters before she had her first professional role.[2]

Career

A life member of the Actors Studio,[3] Baxley also studied acting under the tutelage of Sanford Meisner at the prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City. Her first film was East of Eden, where she portrayed Adam Trask's obnoxious nurse at the end of the film.

In 1961, she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Actress (Dramatic) for her performance in the Broadway production of Tennessee Williams' comedy Period of Adjustment. She appeared in Chekhov's The Three Sisters and Neil Simon's Plaza Suite as well as the 1960s Broadway musical She Loves Me, which co-starred Jack Cassidy, Barbara Cook and Daniel Massey. She also starred in the 1976 Broadway play Best Friend.

Baxley appeared in supporting roles in many television series of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. She played a wife having her rodeo-performing husband, played by Lee Van Cleef, murdered in the crime drama series Richard Diamond, Private Detective, starring David Janssen. She appeared in a 1958 Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Gilded Lily", as Enid Griffin and she played the role of Cora Wheeler in the original Twilight Zone episode of "Mute".

Baxley played two different characters in two episodes of Have Gun – Will Travel, starring Richard Boone. She also played roles on Where the Heart Is and Another World, two daytime soap operas.

She is perhaps better known for the role of Lady Pearl, the feisty wife of country music icon Haven Hamilton in Robert Altman's film Nashville (1975) and as the mother of Sally Field's character in Norma Rae (1979).

Death

Baxley died at age 67 at her home in Manhattan of an apparent heart attack.[4] She is buried at Umpawaug Cemetery in Redding, Connecticut[5].

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1955East of EdenNurseUncredited
1958The BadlandersDiane(scenes deleted)
1960The Savage EyeJudith McGuire
1962All Fall DownSchoolteacher
1967CountdownJean
1968No Way to Treat a LadyBelle Poppie
1972ImagesTelephoneVoice, uncredited
1975NashvilleLady Pearl
1979Butterflies in Heat
1979Norma RaeLeona
1982A Stranger Is WatchingLally
1989Sea of LoveMiss Allen
1990A Shock to the SystemLillian
1990The Exorcist IIIShirley(final film role)

References

  1. ↑ Barbara Baxley profile, filmreference.com; accessed May 18, 2015.
  2. ↑ Bodin, Walter (June 1, 1948). "Tallulah, Cast Acclaimed in Suave 'Private Lives'". Oakland Tribune. California, Oakland. p. 28. Retrieved August 12, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ David Garfield (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of the Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co. Inc. p. 277. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
  4. ↑ "Barbara Baxley, 67, Who Acted In Theater, Movie and TV Roles", The New York Times, June 9, 1990.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Scott (16 September 2016). "Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed". McFarland – via Google Books.


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