Hollywood Star Barbara Rush, Mother Of Fox News’ Claudia Cowan, Dead At 97

The Golden Globe-winning Hollywood star Barbara Rush of “It Came from Outer Space” and “Peyton Place” fame died on Sunday at the age of 97.

Rush Passes Away At 97

Rush’s death was confirmed by her daughter, the Fox News Channel senior correspondent Claudia Cowan.

“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5:28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan told Fox News.

“It’s fitting she chose to leave on Easter as it was one of her favorite holidays and now, of course, Easter will have a deeper significance for me and my family,” she added.

Rush’s Hollywood Career

Rush had acted alongside some of Hollywood’s most iconic leading men throughout her career, including Paul Newman, Rock Hudson, Dean Martin, Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra and Richard Burton. She began her career performing at the Pasadena Playhouse, where she was discovered by a talent scout who signed her to Paramount Pictures in 1950. She made her big-screen debut later that year in the movie The Goldbergs.

In 1954, Rush won the Golden Globe Award for most promising newcomer for her performance in the 1953 science fiction horror movie It Came From Outer Space.

Later that year, she would star with Rock Hudson in the Western movie Taza, Son of Conchise, and she went on to appear in two more movies around that same time.

“He started off in film pretty much the same time I did,” she said of Hudson in 2018. “He was a lot of fun to be with. He had a wonderful sense of humor. He loved to laugh. We just had the best time working.”

During her time in Hollywood, Rush became close to Marilyn Monroe.

“Oh yes, we were friends,” she once said. “We were in the studio club together. At least with me, when you first come to Hollywood, and I went to Paramount, they put me immediately in the studio club. It’s kind of like a sorority house. And Marilyn Monroe was there. I loved her. Marilyn was such a darling lady. She was very sweet and nice. All the girls in the studio club just had a good time.”

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Rush’s Television Appearances

Rush eventually moved into television, playing the evil Nora Clavicle in the hit series “Batman” in 1968. She would later say that she never expected “Batman” to become as popular as it did.

“Oh… when you’re an actress, you don’t think about things like that,” said Rush. “You just think, ‘I have a job!’ You just don’t project what your future is going to be. And [Nora Clavicle] was just so funny. I just love comedy and she was very light-hearted. She was a kick.”

Rush would later play Marsha Russell in the popular soap opera “Peyton Place,” starring in 75 episodes between 1968 and 1969. Her last regular television role was playing Granma Ruth Camden in the hit teen series “7th Heaven” in 2007. Rush’s final film appearance was in the 2017 short Bleeding Hearts: The Arteries of Glenda Bryan, which she appeared in with her niece Carolyn Henessy. 

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Rush is survived by her two children. Back in January, Cowan paid tribute to her on her mother’s 97th birthday.

 “She is golden, she is a diamond, she glows like the moon and shines like the sun. Age does not diminish the light in her eyes, the sweetness of her heart,” she wrote on Instagram at the time. “To me, she is 97 years young.”

Please say a prayer for Rush’s loved ones during this difficult time.