Search
Barbara Rush Profile
|
|
Photo gallery |
| (Barbara S. Rush) |
|
| 4 January 27 | is born in Denver, Colorado |
| c. 49 | works as a part-time model while attending the University of California in Santa Barbara |
| c. 50 | is discovered by director Billy Wilder at the Pasadena Playhouse |
| 1 December 50 | marries actor Jeffrey Hunter in Boulder City, Nevada. He's 24; she's 23. |
| February 51 | advertises for MJB coffee |
| March 51 | is the replacement of dropped Gail Russell in Fort Savage |
| is among a handful of young movie hopefuls picked by Paramount, dubbed the Golden Circle. Others are Mary Murphy, Joan Taylor, and Virginia Hall. |
|
| is expected to have twins in August |
|
| April 52 | attends Debbie Reynolds' Saturday night party with husband Jeff Hunter |
| 29 August 52 | her son, Christopher, is born |
| Christmas 52 | she and Hunter spend the holidays together in Chicago after a long separation. He was in England for the filming of Soldier of the King. Their baby is left in the care of Barbara's mother. |
| January 53 | is scheduled for Universal's Back to God's Country opposite Rock Hudson and Steve Cochran |
| July 53 | her husband returns after a five-week tour of the Orient |
| Summer 53 | she and Hunter co-star in a summer-stock version of Voice of the Turtle at the Robin Hood Theater near Wilmington, Delaware |
| November 53 | she and Hunter attend the Press Photographers Ball at the Mocambo as two Charles Addams characters. Barbara sports a dead, stuffed bird perched on her hand. |
| 15 July 54 | attends the world premiere of Magnificent Obsession in Cleveland, Ohio |
| Summer 54 | travels Europe with Betty Abbott and Rock Hudson before starting Captain Lightfoot in Ireland |
| July 54 | her husband won't be able to meet her when she returns from the Ireland location of Captain Lightfoot. He'll be in Durango, Mexico, filming White Feather. |
| September 54 | films Captain Lightfoot in Dublin, Ireland |
| 20 September 54 | she and Hunter separate |
| 21 September 54 | says she will seek a divorce within a month from Hunter. "We have been apart too much on our respective jobs." |
| November 54 | there's a slim chance she and Hunter will call off the divorce plans. For the sake of their two-year-old son, they have agreed to wait many months before proceeding. |
| holds up her divorce plans until after the filming of the added scenes for Captain Lightfoot. She's not sure now whether she will go to Reno. |
|
| December 54 | scoffs at the idea that she and Hunter will stage a bitter divorce and child custody battle. "It's a technical thing," she tells. "It's more between our lawyers than ourselves. It will be worked out without headlines." |
| 20 December 54 | her divorce goes to court in Los Angeles |
| January 55 | plans to make her residence in Reno while getting her divorce from Jeffrey Hunter |
| March 55 | asks Universal-International to cut her Captain Lightfoot personal appearance tour down to a few days. She wants to be back to tell it to the divorce judge. |
| 29 March 55 | obtains a divorce decree against Hunter in Los Angeles Superior Court on testimony that he called her a poor housekeeper and poor cook. She says Hunter was "too emotionally immature" for marriage. "He kept telling me how much better his mother would cook and keep house." Hunter agrees to pay $100 a month for support of their son, Christopher; she gets their $38,000 Studio City home. He's 28; she's 27. |
| July 55 | her friends say she and Jeff Hunter may get back together again, but his friends don't think so |
| she and producer Ross Hunter convince patrons at the Major's Cabin that she will not reconcile with Hunter |
|
| is on the inaugural New York-to-Rio flight of Brazilian Varig Airlines together with fellow actresses Jeanne Crain, Vera Ellen, and Anne Francis |
|
| August 55 | since her divorce she's out with George Nader |
| September 55 | is out with James Hanson |
| November 55 | does advertising for Rain Dears |
| December 55 | dates George Nader, whose real heart belongs to a Pasadena non-pro and whose name he keeps a well-guarded secret |
| wins the COMPO National Audience Award as one of the "Stars of the Future" |
|
| advertises for Rite-Fit |
|
| February 56 | dates with Jacques Scott, actor and son of the British consul at Nice, France |
| dates songwriter Bob Merrill |
|
| June 56 | after her divorce she's a successful bachelor girl and mother: "No marriage for me for a long time." |
| July 56 | is seen out with playwright Clifford Odets |
| October 56 | her escort at a dinner party is Michael Wilding, the ex of Liz Taylor |
| November 56 | attends astrologer Carroll Righter's Halloween party with 20th Century-Fox studio executive Frank McCarthy. Her ex, Jeffrey Hunter, comes with Dusty Bartlett. |
| December 56 | catches the eye of hotelman Conrad Hilton, who divides his time between her, Ann Miller, and "Miss Universe," Hillevi Rombin. |
| February 57 | her most persistent escort is Frank McCarthy |
| May 57 | is a twosome with Ed Pauley, Jr. |
| Summer 57 | is off to Greece and attends a party given by the King and the Queen, 20th Century-Fox head Spyros Skouras, and shipping tycoon Aristotle Onassis. Later she visits Onassis' yacht. |
| July 57 | her younger sister, Ramona, will marry 20th Century-Fox art director Dale Hennessy in December |
| is off to London, England, and stays at the Savoy Hotel when her ex, Jeffrey Hunter, and his new wife, Dusty Bartlett, on their honeymoon, book into the same hotel. The next day, 20th Century-Fox moves the Hunters into the Dorchester. Later they all meet at a London film premiere. |
|
| her frequent escort in London is actor Ben Gazzara |
|
| August 57 | returns from Athens, Greece, and London, England, to start work on The Young Lions |
| 2 October 57 | emcees the Hollywood Studio Club fiesta |
| October 57 | is "rushed" by Marlon Brando on European location for The Young Lions |
| November 57 | admits her guy now is Gordon Carroll, former New York television producer |
| if Hunter doesn't recover from the hepatitis attack, she plans to ask her sister to move into her home and help take care of son Christopher while she goes to London and to India to co-star in Harry Black |
|
| February 58 | is off to Mysore, India, for the filming of Harry Black. She stops in Bombay and is guest of honor of a film magnate there who presents her with 17 saris, a different one to wear each night. |
| May 58 | meets Indian Prime Minister Nehru |
| June 58 | attends the annual music show staged by the girls living at the Studio Club with Bud Schulberg |
| September 58 | is rushed by Robert Arthur |
| January 59 | she and press agent Warren Cowan are expected to announce wedding plans as soon as Cowan is legally free. His wife's divorce will be final April 20. |
| is seen with Cowan at the Dino's Lodge opening of singer Ann Mason |
|
| February 59 | she and Cowan buy a house |
| March 59 | she and Cowan plan a June wedding |
| April 59 | Vic Damone accepts her invitation to sing at her June 14 wedding. She will finish her role in The Bramble Bush at Warner Brothers well in advance of the ceremony. |
| May 59 | she and Cowan celebrate Shirley MacLaine's birthday at the Sportsmen's Lodge |
| June 59 | is seen ringside at the Cloisters with her fiancé, Cowan |
| 14 June 59 | marries Warren Jay Cowan in Santa Monica, California. He's 38; she's 30. It's the second marriage for each. At the wedding reception the dress of Mrs. Bob Cummings catches fire from a candle in a floral decoration. Her husband saves her by tossing a glass of water over her. The entire back of her dress is burned. |
| July 59 | she and Cowan honeymoon in San Francisco |
| March 60 | she and Cowan give a surprise birthday party for Joanne Woodward, who thinks she's out for a quiet dinner with husband Paul Newman |
| July 60 | attends a lavish $18,000 party thrown by producer Joseph E. Levine at the Beverly Hills Hotel to promote his Hercules Unchained. Among the guests are Dana Wynter, Dolores Michaels, Cesar Romero, Jack Lemmon, Woody Strode, Rosanno Brazzi, Mitzi Gaynor, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. |
| December 62 | Cowan presents her with a sports car for Christmas |
| April 63 | expects her second child |
| 31 July 63 | her daughter, Claudia, is born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood, California. She will become a news journalist for Fox News. |
| August 64 | models with her son Chris, 11, at a Beverly Hills benefit fashion show |
| 14 July 66 | she and Cowan attend a dinner party thrown by Danny Kaye at his Beverly Hills home for newlywed French sex-kitten Brigitte Bardot and her German bridegroom, playboy Gunther Sachs |
| c. 69 | separates from Cowan |
| January 69 | she and Cowan have peace talks |
| February 69 | divorces Cowan in Los Angeles |
| November 69 | is on the Chicago stage in Forty Carats and gets the romantic rush from her estranged spouse, Warren Cowan |
| c. 24 September 70 | marries California sculptor James A. Gruzalski at the city hall in Baltimore, Maryland, where she stars in Forty Carats. He's 38; she's 40. It's her second and his third marriage. Cowan was in town talking reconciliation with her at his urging. During that stay, Cowan took her to several parties, one of which is where she met her future husband. |
| January 71 | attends a Beverly Hills party given by Kay Spreckels Gable and Kay's daughter with her reconciled husband, Jim Gruzalski. Her ex, Warren Cowan, comes with his new bride, Josette. A few days later, Barbara announces her marriage to Gruzalski not to be reconciled. |
| October 73 | divorces Gruzalski in Los Angeles |
| May 84 | stars at New York's Biltmore Theater in A Woman of Independent Means, a one-performer show |
| 87 | lives in Santa Barbara, California |
| June 87 | is seen at a West Hollywood party with Warren and Ronnie Cowan and their daughter, Bonnie Fleming |
| she and her ex-husband, Warren Cowan, give a patio dinner at their Beverly Hills residence to honor writer Danielle Steel |
|
| July 87 | she and Cowan host a gathering for newlywed singers Vic Damone and Diahann Carroll |
| August 88 | attends Vic Damone's surprise birthday party in Hollywood with Cowan |
| 31 March 24 | dies at age 97 at the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills, California |
| Sources: The Daily Register, Statesville Daily Record, Waukesha Daily Freeman, The Bridgeport Telegram, Reno Evening Gazette, Telegram, Bedford Gazette, Walla Walla Union-Bulletin, The Monessen Daily Independent, Pottstown Mercury, Chronicle-Telegram, The Lethbridge Herald, Indiana Evening Gazette, The Coshocton Tribune, The Portsmouth Herald, Nevada State Journal, Atchison Daily Globe, The Bridgeport Telegram, Syracuse Herald-Journal, The Lima News, The Zanesville Signal, Burlington Daily Times-News, The Daily Intelligencer, The Daily Intelligencer, The Daily Gleaner, The Coshocton Tribune, The Lancaster Eagle-Gazette, Tri-City Herald, Oakland Tribune, The Lincoln Star, Sheboygan Press, The Times Recorder, News Journal - Mansfield, Burlington Times-News, Flair Magazine, The New York Times, The Complete Directory to Prime Time TV Stars by Tim Brooks, Movieland, Modern Screen, Made in Heaven by Victoria Houseman, Movie Life, Screenland, Screen Stars, Photoplay, Dell's Who's Who in Hollywood, Screen Stories, Silver Screen | |
| Recommended Books: | |
| Links: Filmography The Barbara Rush Tribute Page at the Spooky Tom's Nightmare Mansion Site Brian's Drive-In Theater: Barbara Rush | |