Oscar-Nominated Actor Dies in Assisted Suicide at 95

Barbara Barrie chose her own exit, at age 95. The stage and screen actor, nominated for an Oscar for playing the quietly steady mom in 1979's Breaking Away, died on Wednesday at her New York City home, her agent said. Her death was medically assisted under New York's Medical Aid in Dying law, which she'd publicly supported, per USA Today. Barrie had terminal cancer and had earlier revealed she was living with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a progressive lung disease.

Entertainment Tonight notes that Barrie had been diagnosed with rectal cancer decades earlier. The actor's career spanned Broadway, film, and TV. She earned a Tony nod as the original Sarah in Stephen Sondheim's Company, and she collected Emmy nominations for Breaking Away (the TV series) and guest roles on Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU, per USA Today. She also played Brooke Shields' grandmother on Suddenly Susan and appeared in Barney Miller and films including One Potato, Two Potato and Private Benjamin. Variety notes that Barrie, whose husband, Jay Harnick, died in 2007, is survived by a son and daughter, as well as three grandchildren.