Barbara Barrie’s daughter reveals actress’ final words before death with medical assistance

Daysia TolentinoFri, October 30, 2026 at 4:02 PM UTC

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Barbara Barrie attends the Broadway Opening Night performance after party for ‘Significant Other’ on March 2, 2017Credit: Walter McBride/WireImageKey Points -

Barbara Barrie’s last words have been revealed.

Her daughter, Jane Harnick, shared insight into Barrie’s last moments.

The Oscar-nominated actress, best known for her role in 1979’s Breaking Away, died with medical assistance at the age of 95 on Wednesday.

Barbara Barrie spent her final moments surrounded by her loved ones.

Jane Harnick, the Oscar nominee’s daughter, is opening up about the last time she saw her mother. She revealed Barrie’s last words before her death with medical assistance.

“As she was falling asleep, we all just said, ‘We love you,’” Harnick told Page Six on Thursday. “And she said, ‘I love you too.’ And those were her last words.”

The Breaking Away star died at the age of 95 on Wednesday. Harnick, her brother Aaron Harnick, and her husband, Adam Freifeld, were by Barrie’s side when she passed.

Barrie had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and had been battling idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a degenerative disease, since 2014. Harnick said that the Suddenly Susan alum was a “huge advocate” for medically assisted death and “wanted it to be her path.”

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“For years and years her whole life before she was ever sick with any illness, she always used to say, ‘When my time comes, I just want to take something and go to sleep,’” she continued to Page Six. “She just really believed that that was a human right.”

Paul Dooley, Dennis Christopher, and Barbara Barrie in ‘Breaking Away’Credit: 20thCentFox/Everett

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With a career spanning nearly seven decades, Barrie was best known for her roles in Suddenly Susan, Hercules, and Breaking Away, for which she received an Oscar nod. She also received Emmy nominations for her work on the television adaptation of Breaking Away as well as for guest roles on Law & Order in 1992, and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in 2003.

Barrie was preceded in death by her husband of over 40 years, Jay Harnick, who died in 2007. She is survived by her daughter Jane, son Aaron, and three granddaughters.

on Entertainment Weekly

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