Tony Winner Barbara Barrie Dies at 95 by Medically Assisted Suicide, Daughter Shares Her Final Wish

Barbara Barrie, a Tony Award-winning actress whose career spanned decades, died Wednesday in New York at age 95 by medically assisted suicide. She had been diagnosed with terminal cancer just three weeks earlier, and used New York’s Medical Aid in Dying Act, which took effect in August after Governor Kathy Hochul signed it in January.

Her daughter Jane Harnick told Page Six that Barrie had advocated for end-of-life choice for years and was grateful the law arrived when it did.“She was so grateful that it had been instituted in New York State really in the nick of time,”Harnick said. She added that her mother“was ready to go. She knew 95 was old enough.”

The family planned Barrie’s death and memorial together, with Barrie weighing in on speakers and music. She is survived by her children, Jane and Aaron, and leaves behind a Broadway legacy, a long screen career, and a final chapter that has people talking about how we say goodbye. So we want to know: is that level of control over the end of life something you’d want for yourself? Tell us in the comments.