Barbara Rush was born on 4 January 1927. She graciously retired at the age of 80 — despite living another 17 years.

Rush pursued a varied career. She acted in everything from serious Hollywood feature films to TV soap operas. In terms of psychotronics, she starred in the original version of The Outer Limits (“The Forms of Things Unknown”) and the 1990s reboot (“The Balance of Nature”). She starred in the “Cool Air” short on Night Gallery. And she played the outrageous Nora Clavicle in an episode of Batman. She was also in the made-for-TV movie Moon of the Wolf.

But we remember Barbara Rush for two iconic films she made earlier in her career. When Worlds Collide (1951) was the first of these. It’s a spectacular film but it hasn’t aged well. Most of its whiz-bang spaceship stuff died with Apollo 11. Rush plays Joyce, an astronomer’s daughter who is torn between two men.

It Came From Outer Space was the second film. This one has aged well. It stands out in a sea of similar films that are little more than Cold War propaganda. She plays Ellen, the fiancée of Richard Carlson. She is plucky and devoted — the ultimate 1950s nubile woman! She won a Golden Globe Award for the film. I assume it wasn’t as corrupt back then.

So let’s watch this excellent film in celebration of Barbara Rush’s birthday.

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Barbara Rush via Wikimedia. It is in the public domain.