Barbara Bates

Barbara Jane Bates (6 Agustus 1925 – 18 Maret 1969) adalah seorang penyanyi dan aktris Amerika, terkenal karena perannya sebagai Phoebe dalam film drama tahun 1950 All About Eve dan sebagai Katy Morgan dalam It's a Great Life (1954–1956). Anak tertua dari tiga bersaudara, Bates lahir di Denver, Colorado. Saat tumbuh besar di Denver, dia belajar balet dan bekerja sebagai model fesyen remaja. Remaja pemalu itu dibujuk untuk mengikuti kontes kecantikan lokal dan menang, menerima dua tiket kereta pulang pergi ke Hollywood, California. Dua hari sebelum kembali ke Denver, Bates bertemu Cecil Coan, seorang humas United Artists, yang kemudian dinikahinya. Pada bulan September 1944, Bates yang berusia 19 tahun menandatangani kontrak dengan Universal Pictures setelah Cecil Coan memperkenalkannya kepada produser Walter Wanger. Segera setelah itu, dia berperan sebagai salah satu dari "Seven Salome Girls" dalam drama tahun 1945, Salome Where She Danced yang dibintangi Yvonne De Carlo. Sekitar waktu ini, dia jatuh cinta dengan Coan, yang menikah dan memiliki dua putra dan dua putri. Pada bulan Maret 1945, Coan menceraikan istrinya Helen Coan dan diam-diam menikahi Bates, pada tanggal 25 Maret 1945, di Chihuahua, Meksiko. Bates menghabiskan beberapa tahun berikutnya sebagai aktris saham, mendapatkan peran kecil dalam film dan membuat tata letak kue keju untuk majalah seperti Yank, Army Weekly, dan Life. Salah satu sesi foto tersebut menarik perhatian para eksekutif di Warner Bros., yang mengontraknya pada tahun 1947. Warner Bros. menyoroti citra "gadis tetangga" dan karier aktingnya pun melejit. Dia muncul bersama beberapa bintang terbesar saat itu, termasuk Bette Davis di June Bride dan Danny Kaye di The Inspector General. Pada akhir tahun 1949, Bates mengikuti audisi untuk peran kecil Phoebe di All About Eve yang akan datang di Fox. Yang bersaing untuk mendapatkan peran tersebut adalah Zsa Zsa Gabor dan lainnya, tetapi Bates membuat produser terkesan dan diberi peran tersebut. Dia membuat penampilan singkat namun penting sebagai perencana licik, Phoebe, di akhir film. Citra Bates diabadikan dalam adegan terakhir film tersebut, berpose di depan cermin tiga arah, sambil memegang penghargaan yang dimenangkan oleh idolanya Eve Harrington yang diperankan oleh Anne Baxter. Setelah kemunculannya di All About Eve, Bates ikut membintangi Cheaper by the Dozen, dan sekuelnya Belles on Their Toes, bersama Jeanne Crain dan Myrna Loy. Pada tahun 1951, ia mendapatkan peran sebagai lawan main MacDonald Carey dan Claudette Colbert dalam komedi Let's Make It Legal. Fox menolak meminjamkan Bates untuk peran balerina yang ingin bunuh diri yang diselamatkan oleh vaudevillian tua Charlie Chaplin di Limelight (1952). Dia membintangi bersama Donna Reed sebagai kekasih Dean Martin dan Jerry Lewis dalam komedi hit tahun 1953 The Caddy. Pada bulan Januari 1967, suami Bates meninggal karena kanker. Hancur karena kematiannya, Bates menjadi semakin depresi, dan dia kembali ingin bunuh diri. Belakangan tahun itu, dia kembali ke Denver dan menghilang dari pandangan publik. Bates pernah bekerja sebagai sekretaris, asisten dokter gigi, dan asisten rumah sakit. Pada bulan Desember 1968, ia menikah untuk kedua kalinya, dengan teman masa kecilnya, penyiar olahraga William Reed. Terlepas dari pernikahan dan lokasinya yang baru, Bates tetap semakin putus asa dan tertekan. Pada tanggal 18 Maret 1969, hanya beberapa bulan setelah pernikahannya dengan Reed, Barbara Bates meninggal karena bunuh diri di garasi ibunya karena keracunan karbon monoksida. Dia berusia 43 tahun. Dia dimakamkan di Pemakaman Crown Hill di Jefferson County, Colorado.

Barbara Jane Bates (August 6, 1925 – March 18, 1969) was an American singer and actress, best known for her portrayal of Phoebe in the 1950 drama film All About Eve and as Katy Morgan on It's a Great Life (1954–1956). The eldest of three daughters, Bates was born in Denver, Colorado. While growing up in Denver, she studied ballet and worked as a teen fashion model. The shy teen was persuaded to enter a local beauty contest and won, receiving two round-trip train tickets to Hollywood, California. Two days before returning to Denver, Bates met Cecil Coan, a United Artists publicist, whom she would later marry. In September 1944, 19-year-old Bates signed a contract with Universal Pictures after Cecil Coan introduced her to producer Walter Wanger. Soon after, she was cast as one of the "Seven Salome Girls" in the 1945 drama, Salome Where She Danced starring Yvonne De Carlo. Around this time, she fell in love with Coan, who was married with two sons and two daughters. In March 1945, Coan divorced his wife Helen Coan and secretly married Bates, on March 25, 1945, in Chihuahua, Mexico. Bates spent the next few years as a stock actress, landing bit parts in movies and doing cheesecake layouts for magazines such as Yank, the Army Weekly and Life. One of those photo sessions caught the eye of executives at Warner Bros., which signed her in 1947. Warner Bros. highlighted her "girl-next-door" image and her acting career took off. She appeared with some of the biggest stars of the day, including Bette Davis in June Bride and Danny Kaye in The Inspector General. In late 1949, Bates auditioned for the small role of Phoebe in Fox's upcoming All About Eve. In competition for the part were Zsa Zsa Gabor and others, but Bates impressed the producers and was given the part. She made a short but important appearance as the devious schemer, Phoebe, at the end of the film. Bates's image is enshrined in the film's last scene, posing in front of a three-way mirror, while holding the award won by her idol Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter. After her appearance in All About Eve, Bates co-starred in Cheaper by the Dozen, and its sequel Belles on Their Toes, with Jeanne Crain and Myrna Loy. In 1951, she landed a role opposite MacDonald Carey and Claudette Colbert in the comedy Let's Make It Legal. Fox refused to lend out Bates for the role of the suicidal ballerina saved by Charlie Chaplin's aging vaudevillian in Limelight (1952). She co-starred with Donna Reed as the love interests of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the 1953 hit comedy The Caddy. In January 1967, Bates's husband died of cancer. Devastated by his death, Bates grew more depressed, and she again became suicidal. Later that year, she returned to Denver and fell out of public view. For a time, Bates worked as a secretary, dental assistant, and hospital aide. In December 1968, she married for the second time, to a childhood friend, sportscaster William Reed. Despite her new marriage and location, Bates remained increasingly despondent and depressed. On March 18, 1969, just months after her marriage to Reed, Barbara Bates died from suicide in her mother's garage by carbon monoxide poisoning. She was 43 years old. She is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Jefferson County, Colorado.