Barbara Tarbuck, ‘General Hospital’ and ‘American Horror Story’ Actress, Dies at 74
Barbara Tarbuck, best known for her long-running role as Lady Jane Jacks in “General Hospital,” died of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease on Monday at her Los Angeles home, her daughter, producer Jennifer Lane Connolly, confirmed to Variety. She was 74.
The Detroit native began her career at age nine on the WWJ children’s radio show “Storyland.” She went on to study acting at Wayne State University in Michigan and later attended the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art on a Fulbright Scholarship. She moved to New York City after graduation to pursue a career as an actress.
She appeared on Broadway in David Mamet’s “The Water Engine” as well as in Jules Irving’s production of “Landscape and Silence.”
Tarbuck played Lady Jane Jacks, Jax Jacks’ (played by Ingo Rademacher) mother on the popular ABC soap opera “General Hospital” from 1996 until 2010. She also appeared in five episodes of Ryan Murphy’s hit series “American Horror Story: Asylum” as Mother Superior Claudia. Her other TV credits include “The Waltons,” “Santa Barbara,” “M*A*S*H,” “Cagney & Lacey,” “Dallas,” “The Golden Girls,” “Nip/Tuck,” and many more.
In addition, she was featured in films such as Peter Greenaway’s “The Tulse Luper Suitcases: The Moab Story,” “Curly Sue,” “Big Trouble,” “The Tie That Binds,” “Walking Tall,” “Gone,” and “S. Darko.” Tarbuck eventually went on to teach acting at UCLA.
Aside from her daughter, Tarbuck is also survived by her son-in-law, Samuel Chawinga, and two grandsons: Cianan and Cuinn Chawinga.
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