Whatever Happened to Barbara Hershey?
What To Know
- Barbara Hershey, known for roles in iconic films like Beaches, Hannah and Her Sisters, and Black Swan, has enjoyed a versatile career spanning from the 1960s to the present.
- She earned critical acclaim with back-to-back Cannes Best Actress awards, an Emmy, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar nomination, while also gaining new fans through TV roles such as Cora on Once Upon a Time.
- Hershey continues to act in select film and television projects and will make a rare public appearance at The Hollywood Show in Burbank in January 2026, coinciding with renewed interest in her work.
Barbara Hershey has always been one of those actresses who feels instantly familiar, appearing in iconic films such as Beaches, Hannah and Her Sisters, The Right Stuff and Black Swan. Now, fans will have a rare chance to see her in person, as Hershey,77, is scheduled to appear at The Hollywood Show in Burbank, California, on January 9 and 10, 2026, so the time feels especially right to look back on a career that has spanned generations.
How did Barbara Hershey begin her career?
Born February 5, 1948, in Hollywood, California, Hershey began working as a teenager in the mid ’60s, first in television and then in film. By the late ’60s and into the ’70s, she was already taking on challenging roles, including The Baby Maker and Boxcar Bertha. However, the ’80s are when everything seemed to click into place.
Atlantic Releasing/Everett Collection
After returning to the big screen with The Stunt Man, Hershey moved effortlessly between genres, tackling horror in The Entity, historical drama in The Right Stuff, sports mythology in The Natural and character-driven storytelling in Hannah and Her Sisters. It was also during this period that she earned back-to-back Best Actress wins at the Cannes Film Festival for Shy People and A World Apart.
In the ’90s, she shifted gears again and delivered one of her most talked-about performances in 1990’s A Killing in a Small Town, which earned her both an Emmy and a Golden Globe. She had previously received a Best Supporting Actress Golden Glove nomination for 1988’s The Last Temptation of Christ, and received Best Supporting Actress nominations at both the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes for 1996’s The Portrait of a Lady. For newer audiences, Hershey may be best known for her later career work, especially her chilling turn as Natalie Portman‘s mother in Black Swan or her steady presence in the Insidious films. She also found a new generation of fans through television, particularly in her recurring role as Cora on Once Upon a Time.
Magenta Light Studios/Everett Collection
Hershey’s personal life often drew as much attention as her work. She met actor David Carradine while filming Heaven with a Gun in 1968, and the two were in a relationship until 1975, during which they appeared together in projects such as Boxcar Bertha. Their son, Tom Carradine, was born in 1972 — the same year the couple posed nude together in Playboy.
The ’60s and ’70s were a controversial time for Hershey — she received blowback for breastfeeding her son on TV during an interview on The Dick Cavett Show and at one point changed her name to Barbara Seagull after accidentally killing one of the birds while shooting a film, declaring “I felt [the seagull’s] spirit enter me. It was the only moral thing to do.”
But by the late ’70s, Hershey had settled down, telling People in 1979, “I just did a lot of growing up in public. I am older now, and I have changed.” She also reflected on her past as a poster child for the Hollywood arm of the hippie movement: “The disturbing thing is that in the ’60s I became better known as a personality than as an actress. I was a symbol of that period in a lot of people’s eyes.”
Hershey married artist Stephen Douglas in 1992, though the marriage lasted just over a year. She later had a long-term relationship with actor Naveen Andrews, which ended in 2010, after which she largely kept her personal life out of the public eye.
Where is Barbara Hershey today?
In recent years, Hershey has continued to work at a pace that suits her, with films like The Manor and television projects such as Beacon 23. She is also back in the cultural conversation thanks to renewed interest in Beaches, which is getting a Broadway musical adaptation in 2026, sending longtime fans right back to the film and her performance.
Remind 
’80s Where Are They Now
March 2023
Who can forget all the great TV shows, movies and music of the ‘80s? See what your favs are up to now!
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