It Came From Outer Space actress Barbara Rush dies aged 97

Barbara Rush, left, with Joanne Woodward, right (PA Archive)

American actress and It Came From Outer Space star Barbara Rush has died at the age of 97, her daughter has confirmed.

The Denver-born actress, who starred opposite Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin in the Chicago-set gangster musical Robin And The 7 Hoods and was also known for legal drama The Young Philadelphians with Paul Newman, died on Sunday evening.

Fox News Channel senior correspondent Claudia Cowan, the daughter of Rush and the late publicist Warren Cowan, confirmed her mother’s death to the outlet.

Barbara Rush, right, with actor James Mason, centre, and actress Joanne Woodward, left, at the premiere of the film Mayerling (PA Archive)

“My wonderful mother passed away peacefully at 5.28 this evening. I was with her this morning and know she was waiting for me to return home safely to transition,” Cowan told Fox News Digital.

Rush, who also married to Star Trek pilot actor Jeffrey Hunter as well as Jim Gruzalski, won the new actress of the year Golden Globe in 1954 for her performance in cult scien ce fiction film It Came From Outer Space.

In the early 3-D movie, she plays schoolteacher Ellen Fields who screams in one memorable scene after an alien crash lands on Earth.

She and her fiance John Putnam, played by Richard Carlson, inspect the crater and try to piece together the strange events in the small town.

Rush also received a Golden Globe nod for Hell And High Water, about an an Alaskan submarine expedition, and starred in the TV shows Peyton Place, All My Children and 7th Heaven.

In the 1960s series Batman, she played the villain Nora Clavicle in a few episodes as she tried to outwit the superheroes.

Rush also played British actor James Mason’s wife in drug drama Bigger Than Life, starred opposite Hollywood star Rock Hudson in romantic drama Magnificent Obsession and was in science fiction film When Worlds Collide.

She worked with Newman in the 1967 western Hombre, Sinatra in 1963 comedy film Come Blow Your Horn and Martin in 1958 Second World War film The Young Lions, which also featured Marlon Brando.

Rush had a son, Christopher Hunter, with Hunter, who was known for playing Jesus in biblical film King Of Kings and for his role in western The Searchers.