Barbara Tarbuck, an actress who played Lady Jane Jacks on General Hospital and Mother Superior Claudia on American Horror Story: Asylum among scores of film and TV credits spanning four decades, has died. She was 74. Tarbuck died Monday at her home in Los Angeles.
Tarbuck began guesting on TV series in the late 1970s, appearing on such popular shows as The Waltons, The Incredible Hulk, Charlie’s Angels, Little House on the Prairie and Dallas. She continued to work mostly in TV during the 1980s, with roles on Newhart, M*A*S*H, Cagney & Lacey, Police Squad!, The Golden Girls, Moonlighting, L.A. Law and others. She also appeared in the mid-’80s features Short Circuit and Big Trouble.
In 1986, Tarbuck landed a recurring role on the popular primetime soap Falcon Crest, which led to a 1990 stint on daytime drama Santa Barbara. She would go on to appear in more than 40 episodes of General Hospital as the mother of Jax Jacks (Ingo Rademacher) from 1996-2010. She continued to work in television into the 2010s, most recently appearing on Mad Men, Dexter, Glee and AHS.
She also played Broadway in Brighton Beach Memoirs and The Water Engine/Mr. Happiness and appeared in such features as Walking Tall (2004) and Curly Sue (1991).
Survivors include her daughter, Jennifer Lane Connolly, a documentary producer; son-in-law Samuel Chawing; and two grandsons.
