Barbara Turner, Screenwriter and Mother of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Dies at 79
Barbara Turner, screenwriter of Petulia, Georgia and Pollock, has died. She was 79.
The mother of actress Jennifer Jason Leigh passed away on Tuesday in Los Angeles, according to Variety.
Among many of Turner's screenplay credits are 1968's Petulia, which earned her a Writers' Guild of America nomination, as well as 1977's The War Between the Tates, which garnered her an Emmy nomination.
In 1994, Turner teamed up with daughter Leigh to produce her screenplay Georgia, directed by Ulu Grosbard. Years later in 2000, actors Marcia Gay Harden and Ed Harris earned Academy Award nominations for their roles in the Turner-scripted Jackson Pollock biopic Pollock. Harden went on to win Best Supporting Actress.
Earlier this year, Hateful Eight actress Leigh spoke fondly about her mother telling PEOPLE, "I've always had so much admiration for my mom. She's so inspiring as a woman and as an artist."
Adding, "My mother always helped me because she was kind of a research fanatic. When she would write a screenplay there would be so much research all over the walls. And so when I started working as an actress I would do the same thing. She instilled in me a love of taking everything very seriously. It didn't matter what it was."
Turner was married twice: to actor Vic Morrow from 1957-1964, and to television director Reza Badiyiis from 1968-1979. She is survived by her three daughters Leigh, Carrie Ann Morrow and Mina Badiyi Chassler, five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
