Ernestine Barrier

Who was Ernestine Barrier?

Ernestine Barrier was an American-born actress of stage, film and television. Her birth name was Ernestine Spratt, but she used the stage name of Ernestine De Becker. She is noted for being the first actress to play a female president of the United States, in the film Project Moonbase. Descended from an acting family, she continued the familial theater tradition, her husband was Edgar Barrier, and her son was Michael Barrier. Ms. Barrier made her first stage appearance at the age of roughly six months when she was carried onstage by her mother Nesta De Becker, also an actress.

Ms Barrier acted into her eighties appearing on such television shows as Charlie's Angels, CHiPs, and The Waltons. Her films include A Family Upside Down, Lust for Life, and The Bottom of the Bottle.She is also known for her work in the 1930s on Broadway where she appeared as Ernestine De Becker in The Seagull, Amphitryon 38, Idiot's Delight, The Taming of the Shrew, and Late One Evening. In 1946 she returned to Broadway appearing with her husband Edgar Barrier in On Whitman Avenue. She is survived by her son Michael Barrier and her granddaughter Maerian Morris.