Barbara Lang (film actress)
Barbara Lang, born Barbara Jean Bly on March 2, 1928, was an American actress and singer. She grew up, studied at Eagle Rock High School, and performed in small theater. After contracting polio, she was told she might never walk again, but she recovered and credited her faith with helping her. To pay medical debts, she began singing in night clubs and taught herself to sing, often letting her accompanist choose the key and pitch. She sang in Portland and San Francisco and caught Hollywood’s eye after appearing in six Death Valley Days episodes (1955–1956).
In 1957, Lang signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and trained at their dramatic school. She starred as the female lead in House of Numbers (1957) with Jack Palance, filmed at San Quentin Prison and in Mill Valley, California. She was briefly considered to star opposite Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock, a project that was initially called Jailhouse Kid. In Party Girl (1958), she played Ginger D’Amour, a 1930s Chicago showgirl.
After recovering from polio, Lang moved more into television, with many credits including The Thin Man (1957), Maverick (1958), The Bob Cummings Show (1958), 77 Sunset Strip (1959), Lawman (1959), Tightrope! (1959), and Outlaws (1960), among others.
Lang’s personal life included three marriages. She married William McCorkle in 1946; they divorced in 1952. She then married Alan Wells in 1956; they divorced in 1958, with an annulment granted later that year after it was revealed Wells had married her in Mexico before his previous divorce was final. She married John George in 1967, and they divorced in 1972. Barbara Lang had two children.
Lang died on July 22, 1982, at the age of 54, reportedly from pneumonia.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 13:52 (CET).