American actress with a hippie image during the ’60s, who changed her last name to “Seagull” for awhile. Working steadily from 1981, her major films included “The Right Stuff,” “The Natural,” “The Entity,” “Tin Men” and “Hannah & Her Sisters.” She played Mary Magdeline in “Last Temptation of Christ,” 1988.
Hershey’s father was New York Jewish, a bookie who wrote a racing column for a California paper and later ran a clothing store in Encino, California with his wife, a Presbyterian from Arkansas. Barbara did not have a good relationship with her mother while she was growing up. The family nicknamed her “Sarah Bernhardt” because Hershey would come home from the movies and act out parts she had just seen with great high drama. A high-school drama teacher put her in touch with a talent agent who got her a part in the TV series “Gidget” in the 60s.
From 1968-1975 she was a companion to actor David Carradine. In 1972 they had a son whom they named “Free;” the boy changed his name to Tom when he reached his teens. She was first married at 44 to Stephen Douglas, star of the movie “Beaches” at her Connecticut home on 8/08/1992. The couple separated 15 months later.
Hershey is reclusive about her life, stating, “I do not want anybody to know who or what I am. I am whomever I am playing, and these people are in me even after I’ve finished a film.” Many directors admire her ability to take on any aspect of a fantasy and fully carry it out in a role.
Link to Wikipedia biography