Barbara Jane Bates (August 6, 1925 – March 18, 1969) was an American singer and actress, best known for her portrayal of Phoebe in the 1950 drama film All About Eve and as Katy Morgan on It's a Great Life (1954–1956).

The shy teen was persuaded to enter a local beauty contest and won, receiving two round-trip train tickets to Hollywood, California.

[2] In September 1944, 19-year-old Bates signed a contract with Universal Pictures after Cecil Coan introduced her to producer Walter Wanger.

[3][4] Bates spent the next few years as a stock actress, landing bit parts in movies and doing cheesecake layouts for magazines such as Yank, the Army Weekly and Life.

She appeared with some of the biggest stars of the day, including Bette Davis in June Bride and Danny Kaye in The Inspector General.

Bates's image is enshrined in the film's last scene, posing in front of a three-way mirror, while holding the award won by her idol Eve Harrington, played by Anne Baxter.

This memorable final scene left critics and audiences intrigued by the young actress, who they thought would star in a sequel to All About Eve.

"[7] After her appearance in All About Eve, Bates co-starred in Cheaper by the Dozen, and its sequel Belles on Their Toes, with Jeanne Crain and Myrna Loy.

Fox refused to lend out Bates for the role of the suicidal ballerina saved by Charlie Chaplin's aging vaudevillian in Limelight (1952).

[2] On March 18, 1969, just months after her marriage to Reed, Barbara Bates died from suicide in her mother's garage by carbon monoxide poisoning.