Anne Barton, a stage actress who became a character actress in film and TV between the 1950s and 1970s, died Nov. 27 in Los Angeles after a long illness, Variety reported.

Ms. Barton was 72.

When she was 17, the Evansville, IN, native left Ohio, where she was raised, and moved to New York City to study acting at Barnard. Her first Broadway appearance was a play called Junior Miss. She toured in Life With Father; on that tour she met her future husband, actor Dan Barton, who survives her.

She performed on stage in Hollywood (I Am a Camera with the Players Ring) and found work in TV westerns ("Gunsmoke"), anthologies ("The Twilight Zone") and crime dramas ("Perry Mason").

Her film credits include "The Green Eyed Blonde'' (1957), "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?'' (1962) and "The Way West'' (1967). She is also survived by a son, Steven, a musician; a daughter, actress producer Susan Berman; and a granddaughter.

— By Kenneth Jones