Judith O'Dea played Barbara in George A. Romero’s 1968 film Night of the Living Dead.
Barbara is the film’s central early survivor, introduced while visiting a cemetery with her brother Johnny. After Johnny is attacked, she escapes to an isolated farmhouse, where she encounters Ben and several other survivors. O’Dea’s performance helped establish the film’s frightened, increasingly traumatized point of view.
Night of the Living Dead was Romero’s first feature film and was made near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with a largely local cast and crew. Its depiction of cannibalistic reanimated corpses became hugely influential, although the word “zombie” is not used in the film’s dialogue.
O’Dea is sometimes confused with Marilyn Eastman, who played Helen Cooper, or Kyra Schon, who played Helen’s daughter, Karen. Duane Jones played Ben, the farmhouse’s other major survivor.