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. The Hollywood Reporter said of her performance, "Barbara Bates comes on the screen in the last few moments to more or less sum up the whole action and point of the story. It's odd that a bit should count for so much, and in the hands of Miss Bates all the required points are fulfilled." 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. In 1951, she landed a role opposite MacDonald Carey and Claudette Colbert in the comedy Let's Make It Legal. Fox refused to loan out Bates for the role of the suicidal ballerina saved by Charlie Chaplin's aging vaudevillian in Limelight (1952). She co-starred with Donna Reed as the love interests of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in the 1953 hit comedy The Caddy. Decline Despite a seemingly successful career, Bates' life, both on and off screen, started unravelling. She became a victim of extreme mood swings, insecurity, ill health, and chronic depression. In 1954, she won the role of Cathy on the NBC sitcom It's a Great Life, co-starring Frances Bavier as her mother, Amy Morgan, and James Dunn as her uncle, Earl Morgan. After 26 episodes, she was written out of the show due to her erratic behavior, depression and instability. Bates tried to salvage her career and traveled to England to find work. She was signed on as a contract player with the Rank Organisation, only to be replaced in two leading roles before filming began. Bates continued to be too emotionally unstable to work and in 1957, her contract with the Rank Organisation was cancelled. Upon returning to the United States in 1957, Bates and her husband got an apartment in Beverly Hills. Later that year, Bates made her last film, Apache Territory, which was released in September 1958. She then appeared in two television commercials, one for floor wax and another endorsing a now unknown product with Buster Keaton. In 1960, Bates's husband Cecil Coan was diagnosed with cancer. Bates put her career on hold to care for her ailing husband. The strain eventually became too much for her. She attempted suicide by slashing her