Oklahoma! star Barbara Lawrence dies of kidney failure at the age of 83 

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Actress Barbara Lawrence, who played Gertie Cummings in the 1955 musical Oklahoma!, has died at the age of 83.  

Her daughter-in-law, Christy Nelson, said on Friday that the actress died of kidney failure on November 13.

Lawrence was born in Carnegie, Oklahoma, on February 24, 1930 and began her career as a child photographer's model before landing her first film role in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in 1945.

Film star: Actress Barbara Lawrence, whose movie career spanned the late 1940s through the 1960s, passed away from kidney failure on November 13, her daughter-in-law has said

Her career spanned the late 1940s through the early 1960s and her movies included The Street With No Name, A Letter To Three Wives and the 1957 sci-fi cult classic Kronos.

She played Gertie in the Rodgers and Hammerstein production of Oklahoma! starring Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae.

Her TV work included episodes of Perry Mason and Bonanza

Lawrence eventually left the movie business and became an author, publicist and real estate agent in Beverly Hills.

Oklahoma!: Lawrence played Gertie in the 1955 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical classic Oklahoma! starring Shirley Jones and Gordon MacRae

She has a star on Hollywood's Walk Of Fame.

In her personal life, Lawrence was married three times.

In January 1947, she wed John Forrest Fontaine, an actor who went by the stage name Jeffrey Stone. The marriage ended in 1948.

Three years later, Lawrence wed Johnny Murphy and they had two children before divorcing in 1957.

Lawrence married her third husband, Lester R Nelson, in 1961 and had two more children before the couple divorced in 1976.

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