Barbara Allyne Bennet

Barbara Allyne Bennet was an actress best known for her role as a scientist in the 1988 movie Mac and Me, about a mysterious alien who is befriended by a boy in a wheelchair.

Bennet worked frequently in television, and had roles in the series Emergency!; Dynasty; Divorce Court; Murder, She Wrote; Santa Barbara; Beauty and the Beast; Superior Court; Party of Five; NYPD Blue; Beverly Hills, 90210; Felicity; The Practice; Chicago Hope; Brothers & Sisters; The Office and Shameless.

She also appeared in the telefilms Raid on Entebbe, starring Peter Finch and Charles Bronson; Evita Peron, starring Faye Dunaway; North Beach and Rawhide, with William Shatner and Tate Donovan; Working Tra$h, with George Carlin and Ben Stiller; Daughters of Privilege, starring Dick Van Dyke; and Murder 101, starring Pierce Brosnan.

Additionally, she did voiceovers for commercials, including ads for Hyundai, Ford and Tide detergent.

Bennet earned her degree in theater from Case Western Reserve University, then moved to New York City, where she appeared in Broadway and off-Broadway productions. In the 1970s, she moved to Hollywood, where she would go on to work both in front of and behind the camera.

In 1976, Bennet served as a production coordinator for the telefilm Raid on Entebbe. Two years later, she worked in the same position on the TV series Flying High, which followed the adventures of three flight attendants. In 1983, she served as a casting coordinator on the telefilm A Killer in the Family, starring Robert Mitchum and James Spader.

Bennet died January 9, 2016, in Duarte, California. She was 76.