Barnes' initial appearance on television was in the episode "The Man Who Beat Lupo" on Ford Theatre. She made guest appearances on many television series, including the ABC/Warner Bros. programs 77 Sunset Strip and Maverick, CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel, What's My Line, and the crime drama Richard Diamond, Private Detective. In 1960-61, she guest-starred on The Untouchables episode "90 Proof Dame" as the wife of a French exporter of brandy. Barnes appeared as Kate Henniger, with Bing Russell and Arthur Space in the 1958 episode "Ghost Town" of the ABC/WB Western series Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston. In 1959, she portrayed Lola in the NBC detective series 21 Beacon Street. In the 1960s, Barnes worked for producer Martin Ransohoff and appeared in episodes of his The Beverly Hillbillies ("Elly Goes to School" and "The Clampett Look") and was billed as special guest-star. Barnes played Peter Falk's former wife on the 1965–1966 CBS series The Trials of O'Brien and was host of the ABC daytime talk show Dateline: Hollywood in 1967. She was also a frequent panelist in the early years of the syndicated version of What's My Line?. On December 19, 1972, Barnes appeared on The Merv Griffin Show with Joan Fontaine, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Dan Martino (founder of the Dan Martino School for Men). Barnes moved to Los Angeles soon after finishing her education, and took up a contract with Columbia Pictures. She went on to have roles in more than 20 films. Among her most remembered roles is the snooty Gloria Upson in the film Auntie Mame, which earned her a Golden Globe Award nomination for New Star of the Year. Barnes became the 13th actress to play Jane when she appeared in Tarzan, the Ape Man, with Denny Miller as Tarzan. In Disney's original 1961 version of The Parent Trap starring Hayley Mills, Barnes played gold-digger Vicki Robinson, who temporarily comes between Maureen O'Hara and Brian Keith. In the 1998 remake starring Lindsay Lohan, she played Vicki Blake, the mother of the child-hating gold-digger and fiancee Meredith Blake (Elaine Hendrix). As well, she appeared in The War Wagon, a western movie starring John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Barnes was also a writer and columnist. In 1973, she told newspaper columnist Dick Kleiner that she liked writing because "it is something you do yourself. With acting, if you win an Oscar or an Emmy, you have to thank everybody. If you write a book, it is completely your own." She wrote a book, titled Starting from Scratch, about home decorating and several novels, including The Deceivers, Who Is Carla Hart?, Pastora, and Silverwood. She wrote a weekly book review for the Los Angeles Times, and her column "Touching Home" was carried by The Chicago Tribune and the New York News Syndicate.

Filmography

• 1998The Parent Trap — Vicki Blake
• 1987A Down Home Country Christmas — Mrs. Fullbright
• Murder, She Wrote — Lydia Barnett
• 1983Secrets of a Mother and Daughter — Carina
• Cheers — Valerie Crandell
• Remington Steele — Claudette Crockett
• 1980Farewell to the Planet of the Apes — Carsia
• When the Whistle Blows
• Hart to Hart — Rosemary
• Trapper John, M.D.
• Fantasy Island — Liz Perry, Miss Betty Wendover
• The Betty White Show — Connie
• Charlie's Angels — Julia Lathrop
• Quincy, M.E. — Margo Bentley
• Barney Miller — Miss Caroline Fitzjames
• Ellery Queen
• 1975I Wonder Who's Killing Her Now? — Clarice Oliver
• Matt Helm — Hannah Bigelow
• S.W.A.T.
• Planet of the Apes — Carsia
• Cool Million — Elizabeth Karinakis
• Alias Smith and Jones
• 1971B.S. I Love You — Jane Ink
• McCloud — Karen Chandler
• Nanny and the Professor
• Hawaii Five-O — Bonnie Soames
• Marcus Welby, M.D. — Laura Daniels, Noreen Saunders
• The Name of the Game — Ardith Williams
• 1967Don't Make Waves — Diane Prescott
• Mannix
• 1967The War Wagon — Lola
• 1966Too Many Thieves — Katie
• The Trials of O'Brien — Katie O'Brien
• 1964Goodbye Charlie — Janie Highland
• Arrest and Trial — Melinda Parsons
• Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre — Connie
• 1963Philbert (Three's a Crowd) — Angela
• Vacation Playhouse
• Sam Benedict — Cordelia Montagne
• The Beverly Hillbillies — Cynthia Fenwick
• Cain's Hundred — Carol Tredman
• Dr. Kildare — Dr. Suzanne Shary
• Target: The Corruptors!
• The Investigators — Georgette
• 1961The Parent Trap — Vicky Robinson
• 1961The Purple Hills — Amy Carter
• 1960Spartacus — Claudia Marius
• The Tab Hunter Show
• 21 Beacon Street — Joanna
• Adventures in Paradise — Diane Winthrope
• Hawaiian Eye
• Laramie
• Mr. Lucky
• Philip Marlowe
• 1959Tarzan, the Ape Man — Jane
• The Untouchables — Marcie McKuen
• 77 Sunset Strip — Lisa Cabot
• 1958Auntie Mame — Gloria Upson
• 1958Home Before Dark — Cathy Bergner
• 1958Violent Road — Lawrence's Wife
• Alcoa Theatre — Eve Freemont
• Have Gun, Will Travel — Penelope Lacey
• M Squad — Tammy Worth
• Maverick — Mary Shane, Mrs. Baxter, Abby Taylor, Felice de Lassignac #1, Daphne Tolliver
• 1957No Time to Be Young — Jeannie
• Richard Diamond, Private Detective — Joyce Long
• 1957The Garment Jungle — Model (uncredited)
• The Real McCoys
• Tales of the 77th Bengal Lancers
• Cheyenne — Alice Claney
• The Millionaire — Karen Summers
• General Electric Theater — Princess Camilla

Appearances as themselves (2)

• 1986Mackendrick: The Man Who Walked Away — Self
• What's My Line? — Self