Barbara Turner was a writer, producer, and performer best known for penning the 1995 film Georgia, which starred her daughter, Jennifer Jason Leigh as Sadie Flood, the younger sister left in the shadow of her older, more famous sister, played by Mare Winningham. Turner was also nominated for two Emmy Awards, for the telefilms The War Between the Tates and Hemingway & Gellhorn.

After attending the University of Texas, Turner began her career as an actress. She appeared on the television series Medic, M Squad, Playhouse 90, The Frank Sinatra Show, The Lineup, Ben Casey, and The Virginian. She also had a role in the telefilm The Desperate Mission, starring Ricardo Montalban, and the feature film Soldier Blue, with Candice Bergen and Peter Strauss.

Turner and her future husband, the late actor Vic Morrow moved to California when he got a part in the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle. After working for years as an actress, she transitioned to writing in 1966, when she adapted the screenplay for the film Deathwatch, starring Leonard Nimoy. She followed that work up with the films Petulia, starring Julie Christie, George C. Scott, and Richard Chamberlain; Pollock, directed by and starring Ed Harris as the American painter; and Robert Altman's The Company, starring Neve Campbell and James Franco.

In addition to the 1977 NBC telefilm The War Between the Tates, starring Elizabeth Ashley and Richard Crenna, and the 2012 HBO telefilm Hemingway & Gellhorn, featuring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman, Turner also wrote the screenplays for the telefilms The Affair, starring Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner; Widow, with Michael Learned; Freedom, and Eye on the Sparrow, both starring Winningham; and Out of Darkness, with Diana Ross. Turner also served as a producer on Sparrow, Georgia, and Hemingway & Gelhorn.

She was also married to director Reza Badiyi (Hawaii Five-O, Get Smart, The Mary Tyler Moore Show) from 1968 to 1985.

Turner died April 5, 2016, in Los Angeles. She was 79.