Mischa Barton Grateful For Explosive Storyline on The OC  5/23/06

Mischa Barton was thrilled her The OC character Marissa Cooper was killed off in an explosive ending to the third series, instead of leaving the show "in one of those lame farewells".

During her three years on the show, her character has overdosed, dealt with drink and drug problems, witnessed her friend's death and shot her on/off boyfriend Ryan Atwood's (Ben McKenzie) brother Trey (Logan Marshall Green).

At the end of the Fox drama's season three finale on Thursday (18MAY06), Cooper died in Atwood's arms following a car chase with another ex-boyfriend Ken Volchok (Cam Gigandet).

Barton, 20, enthuses, "Well, I was really excited that I get to die, to be honest.

"I've done pretty much everything else with the character. It was better than one of those lame farewells.

"But I really think it's best to do movies now."