Gene Barry

Biography: Gene Barry

The son of a New York jeweler, American actor Gene Barry emerged from his pinchpenny Depression-era childhood with an instatiable desire for the finer things in life. The acting profession seemed to hold out promise for fame and (especially) fortune. Making the rounds of theatrical agents in the 1940s, Barry, no matter his true financial situation, showed up dressed to the nines; grim reality soon set in, however, and the actor found himself clearing little more than 2000 a year -- on good years. When stage work seemed to yield nothing but bits, Barry turned to early television, then signed a movie contract in 1951. The only truly worthwhile film to star Barry was 1953's War of the Worlds, but even with top billing he had to play second banana to George Pal's marvelous special effects. Finally in 1956, Herb Gordon of Ziv Productions asked Barry if he'd like to star in a western. The actor resisted -- after all, everyone was doing westerns -- until Gordon pointed out that role would include a derby hat, a cane, and an erudite Eastern personality. Barry was enchanted by this, and from 1957 through 1961 he starred on the popular series Bat Masterson. The strain of filming a weekly western compelled Barry to declare that he'd never star on a series again - until he was offered the plum role of millionaire police detective Amos Burke on Burke's Law. This series ran from 1963 through 1965, and might have gone on longer had the producers not tried and failed to turn it into a Man From UNCLE type spy show. Barry's next series, Name of the Game, was another success (it ran from 1969 through 1971), and wasn't quite as grueling in that the actor only had to appear in one out of every three episodes. Always the epitome of diamond-in-the-rough masculinity, Barry astounded his fans in the mid 1980s by accepting the role of an aging homosexual in the stage musical version of the French film comedy La Cage Aux Follies. Yet another successful run followed, after which Barry went into semi-retirement, working only when he felt like it. In 1993, Gene Barry was back for an unfortunately brief revival of Burke's Law, which was adjusted for the actor's age by having him avoid the action and concentrate on the detecting; even so, viewers had a great deal of difficulty believing that Burke (or Barry) was as old as he claimed to be. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide less

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Movies (21)
TV (6)
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The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (1991)
Cast: Mickey Rooney Gene Barry Clint Walker Rick Rossovich David Carradine
Tags: Revisionist Western Western
Length: 180min
The fourth of Kenny Rogers' Gambler TV movies, 1991's The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw is regarded by many Western diehards as the best. This time, gambler Brady Hawkes is en route to a high-stakes poker game in San Francisco. His travelling...
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Perry Mason: The Case of the Lost Love (1987)
Cast: Gene Barry Raymond Burr Jean Simmons David Ogden Stiers Stephen Elliott
Tags: Mystery Crime Drama Detective Film
Length: 98min
The Case of the Lost Love was the fourth of the Perry Mason TV movies of the 1980s. Raymond Burr plays Mason (you're surprised?), who while out of town at a lawyer's conference is reunited with Jean Simmons, his lady friend of 30 years past. Simmons...
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Guyana, Cult of the Damned (1980)
Cast: Gene Barry Joseph Cotten John Ireland Nelson Riddle Stuart Whitman
Tags: Docudrama Drama
Length: 90min
"Names have been changed to protect the innocent" in this infamous fictionalization of the tragic mass suicide of 914 followers of Jim Jones' "People's Temple" in Guyana in the fall of 1978. Rev. James Johnson (Stuart Whitman) is a charismatic but...
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The Second Coming of Suzanne (1974)
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss Gene Barry Sondra Locke Paul Sand Michael Barry
Tags: Drama Art Film Showbiz Drama
Length: 90min
Based on a song by Leonard Cohen, this peculiar experimental film set in late-'60s San Francisco was executive-produced by game-show mogul Gene Barry, the director's father. It concerns Suzanne (Sondra Locke), who gets crucified in a...
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Maroc 7 (1967)
Cast: Gene Barry Cyd Charisse Denholm Elliott Eric Barker Elsa Martinelli
Tags: Crime Drama Caper Drama Crime
Length: 92min
It's Funny Face meets Rififi in Maroc 7, starring Cyd Charisse as Louise Henderson, an editor for a slick and chic fashion magazine who utilizes her jet-setting life style as a front for an international jewel-smuggling operation. Abetting her in the...
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Subterfuge (1968)
Cast: Gene Barry Richard Todd John Welsh Joan Collins Michael Rennie
Tags: Action
Length: 89min
CIA agent Donovan (Gene Barry) travels to Britain to untangle a web of international spies. He falls for the estranged wife of local secret agent Langley (Tom Adams). Anne (Joan Collins) starts a romance with Donovan before her son is kidnapped by...
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The Adventures of Nellie Bly (1981)
Cast: Gene Barry J.D. Cannon Linda Purl John Randolph Fran Ryan
Tags: Docudrama Biopic Historical Film
Length: 100min
Linda Purl stars as Nellie Bly, famed 19th century female journalist, in this "Classics Illustrated" TV movie. A tireless crusader, Nellie exposes corruption amongst the rich of New York and miserable working conditions amongst the poor. In her most...
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The 27th Day (1957)
Cast: Gene Barry William Asher Paul H. Frees George Voskovec Stefan Schnabel
Tags: Alien Film Science Fiction
Length: 75min
A locked-in-the-fifties science fiction film, The 27th Day begins with five different people from five different countries suddenly disappearing from view. They have been gently abducted by the agent (Arnold Moss) of a faraway dying planet, who gives...
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Thunder Road (1958)
Cast: Robert Mitchum Gene Barry Arthur Ripley Trevor Bardette Peter Breck
Tags: Crime Drama Crime
Length: 92min
Robert Mitchum (who also wrote the story and served as executive producer) stars in Thunder Road as Lucas Doolin, a Korean War veteran who returns home and promptly rejoins the family's bootlegging business. His father, Vernon (Trevor Bardette), runs...
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Hong Kong Confidential (1958)
Cast: Gene Barry Emil Newman Allison Hayes Beverly Tyler Michael Pate
Tags: Action Thriller Action Drama
Length: 67min
Director Edward L. Cahn always knew how to make lemonade from a lemon; his B pictures of the late 1950s displayed a raw energy that many of his higher-budgeted films of the 1930s lacked. Hong Kong Confidential is a backlot cheapie starring Gene Barry...
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Gene Barry

Biography: Gene Barry

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