| Gene Barry AKA Eugene Klass Born: 14-Jun-1919
Birthplace: Brooklyn, NY
Gender: Male
Religion: Jewish
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor, Singer Nationality: United States
Executive summary: The War of the Worlds Gene Barry started as a song-and-dance man, appearing in several long-running 1940s musicals on Broadway. By the 1950s he had switched to film acting, mostly working in second-tier productions, where he was an affordable substitute for Cary Grant. His most popular film was the original War of the Worlds, where Barry played a scientist. He played the federal agent who pursued moonshiner Robert Mitchum in the whiskey noir Thunder Road, and he was a wealthy cad in a plane crash in Back from Eternity.
On TV, Barry starred from 1958-61 as the high-class gambler and good guy Bat Masterson, the western hero who generally eschewed the gun and instead won fights by wielding his cane. From 1963-66 he played millionaire cop Amos Burke on Burke's Law. From 1968-71 he played Glenn Howard, the crusading publisher of People magazine, on The Name of the Game. Returning to the stage in the 1980s, Barry was Tony-nominated for the original Broadway production of La Cage aux Folles. His baritone is likely more recognisable for singing the jingle for Lowenbrau beer: the company used Barry's rendition of the song in most of its commercials through the early 1990s.
Father: Martin Klass
Mother: Eva Klass
Wife: Betty Claire Kalb (actress, m. 22-Oct-1944, d. 31-Jan-2003)
Son: Michael Lewis Barry (film director, b. 1946)
Son: Frederick James Barry (b. 1953)
Daughter: Elizabeth (adopted 1967)
Golden Globe 1965 for Burke's Law (television)
TELEVISION
Our Miss Brooks Gene Talbot (1955-56)
Bat Masterson Bat Masterson (1958-61)
Burke's Law Capt. Amos Burke (1963-66)
The Name of the Game Glenn Howard (1968-71)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
War of the Worlds (27-Jun-2005)
These Old Broads (12-Feb-2001)
The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw (3-Nov-1991)
The Girl, the Gold Watch, & Dynamite (25-May-1981)
A Cry for Love (20-Oct-1980)
Thunder Road (1-Aug-1958)
Forty Guns (Sep-1957)
The 27th Day (Jul-1957)
Back from Eternity (7-Sep-1956)
Soldier of Fortune (17-May-1955)
Naked Alibi (1-Oct-1954)
The War of the Worlds (13-Aug-1953)
Atomic City (1-May-1952)
Requires Flash 7+ and Javascript.
Do you know something we don't?
Submit a correction or make a comment about this profile
Copyright ©2008 Soylent Communications
| 
