Barbara Barry is an American theater, film and television actress who is also an acclaimed author of several books. Winner of the Cannes Film Festival, Academy Awards, Emmy Awards and Tony Awards.
Biography and personal life
Barbara Ann Berman (maiden name of Barbara Barry) was born on May 23, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois, in a family of Jews, Louis Berman and Frances Rose. In the family, Barbara also had an older brother, Jeffrey Melvin Berman.
When the girl was 9 years old, her family moved to Corpus Christi, Texas. There she graduated from Corpus Christi High High School in 1948. Educated at Del Maar College as a journalist. She then studied at the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama.
During her studies at Austin, Barbara was able to win two dramatic scholarships. The first is the Kappa Kappa Gamma Donna, awarded to the most outstanding junior in the drama department. The second is the Atlas Award from the Globe Theater in San Diego for the best female performance, which took place on the stage of the California Theater in the summer performance Much Ado About Nothing.
In 1952 she moved to New York to start her career in this city. At the very beginning of her career, she adopted the pseudonym "Barry" to use it instead of her last name Berman.
In July 1964, she married director, actor and producer Jay Malcolm Harnik. The couple had two children: daughter Jane Caroline Harnik, born in 1965. and son Aaron Louis Harnik born 1969
In 1994, Barbara underwent successful treatment for rectal cancer and wrote a memoir, “Act II: Life After a Bone Breaker and Other Adventures,” about her experience. In September 2014, Barry was diagnosed with idiomatic pulmonary fibrosis.
Creativity in the theater
Barrie first began playing professionally at the theater in 1953 with the theater troupe in Cornig, New York. Here she played her first major role in the production of "Blue Moon". She subsequently worked at the Rochester Arena Theater. She made her Broadway debut in 1955 in The Wooden Dish. In 1959, she began acting on Broadway in the production of The Brothers' Trick.
Outside Broadway, she began performing in 1958 in The Crucible and in the fictional version of Madchen in Uniform at the American Shakespeare Theater in Stratford. In 1959, on the stage of the same theater, she began to play various Shakespearean characters. In 1961 she toured Europe as Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker.
In 1969 she played the viola in the production of Twelfth Night at the Delacorte Theater. In 1970 she began to play the role of Sarah in the musical troupe of Stephen Sondheim. The music company won a Tony Award for Best Musical, and Barry was nominated for Best Actress in the Musical.
In 1974, Barbara won the Obie Award for Best Actress in Jay Broad's The Killer and the Drama Table Outstanding Achievement Award. In 1976, Barry starred in the Broadway play California Suite. 1979 - the female lead in the American version of Boto Strauss's Big and Small at the Phoenix Theater in East Village, Manhattan.
In 1995, Barry returned to the theater after a long hiatus and performed in After-Play at the Manhattan Theater Club. In 2014, Barbara was nominated for an Outside Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in I Remember Mom off Broadway.
In 2015, the actress starred in an off-Broadway production for RoundAbout Theater.
In 2017, she appeared in Joshua Harmon's play Other Notables at the Booth on Broadway.
Film career
Barbara Barry's film debut took place in 1956 in the film Giant. In 1963, she played the role of Edna in The Rangers. In 1964, the actress got her first leading role in the film One Potato, Two Potatoes. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Screenplay. Barry won the Cannes Film Festival award for Best Actress in this film.
In 1979, the actress played the role of Evelyn Stoller in Breaking Away. This film was nominated for an Academy Award. Barry herself was nominated for the same award for Best Supporting Actress.
In 1980, Barbara played the main character's mother in the TV series Benjamin.
In 1999, Barry was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Support for her role as Sue Berlin, mother of Eli Falco's character in Judy Berlin.
Television career
Barry made his television debut in 1955 at Kraft Television Theater. In 1956, she starred at Horton Foot in the television play Flight, starring as Kim Stanley's sister. Her main role was in two episodes of "Decoy" (1958 and 1959).
In 1962 she starred in three episodes of the TV series Naked City. In 1963, she starred in the television version of Lawrence Durrell's Dark Labyrinth. In addition, during the 1960s, Barbara starred in many popular television series of the time.
In the 1961 series The Defenders, Barry appeared in three episodes, and in Ben Casey, in two episodes. In 1962, the actress played a blind girl in one of the episodes of the TV series "Route 66".
In 1964, Barbara appeared in two episodes of The Hour of Alfred Hitchcock. In both episodes "Isabelle" and "Consider Her Ways," she starred.
In 1965, Barry starred in the episode "Not the End, but the Beginning" of the series "The Fugitive." It was this episode, according to the general opinion of fans, became one of the best among the 120 episodes of the series.
In 1968, the actress starred in the title role of the episode "Enemy" of the TV series "Invaders". In 1975, director Lee Grant filmed her in the television movie For Hall Use. In 1977, Barbara starred in two television films at once: "79 Park Avenue" and "Tell Me My Name."
In 1978, Barry played the role of Emily Armsworth in the Disney television film Child of Glass, based on Richard Peck's novel The Ghost Belonging to Me. In 1978 she played the role of Mrs. Berg in the television film Summer of My German Soldier.
From 1975 to 1978, Barry was involved in 37 episodes of the series "Barney Miller" as the protagonist's wife. In the 1979 television miniseries Backstairs, she portrayed Mamie Eisenhower in the White House.
In 1980, Barbara starred for the ABC channel in the television series Otryv, based on the film of the same name. Despite the fact that the series was only partially shown, Barry was nominated for an Emmy for her role in it.
In the 1981 TV series Private Benjamin, the actress played one of the leading roles. Ethel Banks stars in the TV version of Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon. In the same year, he starred in the television movie “Children Nobody Wanted.
In the 1987 TV series Family Ties, she played the role of Aunt Rosemary. For her role as Mrs. Brim on Law & Order in February 1992, Barry was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama. In 1994 she played the role of Pauline Robillard in the Emmy-winning mini-series Scarlett.
In 1997, she voiced Alcmene, the adoptive mother of Hercules in the Disney cartoon Hercules. In 1998 she played Ruth in the TV movie "Snow Chance".
In the television series Suddenly Susan, Barry was featured in 92 episodes. In May 2003, she played a role in the episode “Perfect” on the TV series Law & Order, for which she was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Guest Actress in a Drama.
In 2004 she appeared in the TV series Dead Like Me. Recent work on television has become roles in the series "Pushing Daisies", "Nurse Jackie" and "Enlightened".
