Gene Barry

  • Name: Gene Barry
  • Date of Birth: June 14, 1919
  • Place of Birth: New York City, New York, USA
Mini-bio: Gene Barry was born Eugene Klass. Musical at
an early age, he was considered a violin virtuoso during adolescence (a gift
inherited from his father) and possessed a natural, attractive baritone voic...( read more)e.

After breaking his arm playing football, he concentrated on singing, finding work in
nightclubs, choirs, fairs, and even with dance bands while still in high school.
Following graduation, he appeared on the vaudeville stage and on radio, eventually
getting a break on Broadway in the Mae West vehicle "Catherine Was Great" in 1944,
where he met and later married his wife Betty. For the rest of the decade, he
appeared in a random selection of plays and musicals, which did little to further
his career. Hollywood finally beckoned in the 1950s, and he co-starred in such
dramatic B films as Atomic City (1952), Those Redheads from Seattle (1953), and
Alaska Seas (1954), none of which capitalized on his singing skills. The one movie
in which he did sing, Red Garters (1954), did not fare well with the public. His
most outstanding role was as Dr. Clayton Forrester, a scientist who finds himself in
the midst of a Martian invasion in the cult sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds
(1953).




Television became his preferred medium after being offered the title role in "Bat
Masterson" (1958), and he established a comfortable and very profitable niche as a
suave, dapper gentleman from the West in this and many other TV productions. Despite
the elegant, globe-trotting typecast that seemed inevitable, his other TV gents
proved just as successful: jet-setting detective Amos Burke in "Burke's Law" (1963),
for which he won a Golden Globe award, and well-groomed publishing tycoon Glenn
Howard in "The Name of the Game" (1968).




He returned to the stage in the 1970s (often with his wife as co-star), and
triumphantly re-established his singing career in the 1980s in the Broadway musical
based on the film Cage aux folles, La (1978) in 1983, which earned him a Tony
nomination. Since then he has made only occasional TV and stage appearances
(bringing back his famous characters Bat Masterson and Amos Burke, much to the
enjoyment of his fans), preferring instead to indulge his hobby of painting and also
occasional political activism. Wife Betty died in 2003 after a nearly 60-year
marriage.
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Replace this image with an actor photoGene Barry mini-bio: Gene Barry was born Eugene Klass. Musical at an early age, he was considered a violin virtuoso during adolescence (a gift inherited from his father) and possessed a natural, attractive baritone voice. After breaking his arm playing football, he concentrated on singing, finding work in nightclubs, choirs, fairs, and even with dance bands while still in high school. Following graduation, he appeared on the vaudeville stage and on radio, eventually getting a break on Broadway in the Mae West vehicle "Catherine Was Great" in 1944, where he met and later married his wife Betty. For the rest of the decade, he appeared in a random selection of plays and musicals, which did little to further his career. Hollywood finally beckoned in the 1950s, and he co-starred in such dramatic B films as Atomic City (1952), Those Redheads from Seattle (1953), and Alaska Seas (1954), none of which capitalized on his singing skills. The one movie in which he did sing, Red Garters (1954), did not fare well with the public. His most outstanding role was as Dr. Clayton Forrester, a scientist who finds himself in the midst of a Martian invasion in the cult sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds (1953).

Television became his preferred medium after being offered the title role in "Bat Masterson" (1958), and he established a comfortable and very profitable niche as a suave, dapper gentleman from the West in this and many other TV productions. Despite the elegant, globe-trotting typecast that seemed inevitable, his other TV gents proved just as successful: jet-setting detective Amos Burke in "Burke's Law" (1963), for which he won a Golden Globe award, and well-groomed publishing tycoon Glenn Howard in "The Name of the Game" (1968).

He returned to the stage in the 1970s (often with his wife as co-star), and triumphantly re-established his singing career in the 1980s in the Broadway musical based on the film Cage aux folles, La (1978) in 1983, which earned him a Tony nomination. Since then he has made only occasional TV and stage appearances (bringing back his famous characters Bat Masterson and Amos Burke, much to the enjoyment of his fans), preferring instead to indulge his hobby of painting and also occasional political activism. Wife Betty died in 2003 after a nearly 60-year marriage.

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Last update: Aug 21 2008, 12:52 PM EDT by ed (content history | content tools) (help)
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  • Original HG Wells sci fi story of a Martian invasion of earth. With Gene Barry?  Answer »
  • Name the movie.. Year: 1953 Genre: Sci-fi adventure Starring: Gene Barry Martians descend on Earth with deadly war machines, threatening to wipe out mankind.  Answer »
  • In Les Girls who portrays Barry Nichols?  Answer »
  • Gene Barry and Ann Robinson (from the 1953 original The War of the Worlds) play the Grandparents in War of the Worlds (2005).  Answer »
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