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Don “Red” Barry

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Don “Red” Barry

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“Red Barry” redirects here. For the serial, see Red Barry (serial). For the comic strip, see Red Barry (comic strip).

Don “Red” Barry
Film still of Barry in The Traitor Within (1942)
BornDonald Barry de Acosta
January 11, 1912
Houston, Texas, U.S.
DiedJuly 17, 1980 (aged 68)
North Hollywood, California, U.S.
Resting placeForest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California, U.S.
OccupationActor, writer
Years active1933–1980
Spouse(s)Peggy Stewart​​(m. 1940; div. 1944)​Ona-Dell Ward​​(m. 1947; div. 1952)​Barbara Patin ​(m. 1963)​

Donald Barry de Acosta (January 11, 1912 – July 17, 1980), also known as Red Barry and Milton Poimboeuf, was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed “Red” after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 1940 film Adventures of Red Ryder with Noah Beery Sr.;[1] the character was played in later films by “Wild Bill” Elliott and Allan Lane. Barry went on to bigger budget films following Red Ryder, but none reached his previous level of success. He played Red Doyle in the 1964 Perry Mason episode ‘The Case of the Simple Simon’.

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Early years[edit]

Barry was born in Houston, Texas,[1] to parents Louis Leonce Poimboeuf and Emma Murray Poimboeuf.[citation needed] He attended Allen Academy[2] and the Texas School of Mines.[3] Prior to acting, Barry had been a high school and college football player. He went to Los Angeles, California, to work in advertising.[4]

Career[edit]

Stage[edit]

Barry’s initial venture into acting was in a production of Tobacco Road on stage in New York in the late 1930s.[5]

Acting[edit]

Barry first entered films as an extra and in small roles. He was discovered by John Wayne during a football game with Wayne providing Barry introductions to producers.[6] He appeared in a variety of roles before he found his forte and nickname “Red” in the Republic Pictures serial The Adventures of Red Ryder (1940). Though Barry was short and stocky rather than the lean and lanky hero of the Red Ryder comic strip, studio head Herbert J. Yates demanded Barry play the role. Yates thought Barry’s appearance similar to James Cagney with Barry unsuccessfully asking Yates to cast him in gangster films.[7] Barry continued in Western roles and made two war films Remember Pearl Harbor (1942) for Republic as well as being loaned out to 20th Century Fox for The Purple Heart (1944). He continued making Westerns for Republic and other studios.

Don “Red” Barry and Wally Vernon in The Man from the Rio Grande (1943)

By the 1950s, Barry was a supporting actor instead of playing leads in westerns. Early in 1955, he appeared as the bandit Milt Sharp in an episode of the syndicated series, Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis.[citation needed]

Barry played “Clete” in the 1956 western film Seven Men from Now, starring Randolph Scott. In 1958 he appeared (credited as Donald Barry) on the TV western Cheyenne in the episode “Dead to Rights.” He guest starred as Tanner in the 1958 episode “Bullet Proof” of the ABC/Warner Brothers series Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins; he was cast as Arkansas in the 1959 Sugarfoot episode “The Return of the Canary Kid”. Barry appeared four times in the ABC/WB western Colt .45. Barry was cast as black-clad gunfighter in a 1961 episode, “Last Stop: Oblivion”, of the ABC/WB western series, Maverick with Jack Kelly and fellow guest star Buddy Ebsen, as well as an even larger titular role in a James Garner episode set in New Orleans titled “The Resurrection of Joe November.” In 1961 Barry appeared as Dusty McCade in the TV western Lawman in the episode titled “Hassayampa.”

Barry’s voice in the television Westerns sounded much like that of the character actor Dub Taylor. About this time, he also guest starred on two other ABC/WB dramas, Bourbon Street Beat and The Roaring 20s. He appeared as well in the syndicated crime drama, U.S. Marshal, starring John Bromfield, and the NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus.

Barry continued making Westerns as part of the ensemble casts of A.C. Lyles Paramount second feature Westerns in the mid 1960s.

In 1966, Barry played Confederate soldier “Lt. Farrow” in the Western film Alvarez Kelly with William Holden and a one-eyed Richard Widmark. Barry played a supporting role in the 1968 film, Shalako with Sean Connery, as well as in the television series Dragnet.[8] (1972)Adam 12: portrayed a Con-Man Hobbs}

Barry played supporting roles in dozens of television series, particularly Westerns. He appeared eight times on the long-running NBC series, The Virginian, in the 1960s. He appeared in six episodes of Michael Landon‘s Little House on the Prairie as farmer Judd Larrabee,[citation needed] and appeared in all-star TV miniseries, such as Rich Man, Poor Man Book II and The Dream Merchants.

Writing[edit]

Barry at a party at the National Film Society convention, May 1979

In addition to acting, Barry was also a writer, writing the stories upon which the films Red Light (1949) starring George Raft and Virginia Mayo, Train to Tombstone (1950), and Convict Stage (1965) were based, and co-writing the screenplay as well as directing and playing the leading role of Jesse James in Jesse James’ Women (1954).[citation needed]

Personal life[edit]

During the height of his Red Ryder fame, he married B-movie actress Peggy Stewart, they divorced on April 12, 1944.[9] He married Ona-Dell Ward on October 6, 1947. They divorced sometime before 1952.

In early November 1955 Susan Hayward got into a fight with another actress who caught her visiting Barry’s apartment for an early morning coffee, which made the tabloids and became the source of insider jokes.[10]

Death[edit]

On July 17, 1980, Barry shot himself in the head at his home, shortly after police had left the residence after investigating a domestic dispute.[5] He was estranged at the time from his third wife, Barbara, with whom he had two daughters. He is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles.[citation needed]

Selected filmography[edit]

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