Person
Don 'Red' Barry
Houston, Texas, USA
Donald Barry went from the stage to the screen. After four years of playing villains and henchmen at various studios, Barry got the role that changed his image: Red Ryder in the R…
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Donald Barry went from the stage to the screen. After four years of playing villains and henchmen at various studios, Barry got the role that changed his image: Red Ryder in the Republic Pictures serial Adventures of Red Ryder (1940). Although he had appeared in westerns for two years or so, this was the one that kept him there. He acquired the nickname "Red" from his association with the Red Ryder character. After the success of "Red Ryder" Barry starred in a string of westerns for Republic. Studio chief Herbert J. Yates got the idea that Barry could be Republic's version of James Cagney, as he was short and had the same scrappy, feisty nature that Cagney had. Unfortunately, while Barry could in fact be a good actor when he wanted to be -- as he showed in the World War II drama The Purple Heart (1944) -- his "feistiness", combative nature and oversized ego caused him to alienate many of the casts and crews he worked with at Republic (ace serial director William Witney detested him, calling him "the midget", and director John English worked with him once and refused to ever work with him again). Barry made a series of westerns at Republic throughout the 1940s, but by 1950 his career had pretty much come to a halt, and he was reduced to making cheaper and cheaper pictures for bottom-of-the-barrel companies like Lippert and Screen Guild. Barry continued to work and still appeared in westerns up through the 1970s, but they were often in small supporting roles, sometimes unbilled. In 1980 he committed suicide by shooting himself.
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1981
Back Roads
Movie Pete
-
1980
The Dream Merchants
TV show Capt. Casey
-
1979
Goldie and the Boxer
Movie Radio Announcer
-
1979
Knots Landing
TV show Jeremiah Clemmons
-
1979
Undercover with the KKK
Movie Ben Wright
-
1979
240-Robert
TV show
-
1979
A Cry for Justice
Movie Virgil Hall
-
1979
Donovan's Kid
Movie Sheriff at Stagecoach
-
1978
The Crash of Flight 401
Movie Helicopter Pilot
-
1978
The One Man Jury
Movie Sgt. Murphy
-
1978
Hooper
Movie Sheriff
-
1978
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
Movie Bartender
-
1978
Buckstone County Prison
Movie Warden Coley
-
1978
The Swarm
Movie Pete Harris
-
1978
Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid
Movie Devery's Foreman
-
1978
Doctor Dracula
Movie Elliot
More credits
- 1978
-
1977
CHiPs
TV show Truck Driver
-
1977
Orca
Movie Dock Worker
-
1976
Quincy, M.E.
TV show Charlie Turner
-
1976
Charlie's Angels
TV show Harry Silvers
-
1976
Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II
TV show Robert Barnes
-
1976
Big John, Little John
TV show Lionel P. Crabtree
-
1976
From Noon Till Three
Movie Red Roxy
-
1976
The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West
Movie Marshal
-
1976
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Movie (archive footage)
-
1976
The Bionic Woman
TV show
-
1975
Hustle
Movie Airport Bartender
-
1975
Whiffs
Movie Sgt. Post
-
1975
Barbary Coast
TV show
-
1975
Boss Nigger
Movie
-
1975
Blazing Stewardesses
Movie Mike Trask
-
1975
Starsky & Hutch
Movie Doctor in Morgue
-
1975
Baretta
TV show
-
1974
Punch and Jody
Movie Franz Butz / Delbert Clyde Butz
-
1974
The Rockford Files
TV show Shorty McCall
-
1974
Police Woman
TV show Lt. Bocina
-
1974
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
TV show Tyrell Security Guard
-
1974
Little House on the Prairie
TV show Larabee
-
1974
Petrocelli
TV show Vern
