Person
Barbara Read
Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada
Born in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, Barbara Read was the daughter of a contractor. Under contract to Columbia, she was paid but never used for a single picture. She quit in disg…
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Born in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, Barbara Read was the daughter of a contractor. Under contract to Columbia, she was paid but never used for a single picture. She quit in disgust. She was later signed by Universal and was cast as one of the Craig sisters inThree Smart Girls (1936) along with Deanna Durbin and Nan Grey. This was Barbara's first and best remembered film. Her career was over by the time she married actor William Talman, of "Perry Mason" fame, in 1953. The couple had two children: Barbara ("Barbie") and William III ("Bobo"). The marriage was turbulent as both she and Talman suffered from alcohol problems. They divorced in 1960 with Barbara gaining custody of the children. Talman took over custody a year later when Barbara's alcoholism and mental/emotional problems became overbearing. Committed suicide at her Laguna Beach, California home when she turned on the gas jets of her stove and sealed the doors and windows. She left a suicide note blaming "ill health". Barbara Read bore a powerful likeness to Deanna Durbin, whose sister she was portraying in "Three Smart Girls". Date of Death: 11 December 1963, Laguna Beach, California (suicide)
Filmography
Movies and shows, newest first
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1986
Santabear's First Christmas
Movie Story
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1948
Coroner Creek
Movie Abbie Miles (as Barbara Reed)
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1947
Key Witness
Movie Martha Higby (as Barbara Reed)
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1947
Ginger
Movie Peggy Sullivan (as Barbara Reed)
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1946
The Missing Lady
Movie Margo Lane
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1946
Death Valley
Movie Mitzi
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1946
Behind the Mask
Movie Margo Lane
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1946
The Shadow Returns
Movie Margo Lane
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1942
Rubber Racketeers
Movie Mary Dale
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1942
Too Many Women
Movie Linda Pearson
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1940
Curtain Call
Movie Helen Middleton
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1940
Married and in Love
Movie Helen Yates
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1939
The Spellbinder
Movie Janet Marlowe
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1939
Sorority House
Movie Dotty Spencer
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1938
The Crime of Doctor Hallet
Movie Claire Saunders
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1938
Midnight Intruder
Movie Patricia Hammond
More credits
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1937
Merry Go Round of 1938
Movie Clarice Stockbridge
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1937
The Man Who Cried Wolf
Movie Nan
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1937
The Road Back
Movie Lucy
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1937
Make Way for Tomorrow
Movie Rhoda Cooper
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1937
The Mighty Treve
Movie Aileen Fenno
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1936
Three Smart Girls
Movie Kay Craig
