Known For
Acting
Born
Jan 11, 1912
Died
Jul 17, 1980
Place of Birth
Houston, Texas, USA
Credits
229 titles
Don 'Red' Barry
Biography
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.
Known For
Filmography
Back Roads
Pete
The Dream Merchants
Capt. Casey
Goldie and the Boxer
Radio Announcer
Knots Landing
Jeremiah Clemmons
Undercover with the KKK
Ben Wright
240-Robert
A Cry for Justice
Virgil Hall
Donovan's Kid
Sheriff at Stagecoach
The Crash of Flight 401
Helicopter Pilot
The One Man Jury
Sgt. Murphy
Hooper
Sheriff
Hot Lead & Cold Feet
Bartender
Buckstone County Prison
Warden Coley
The Swarm
Pete Harris
Kate Bliss and the Ticker Tape Kid
Devery's Foreman
Doctor Dracula
Elliot
Shame, Shame on the Bixby Boys
CHiPs
Truck Driver
Orca
Dock Worker
Quincy, M.E.
Charlie Turner
Charlie's Angels
Harry Silvers
Rich Man, Poor Man - Book II
Robert Barnes
Big John, Little John
Lionel P. Crabtree
From Noon Till Three
Red Roxy
The Wackiest Wagon Train in the West
Marshal
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
(archive footage)
The Bionic Woman
Hustle
Airport Bartender
Whiffs
Sgt. Post
Barbary Coast
Boss Nigger
Blazing Stewardesses
Mike Trask
Starsky & Hutch
Doctor in Morgue
Baretta
Punch and Jody
Franz Butz / Delbert Clyde Butz
The Rockford Files
Shorty McCall
Police Woman
Ted
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Tyrell Security Guard
Little House on the Prairie
Larabee
Petrocelli
Vern
The Six Million Dollar Man
Howie
Partners in Crime
Bartender
Police Story
Hawkins
Ben
Incident on a Dark Street
Miles Henderson
Ghost Story
First Cowboy
The Waltons
Deputy Sheriff
The Rookies
Junior Bonner
Homer Rutledge
The Eyes of Charles Sand
Trainer