Dave Barry (actor)

Dave Barry (August 26, 1918 in New York City, New York – August 16, 2001 in Beverly Hills, California) was an American actor, comedian, entertainer and radio moderator.

Life and career

Dave Barry was an American comedian and voice over artist who began his show business career in his early years with parts in radio (Major Bowes Amateur Hour) along with numerous animated cartoons. He started as a “Borscht Belt” comic in the Catskills after serving in the army during World War II and traveling with the USO along with Bob Hope and many celebrities of the time.

His first film was the animated cartoon Mother Goose Goes Hollywood, in which he imitated several Hollywood stars, including Humphrey Bogart, whom Barry also imitated in several other films and shows. He provided several voices for several Capitol Records children's albums in the 1950s like Bugs Bunny, Merrie Melodies, Pink Panther, Popeye the Sailor, Roland and Rattfink and Sniffles. In Las Vegas, he started at the Hacienda Resort and worked for many years as the opening act for performers such as Wayne Newton, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and many more. He appeared on the Ed Sullivan show in the 1950's.

Barry also worked with well known voice actor Daws Butler on a number of novelty records.

At the end of the 1940s, Barry began also to garner roles in both film and television. He played with the then unknown Marilyn Monroe in the B-movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948), and eleven years later he appeared again with Monroe in what was perhaps his most famous role: He appeared as the bumbling band manager Beinstock in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959). He also played in such television series as 87th Precinct, Green Acres, The Monkees, Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, Emergency!, and in his final role as Jack Brice in the 1978 episode "High Rollers" of CBS's Flying High. In 1963, Barry was cast as Harry in the episode "Has Anyone Seen Eddie?" of ABC's Going My Way, with Gene Kelly, an adaptation of the 1944 film of the same name.

Barry also worked as an entertainer and comedian, appearing with Wayne Newton in Las Vegas for more than a decade in the 1970's at the Frontier, Sands and the Desert Inn. Barry was the father of five children (Alan, Kerry, Steve, Dana and Wendy) and was married to his wife, singer Ginny (Virginia), for over 50 years until his cancer death in 2001.^[1]

Selected filmography

References

External links

• Dave Barry at the Internet Movie Database