Dave Barry (born David Louis Siegel; August 26, 1918 – August 16, 2001) was an American actor. He is well known for his role as an actor in ''

Playgirl ''Playgirl'' is an American magazine that has historically featured pictorials of nude and semi-nude men alongside general interest, lifestyle, celebrity journalism, and original fiction. For most of its history, the magazine printed monthly a ...

'', ''

High Society High society, sometimes simply Society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth, power, fame and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open ...

'', '' Voice in the Mirror'', ''

Some Like It Hot ''Some Like It Hot'' is a 1959 American crime comedy film directed, produced and co-written by Billy Wilder. It stars Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon, with George Raft, Pat O'Brien (actor), Pat O'Brien, Joe E. Brown, Joan Shawlee an ...

'' and '' How to Seduce a Woman''.

Biography

Early life

Dave Barry (family name David Siegel, last name legally changed in the 1940s) began his performing career in the 1930s at the age of sixteen with parts in radio and doing voice work for cartoons. The son of a furniture store owner, he made his debut on the radio talent show ''

Major Bowes Amateur Hour The ''Major Bowes Amateur Hour'' was an American radio talent show broadcast in the 1930s and 1940s, created and hosted by Edward Bowes (1874–1946). Selected performers from the program participated in touring vaudeville performances, under ...

'' as did

Sara Berner Sara Berner (born Lillian Ann Herdan; January 12, 1912 – December 19, 1969) was an American actress. Known for her expertise in dialect and characterization, she began her career as a performer in vaudeville before becoming a voice actress for ...

, another talented female voice-over artist with whom he later worked. He built up a reputation as a stand-up comedian, entertaining troops during his military service in World War II on shows like Command Performance with

Mary Pickford Gladys Louise Smith (April 8, 1892 – May 29, 1979), known professionally as Mary Pickford, was a Canadian-American film actress and producer. A Canadian pioneers in early Hollywood, pioneer in the American film industry with a Hollywood care ...

in 1942 just a few months after the United States entered the war. Barry started as a

Borscht Belt The Borscht Belt, or Yiddish Alps, is a region which was noted for its summer resorts that catered to Jewish vacationers, especially residents of New York City. The resorts, now mostly defunct, were located in the southern foothills of the Catski ...

comic in the

Catskill Mountains The Catskill Mountains, also known as the Catskills, are a physiographic province and subrange of the larger Appalachian Mountains, located in southeastern New York. As a cultural and geographic region, the Catskills are generally defined a ...

while serving in the United States Army during World War II and traveling with the

United Service Organizations The United Service Organizations Inc. (USO) is an American nonprofit-charitable corporation that provides live entertainment, such as comedians, actors and musicians, social facilities, and other programs to members of the United States Armed F ...

(USO) along with

Bob Hope Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...

Jimmy Durante James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side New York accent, accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...

Eddie Cantor Eddie Cantor (born Isidore Itzkowitz; January 31, 1892 – October 10, 1964) was an American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author. Cantor was one of the prominent entertainers of his era. Some of h ...

Red Skelton Richard Bernard Skelton (July 18, 1913September 17, 1997) was an American entertainer best known for his national old-time radio, radio and television shows between 1937 and 1971, especially as host of the television program ''The Red Skelto ...

and many celebrities of the time. Starting in the mid-1940s, Barry became something of a fixture in Las Vegas just as the city was starting to become famous, playing engagements at the Flamingo, Desert Inn and the El Rancho Hotel, performing with celebrities of the day such as

Betty Grable Elizabeth Ruth Grable (December 18, 1916 – July 2, 1973) was an American actress, pin-up girl, dancer, model, and singer. Her 42 films during the 1930s and 1940s grossed more than $100 million, and for 10 consecutive years (1942–1951) she p ...

Anna Maria Alberghetti Anna Maria Alberghetti (; born May 15, 1936) is an Italian-American actress and soprano. Alberghetti sang in concert from the time she was a child and performed at Carnegie Hall at age 13. Alberghetti began working in American films at age 15 ...

Rose Marie Rose Marie (born Rose Marie Mazzetta; August 15, 1923 – December 28, 2017) was an American actress, singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer with a career spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night clubs and ...

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, actor, comedian, dancer, and musician. At age two, Davis began his career in Vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which t ...

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer and entrepreneur. Her acting career spanned almost 70 years. Reynolds performed on stage and television and in films into her 80s. She was nom ...

and later

Wayne Newton Carson Wayne Newton (born April 3, 1942), also known as Mr. Las Vegas, is an American singer and actor. One of the most popular singers in the United States from the mid-to-late 20th century, Newton remains one of the best-known entertainers in ...

. In 1966, Barry headlined the

Desert Inn The Desert Inn, also known as the D.I., was a hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada, which operated from April 24, 1950, to August 28, 2000. Designed by architect Hugh Taylor and interior design by Jac Lessman, it was the ...

variety musical sho
"Hello America"
and later "Hooray for Hollywood", which were produced by Vegas extravaganza king Donn Arden. Later, for nearly a decade in the 1970s, Barry provided the opening act for Midnight Idol

, warming audiences at a variety of

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

-owned Hotels (The Desert Inn, the Sands and the Frontier).

Voice acting career

Because Barry excelled at mimicry and mastered an endless stream of accents/dialects and offbeat sounds, when he moved to Hollywood in the early 1940s, he sought out more cartoon voice work with Columbia,

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

Republic Pictures Republic Pictures is currently an acquisition-only label owned by Paramount Pictures. Its history dates back to Republic Pictures Corporation, an American film studio that originally operated from 1935 to 1967, based in Los Angeles, California ...

, and

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...

. He became sought after as an animation voice actor in the mid 1930s at the age of just 18, hired by the legendary Warner Bros. (''

Merrie Melodies ''Merrie Melodies'' is an American animated comedy short film series distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. It was part of the ''Looney Tunes'' franchise and featured many of the same characters. Originally running from August 2, 1931, to Septem ...

'') mogul

Leon Schlesinger Leonardo Schlesinger ( ; May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American film producer who founded Leon Schlesinger Productions, which later became the Warner Bros. Cartoons studio, during the Golden Age of American animation The gold ...

with the Hollywood-themed '' The Coo-Coo Nut Grove'' (1936), where he voiced actor

Ned Sparks Ned Sparks (born Edward Arthur Sparkman, November 19, 1883 – April 3, 1957) was a Canadian character actor of the American stage and screen. He was known for his deadpan expression and comically nasal, monotone delivery. Life and career Spark ...

, ''Porky's Road Race'' (1937) and then a year later with Disney with the celebrity-filled '' Mother Goose Goes Hollywood'' (1938). Barry partnered with many of the most creative minds of early animation, and animated voice work (especially celebrities) became a lucrative side gig supplementing his comedy résumé and income. During a 1942 Miami stand-up performance, he was doing his stand-up act at a hotel when a man from the audience (who worked for the Miami-based

Famous Studios Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was established as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized contr ...

) approached him at the bar after the show. He said they needed a deeply baritone voice for

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Bluto Bluto, at times known as Brutus, is a cartoon and comics character created in 1932 by Elzie Crisler Segar as a one-time character, named "Bluto the Terrible", in his ''Thimble Theatre'' comic strip (later renamed ''Popeye''). Bluto made his fi ...

in a series of ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Seein' Red, White 'N' Blue ''Seein' Red, White 'N' Blue'' is a 1943 American propaganda cartoon short featuring Popeye, Popeye The Sailor, and was directed by Dan Gordon (animator), Dan Gordon and Jim Tyer. The cartoon revolves around Bluto trying to escape Conscription in ...

'' (1943). Barry provided the deeply baritone swaggering voice for Bluto between 1942 and 1944 in six ''Popeye'' cartoons. Barry's work in cartoons grew as animation gained popularity, voicing countless credited (and mostly uncredited) features. His most sought-after skill was uncannily impersonating celebrities of the period, including

Groucho Marx Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...

Humphrey Bogart Humphrey DeForest Bogart ( ; December 25, 1899 – January 14, 1957), nicknamed Bogie, was an American actor. His performances in classic Hollywood cinema made him an American cultural icon. In 1999, the American Film Institute selected Bogart ...

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English and American actor. Known for his blended British and American accent, debonair demeanor, lighthearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing, he ...

James Cagney James Francis Cagney Jr. (; July 17, 1899March 30, 1986) was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and maj ...

and

Clark Gable William Clark Gable (February 1, 1901November 16, 1960) was an American actor often referred to as the "King of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". He appeared in more than 60 Film, motion pictures across a variety of Film genre, genres dur ...

, which he did with gusto in countless ''

Looney Tunes ''Looney Tunes'' is an American media franchise produced and distributed by Warner Bros. The franchise began as a series of animated short films that originally ran from 1930 to 1969, alongside its spin-off series ''Merrie Melodies'', during t ...

'' and ''

'' cartoons. He also voiced

Elmer Fudd Elmer J. Fudd is an animated cartoon character in the Warner Bros. ''Looney Tunes''/''Merrie Melodies'' series and the archenemy of Bugs Bunny. Elmer Fudd's aim is to hunt Bugs, but he usually ends up seriously injuring himself and other antag ...

stone in '' Pre-Hysterical Hare'' (1958), standing in for Arthur Q. Bryan when he was ill and not able to voice him. For ''Looney Tunes'', Dave Barry became best known for numerous appearances of Humphrey Bogart and other classic celebrities in cartoons such as '' Bacall to Arms'' (1946), '' Slick Hare'' (1947), '' 8 Ball Bunny'' (1950) and the star-studded '' Hollywood Steps Out'' (1941). He also voiced many nameless background characters. Barry also performed a series of distinctive radio announcer voices for the famous "Marilyn Monroe is Getting Married" radio episode on the

Edgar Bergen Edgar John Bergen (né Berggren; February 16, 1903 – September 30, 1978) was an American ventriloquist, comedian, actor, vaudevillian and radio performer. He was best known for his characters Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd. Bergen ...

show (October 26, 1952) with

Marilyn Monroe Marilyn Monroe ( ; born Norma Jeane Mortenson; June 1, 1926 August 4, 1962) was an American actress and model. Known for playing comic "Blonde stereotype#Blonde bombshell, blonde bombshell" characters, she became one of the most popular sex ...

and Bergen's ventriloquist dummy

Charlie McCarthy Charlie McCarthy was a dummy partner of American ventriloquist Edgar Bergen. Charlie was part of Bergen's act as early as high school, and by 1930 was attired in a top hat, tuxedo and monocle. The character was so well known that his popularity ex ...

. He also provided numerous voices for

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

children's albums in the 1950s like "Bozo Under the Sea" with

Pinto Colvig Vance DeBar Colvig Sr. (September 11, 1892 – October 3, 1967), known professionally as Pinto Colvig, was an American voice actor, cartoonist, and circus and vaudeville performer whose schtick was playing the clarinet off-key while mugging. Co ...

Bugs Bunny Bugs Bunny is a cartoon character created in the late 1930s at Warner Bros. Cartoons (originally Leon Schlesinger, Leon Schlesinger Productions) and Voice acting, voiced originally by Mel Blanc. Bugs is best known for his featured roles in the ' ...

, ''

'', ''

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the film ''The Pink Panthe ...

'', ''

Popeye the Sailor Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Roland and Rattfink'' and Sniffles along with

and Mr. Magoo. Barry also worked with well known voice actor

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company and the Walter Lantz cartoon studio. He originated the voices of many familiar Hanna-Barbera ...

on a number of novelty records in the 1960s including Capitol Records' "Dog's Best Friend / H-H-Him". His last voice-over role was on '' The Pink Panther Laugh-and-a-Half Hour-and-a-Half Show'' in 1976. Previously, he had voiced various spies in the ''Pink Panther'' short "Pinkfinger" in 1965.

Film and television career

At the end of the 1940s, Barry began also to garner roles in both film and television. He appeared with

in the B-movie '' Ladies of the Chorus'' (1948), and 11 years later, he was reunited with her in what was perhaps his most famous role: bumbling band manager Beinstock in

Billy Wilder Billy Wilder (; ; born Samuel Wilder; June 22, 1906 – March 27, 2002) was an American filmmaker and screenwriter. His career in Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood spanned five decades, and he is regarded as one of the most brilliant and ver ...

's comedy ''

'' (1959). He appeared on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' in the 1950s. He also guest-starred on television series such as ''

87th Precinct The 87th Precinct is a series of police procedural novels and stories by American author Evan Hunter, Ed McBain (a writing pseudonym of Evan Hunter). McBain's 87th Precinct works have been adapted, sometimes loosely, into movies and television o ...

'', ''

Green Acres ''Green Acres'' is an American television absurdist sitcom starring Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor as a couple who move from New York City to a country farm. Produced by Filmways as a sister show to ''Petticoat Junction'', the series was first br ...

'', ''

The Monkees The Monkees were an American pop rock band formed in Los Angeles in the mid-1960s. The band consisted of Micky Dolenz, Davy Jones (musician), Davy Jones, Michael Nesmith, and Peter Tork. Spurred by the success of ''The Monkees (TV series), Th ...

'', ''

Get Smart ''Get Smart'' is an American comedy television series parodying the Spy fiction, secret agent genre that had become widely popular in the first half of the 1960s with the release of the ''James Bond'' films. It was created by Mel Brooks and Bu ...

'', ''

I Dream of Jeannie ''I Dream of Jeannie'' is an American Fantasy television, fantasy sitcom television series created by Sidney Sheldon and starring Barbara Eden as a beautiful but guileless 2,000-year-old Jinn, genie and Larry Hagman as an astronaut with whom s ...

'', ''

Emergency! ''Emergency!'' is an American Action fiction, action-adventure medical drama television series jointly produced by Mark VII Limited and Universal Television. Debuting on NBC as a midseason replacement on January 15, 1972, replacing two situatio ...

'', and in his final role as Jack Brice in the 1978 episode ''High Rollers'' of '' Flying High'' on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

. In 1963, Barry was cast as Harry in the episode "Has Anyone Seen Eddie?" of ''

Going My Way ''Going My Way'' is a 1944 American musical comedy drama film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Bing Crosby and Barry Fitzgerald. Written by Frank Butler and Frank Cavett, based on a story by McCarey, the film is about a new young priest ...

'', with

Gene Kelly Eugene Curran Kelly (August 23, 1912 – February 2, 1996) was an American dancer, actor, singer, director and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style and sought to create a new form of American dance accessibl ...

, an adaptation of the 1944

film A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, sinc ...

of the same name.

Nightclub career

Barry also worked as a club entertainer and comedian in Las Vegas. He started working stand-up in Vegas in 1946 at the

El Rancho Vegas El Rancho Vegas was a hotel and casino at the north end of the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It opened in 1941, as the first resort on the Strip, known then as part of Highway 91. It was located at what is now the southwest corner of La ...

and the original Last Frontier, and later at the El Cortez and the Hacienda Resort. He worked as the opening act for famous performers such as

Frank Sinatra Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...

Judy Garland Judy Garland (born Frances Ethel Gumm; June 10, 1922June 22, 1969) was an American actress and singer. Possessing a strong contralto voice, she was celebrated for her emotional depth and versatility across film, stage, and concert performance. ...

, and many more. He appeared with

at the height of Newton's popularity for more than a decade in the 1970s at the

Frontier A frontier is a political and geographical term referring to areas near or beyond a boundary. Australia The term "frontier" was frequently used in colonial Australia in the meaning of country that borders the unknown or uncivilised, th ...

, Sands, and

. Barry also appeared regularly in comedy clubs across the U.S.: Chicago ( Chez Paree); San Francisco ( Bimbo's 365 Club); New York ( Paramount Theatre); Austin Texas (The Paramount); Florida (The Americana); and Los Angeles ( Billy Gray's Band Box, Slapsy Maxie's Nightclub, The Moulin Rouge, The Chi Chi, The Cocoanut Grove at the Ambassador Hotel, Charlie Foy's Supper Club, and

Ciro's Ciro's (later known as Ciro's Le Disc) was a nightclub on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California owned by William Wilkerson. Opened in 1940, Ciro's became a popular nightspot for celebrities. The nightclub closed in 1960 and was reopen ...

). Nightclub work paired Barry with top names of the period, including

Della Reese Della Reese (born Delloreese Patricia Early; July 6, 1931 – November 19, 2017) was an American singer, actress, television personality, author and ordained minister. As a singer, she recorded blues, gospel, jazz and pop. Several of her singl ...

Liberace Władziu Valentino Liberace (May 16, 1919 – February 4, 1987) was an American pianist, singer and actor. He was born in Wisconsin to parents of Italian and Polish Americans, Polish origin and enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, ...

, The Four Step Brothers,

Gypsy Rose Lee Gypsy Rose Lee (born Rose Louise Hovick, January 8, 1911 – April 26, 1970) was an American burlesque entertainer, stripper, actress, author, playwright and vedette, famous for her striptease act. Her 1957 memoir, '' Gypsy: A Memoir'', was a ...

, and

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...

. In June 1949, Barry was flown in for a one-month engagement at the

London Palladium The London Palladium () is a Grade II* West End theatre located on Argyll Street, London, in Soho. The theatre was designed by Frank Matcham and opened in 1910. The auditorium holds 2,286 people. Hundreds of stars have played there, many wit ...

with

The Marx Brothers The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act known for their anarchic humor, rapid-fire wordplay, and visual gags. They achieved success in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in 14 motion pictures. The core group consisted of brothers Chic ...

(

Harpo Marx Arthur "Harpo" Marx (born Adolph Marx; November 23, 1888 – September 28, 1964) was an American comedian and harpist, and the second-oldest of the Marx Brothers. In contrast to the mainly verbal comedy of his brothers Groucho and Chico, Harp ...

and

Chico Marx Leonard Joseph "Chico" Marx ( ; March 22, 1887October 11, 1961) was an American comedian, actor, and pianist. He was the oldest brother in the Marx Brothers comedy troupe, alongside his brothers Harpo Marx, Arthur ("Harpo"), Groucho Marx, Juliu ...

Personal life and death

Barry was the father of five children (Alan, Kerry, Steve, Dana, and Wendy) and was married to his wife, singer Ginny (Ginger), for over 50 years until his death from cancer in 2001.

Filmography

Film

Discography

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Dave (actor) 1918 births 2001 deaths American impressionists (entertainers) American male comedians American male film actors American male radio actors American male television actors American male voice actors Burials at Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery Comedians from New York City Deaths from cancer in California Jewish American comedians Jewish American male actors Male actors from New York City 20th-century American comedians 20th-century American male actors