Gene Barry

Gene Barry was an American stage, screen, and television actor.

Barry was born Eugene Klass in New York City, the son of Eva and Martin Klass; all of his grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. Barry exhibited early artistic skills with singing and playing violin as a child and later spent two years at the Chatham Square School of Music on a scholarship awarded for his vocal ability. When Barry was 25, he married Betty Claire Kalb on October 22, 1944. At the time of their marriage, Kalb was an actress known by the stage name, Julie Carson. Their marriage produced three children; two biological sons and an adopted daughter.

Barry chose his professional name in honor of John Barrymore and made his Broadway debut as Captain Paul Duval in the 1942 revival of Sigmund Romberg's The New Moon. He later portrayed Falke in Rosalinda, Nova Kovich in The Merry Widow, Lieutenant Bunin in Catherine Was Great, Dorante and Comte De Chateau-Gaillard in The Would-Be Gentleman, The Doctor in Happy as Larry, and played a variety of roles in the musical revue Bless You All. In 1950, Barry began appearing on TV with the "NBC Television Opera Theatre". In 1951, Barry was hired for in his first movie, in the role of "Dr. Frank Addison" in The Atomic City, and then in 1952, Barry was cast as "Dr. Clayton Forrester" in the science fiction film The War of the Worlds. Much later, Barry also made a cameo appearance in Steven Spielberg's remake of War of the Worlds, along with his co-star Ann Robinson from the film of 1952.)