Phyllis Barry
Phyllis Barry | |
---|---|
Born | Gertrude Phyllis Hillyard 7 December 1908 |
Died | 1 July 1954 Los Angeles, California, USA | (aged 45)
Years active | 1923-1947 |
Phyllis Barry (born Gertrude Phyllis Hillyard, 7 December 1908 – 1 July 1954) was an English film actress. Born in Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, to Seth Henry and Bertha (née Giles) Hillyard, Barry appeared in over 40 films between 1925 and 1947.
Career[]
Barry trained as a dancer in a John Tiller troupe. In August 1923, when she was 12, her mother brought her to Australia, where she was known as Phyllis du Barry.[1] By September, she was the lead dancer in a cabaret troupe at the Wentworth Cafe, until May 1925, when she made her first film, Painted Daughters. Engagements followed with the Frances Scully Pony Ballet and as a dancer at the Ambassadors' Club. In July 1926, she joined the Fuller Brothers, touring with Chefalo and Palmer, the Moon and Morris Revue Company and the Zig Zag Revue Company. Her second film, Sunrise, was made in 1926. In 1927, she appeared as a specialty dancer in the musicals No, No, Nanette and Gershwin's Lady Be Good, both starring Elsie Prince. She then joined the Jim Gerald Revue Company.
Her mother was an accomplished dress designer, both for the Empire Theatre in Sydney and on her own account, under the name "Madame du Barry." In February 1928, her mother married Jim Gerald's brother, Lance Vane. In March, Phyllis accompanied her newly acquired uncle and aunt, Jim Gerald and Essie Jennings, on an extensive tour of America, returning in November. On her return, Phyllis remained with Jim Gerald's company, then other Fullers' companies, until April 1929, when she joined the cast of Rio Rita, starring Gladys Moncrieff, as a dancer. In March 1930, Phyllis went to America and under the name of Phyllis du Barry, touring the coast with the Fanchon and Marco Company, finally appearing in Hollywood where she was given a film part when director King Vidor selected Barry to co-star as "the other woman" in the 1932 Samuel Goldwyn film Cynara opposite Ronald Coleman and Kay Francis. In 1933, she starred alongside Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in the comedy What! No Beer? for MGM. Her career did not include other major productions.
Modern viewers will remember Barry for her role as a foreign spy who seduces Curly Howard in the Three Stooges short subject Three Little Sew and Sews. Other films include The Prince and the Pauper, One Rainy Afternoon, Blind Adventure, and Laurel and Hardy's Bonnie Scotland.
Barry married the vaudevillian Abner Nordlund in March 1932, divorcing him in April 1934, then shortly after married the painter/decorator Gilbert M. Caldwell, living in West Hollywood. Her mother had joined her in America in July 1930, and lived with the couple.
Death[]
Barry died of barbiturate poisoning caused by the ingestion of phenobarbital on 1 July 1954.[2]
Filmography[]
- Painted Daughters (1925) as Saharab
- Sunrise (1926) as Hope Stuart
- Cynara (1932) as Doris Emily Lea
- Blind Adventure (1933) as Gwen
- Diplomaniacs (1933) as Fifi
- Goodbye Love (1933) as Dorothy Blaine
- Marriage on Approval (1933) as Dorothy
- What! No Beer? (1933) as Hortense
- Long Lost Father (1934) as Party guest
- Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934) as Madame Irene
- Where Sinners Meet (1934) as Brunette Chambermaid
- Love Past Thirty (1934) as Beth Ramsden
- The Moonstone (1934) as Anne Verinder
- Forbidden Heaven (1935) as Sybil Radford
- Bonnie Scotland (1935) as Gossip
- One Rainy Afternoon (1936) as Felice
- To Mary with Love (1937) as Guest
- Step Lively, Jeeves! (1937) as Mrs. Tremaine
- The Prince and the Pauper (1937) as Barmaid
- Damaged Goods (1937) as Margie
- Affairs of Cappy Ricks (1937) as Ellen Ricks Peasely
- Bulldog Drummond Comes Back (1937) as Hortense, barmaid
- The Invisible Menace (1938) as Mrs. Aline Dolman
- Trade Winds (1938) as Ruth
- The Jones Family in Hollywood (1939) as Actress
- The Witness Vanishes (1939) as Miss Carson
- Kid Nightingale (1939) as First Girl with Mrs. Reynolds
- We Are Not Alone (1939) as First Chorus Girl
- (1940) as Sally Adams
- I Was an Adventuress (1940) as Englishwoman at Exhibit
- Waterloo Bridge (1940) as Second Girl at Estate Dance
- The Case of the Black Parrot (1941) as Julia
- Shadows on the Stairs (1941) as Lucy Timson, the Maid
- Gentleman from Dixie (1941) as Secretary
- Unfinished Business (1941) as Sheila
- The Mysterious Doctor (1943) as Ruby
- Frenchman's Creek (1944) as Woman in Gaming House
- Kitty (1945) as Guest
- Love from a Stranger (1947) as Waitress
References[]
- ^ All the Australian events are documented in contemporary newspapers published in digital form by the National Library of Australia [1]
- ^ "The Three Stooges Supporting Players: Mini-Biographical Profiles". The Three Stooges Journal. Gwynedd Valley, Pennsylvania: The Three Stooges Fan Club, Inc. (133): 10–11. Spring 2010.
External links[]
- 1908 births
- 1954 deaths
- English film actresses
- British actresses
- Actresses from London
- 20th-century English actresses
- British emigrants to the United States
- Barbiturates-related deaths
- Drug-related deaths in California
- 1954 suicides