Dave Barry (actor)

Dave Barry (family name David Siegal, 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 as did another talented female voice-over artist who he later worked with, Sara Berner. 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 in 1942 just a few months after the USA entered the war. Barry started as a “Borscht Belt” comic in the Catskills while serving in the army during World War II and traveling with the USO along with Bob Hope, Jimmy Durante, Eddie Cantor, Red Skelton and many celebrities of the time. Staring in the mid 1940's, 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, Anna Maria_Alberghetti,Rose Marie, Sammy Davis Jr., Debbie Reynolds and later Wayne Newton. In 1966 Barry headlined the Dessert Inn variety musical show "Hello America," and later "Hooray For Hollywood," which were produced by Vegas extravaganza king Donn Arden. Later, for nearly a decade in the 1970's Barry provided the comedy opening act for Midnight Idol Wayne Newton, warming audiences at a variety of Howard Hughes owned Hotels (the Sands, The Dessert Inn and the Frontier).

Barry's first animated voice work was for the 1937 Looney Tunes short "Porky's Road Race," a relatively early debut by Porky Pig. In the feature, Porky competes in an auto race against some of Hollywood's better known stars and Barry provided the voices for Leslie Howard, Freddie Bartholomew, George Arliss, and Edna May Oliver. Also credited on this project was Mel Blanc, who Barry later partnered with for other animated projects such as "Hollywood steps out," "Pre-Hysterical Hare," and an unsold TV pilot starring Barry, "Strictly for Laffs."

The next year in 1938 Barry's impersonating skill was called upon by Disney for the Silly Symphony "Mother Goose Goes Hollywood," featuring a multitude of popular Hollywood 1930's luminaries caricatured in a spoof of Mother Goose nursery rhymes. The animated short opens with a book opening and MGM style lion growl (also voiced by Barry, uncredited), revealing the characters within the book who come to life and act out the tales they are known for. The twist is that in this short, the characters were all well known actors of the day. The running gag through the short is Katherine Hepburn as Little Bo Peep, searching for her sheep.

In 1941 Barry worked with Mel Blanc, Sara Berner and Kent Rogers on a similarly Hollywood themed richly animated feature for Warner Brothers, "Hollywood Steps Out" where he voiced Cary Grant, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby, Lewis Stone, Ned Sparks, Groucho Marx and Edward G. Robinson.

In the 1942 animated short Kickin' the Conga 'Round, in which he voiced Bluto.[1]

He provided numerous voices for Capitol Records children's albums in the 1950s like "Bozo Under The Sea" with Pinto Colvig, Bugs Bunny, Merrie Melodies, Pink Panther, Popeye the Sailor, Roland and Rattfink and Sniffles along with Elmer Fudd and Mr. Magoo.

Barry also worked with well known voice actor Daws Butler 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.

At the end of the 1940s, Barry began also to garner roles in both film and television. He appeared with Marilyn Monroe in the B-movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948), and eleven years later he was reunited with her in what was perhaps his most famous role: bumbling band manager Beinstock in Billy Wilder's comedy Some Like It Hot (1959).

He appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in the 1950s. He also guest-starred on television series such 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 Flying High on CBS.

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 club entertainer and comedian in Las Vegas. He started at the Hacienda Resort, and worked as the opening act for famous performers such as Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, and many more. He appeared with Wayne Newton at the height of Newton's popularity for more than a decade in the 1970s at the Frontier, Sands, and Desert Inn.

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.[2]