George Barrie (9 February 1912 – 16 November 2002) was the owner and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Fabergé Inc. from 1964 to 1984. He was nominated for two Oscars for Best Original Song and created the cologne Brut. Though not one of the first to use celebrities to advertise, he was one of those that made it commonplace.

Biography

Born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and raised in

Pittsfield, Massachusetts Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield� ...

, he trained to be a musician. But in need of steady work, Barrie took a salesman job with the hair products company Rayette during the 1930s. Rayette and Barrie purchased the perfume and hair-care company Fabergé Inc. for $26 million in 1964, and the Brut line began achieving international success soon after. Barrie was considered to be a pioneer in the area of celebrity endorsements, as he wooed stars such as

Cary Grant Cary Grant (born Archibald Alec Leach; January 18, 1904November 29, 1986) was an English-American actor. He was known for his Mid-Atlantic accent, debonair demeanor, light-hearted approach to acting, and sense of comic timing. He was one o ...

, Farrah Fawcett,

Joe Namath Joseph William Namath (; ; born May 31, 1943) is a former American football quarterback who played in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons, primarily with the New York Jets. He played college foot ...

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Margaux Hemingway Margaux Louise Hemingway (born Margot Louise Hemingway; February 16, 1954 – July 1, 1996) was an American fashion model and actress. She gained success as a supermodel in the mid-1970s, appearing on the covers of magazines including ''Cosmopo ...

and

Laurence Harvey Laurence Harvey (born Zvi Mosheh Skikne; 1 October 192825 November 1973) was a Lithuanian-born British actor and film director. He was born to Lithuanian Jewish parents and emigrated to South Africa at an early age, before later settling in th ...

to pitch company products. Barrie and his

Brut Productions Brut Productions was a film production company that was an offshoot of Fabergé cosmetics under George Barrie. History Barrie began thinking about becoming involved in movie production when producer Mike Frankovich asked Fabergé to make a mock a ...

produced the very successful film '' A Touch of Class'' (1973), which starred

Glenda Jackson Glenda May Jackson (born 9 May 1936) is an English actress and former Member of Parliament (MP). She has won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice: for her role as Gudrun Brangwen in the romantic drama ''Women in Love'' (1970); and again for ...

and George Segal, as well as '' Night Watch'', ''

Whiffs ''Whiffs'' is a 1975 comedy film directed by Ted Post and starring Elliott Gould, Eddie Albert, Harry Guardino, Godfrey Cambridge, and Jennifer O'Neill. It was produced by Brut Productions and released theatrically in the U.S. by 20th Century Fo ...

'' (1975), ''

Sweet Hostage ''Sweet Hostage'' is a 1975 American made-for-television drama film based on the novel ''Welcome to Xanadu'' by Nathaniel Benchley. The film stars Linda Blair and Martin Sheen. It was filmed in Taos County, New Mexico. It was featured in ABC's F ...

'' (1975), ''

Thieves Theft is the act of taking another person's property or services without that person's permission or consent with the intent to deprive the rightful owner of it. The word ''theft'' is also used as a synonym or informal shorthand term for some ...

'' (1977), '' Nasty Habits'' (1977), and ''

Fingers A finger is a limb of the body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of most of the Tetrapods, so also with humans and other primates. Most land vertebrates have five fingers (Pentadactyly). Chambers 1 ...

'' (1978). Barrie and

Sammy Cahn Samuel Cohen (June 18, 1913 – January 15, 1993), known professionally as Sammy Cahn, was an American lyricist, songwriter, and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premier ...

were nominated for the 1975

Academy Award for Best Original Song The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is presented to the ''songwriters'' who have composed th ...

, after writing "Now That We're In Love." Barrie and Cahn had been nominated in the same category in 1973, for "All That Love Went To Waste."

Trivia

Annual Straw Hat Awards - Party by Fabergé June 16, 1970 at the George Barrie Townhouse with

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

References

External links

Biography
at slick.org * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrie, George American film producers American retail chief executives 1912 births 2002 deaths