Wendy Barrie (born Marguerite Wendy Jenkins; 18 April 1912 – 2 February 1978) was a British-American film and television actress.

Early life

Barrie was born in London to English parents. Her father, Francis Charles John Graigoe Jenkin KC (1883 – 1936), was an employee of Great Western (according to the 1901 census), who then joined the Royal Fusiliers in 1902. Her mother was Ellen McDonagh. Hollywood gave her a more exotic parentage with her father being a King's Counsel and her mother a Russian-Jewish actress who had performed in the world's first professional Yiddish-language theater troupe. She received her education at a convent school in England and a finishing school in Switzerland.

Film

In 1932, Barrie made her screen debut in the film ''Threads'', which was based upon a play. She went on to make a number of motion pictures for

London Films London Films Productions is a British film and television production company founded in 1932 by Alexander Korda and from 1936 based at Denham Film Studios in Buckinghamshire, near London. The company's productions included ''The Private Life ...

under the Korda brothers,

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

and Zoltan, the best known of which is 1933's '' The Private Life of Henry VIII'', in which she portrayed

Jane Seymour Jane Seymour (c. 150824 October 1537) was Queen of England as the third wife of King Henry VIII of England from their marriage on 30 May 1536 until her death the next year. She became queen following the execution of Henry's second wife, Anne ...

. In 1934, she appeared in ''

Freedom of the Seas Freedom of the seas ( la, mare liberum, lit. "free sea") is a principle in the law of the sea. It stresses freedom to navigate the oceans. It also disapproves of war fought in water. The freedom is to be breached only in a necessary inter ...

'' and was contracted by Fox Film Corporation for a film directed by

Scott Darling Scott Darling (born December 22, 1988) is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. He previously played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Chicago Blackhawks and Carolina Hurricanes. Darling was selected by the Phoenix C ...

that was made in Britain. The following year, she moved to the United States and made her first

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywoo ...

film for Fox opposite

Spencer Tracy Spencer Bonaventure Tracy (April 5, 1900 – June 10, 1967) was an American actor. He was known for his natural performing style and versatility. One of the major stars of Hollywood's Golden Age, Tracy was the first actor to win two cons ...

in the

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typic ...

It's a Small World "It's a Small World" is a water-based boat ride located in the Fantasyland area at various Disney theme parks worldwide, including Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California; Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida; Tokyo D ...

'', followed by ''

Under Your Spell ''Under Your Spell'' is a 1936 American romantic comedy film with music directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Frances Hyland and Saul Elkins is based on a story by Sy Bartlett and Bernice Mason. Plot New York City opera star Anthony ...

'' with

Lawrence Tibbett Lawrence Mervil Tibbett (November 16, 1896 – July 15, 1960) was an American opera singer and recording artist who also performed as a film actor and radio personality. A baritone, he sang leading roles with the Metropolitan Opera in New Yor ...

. Loaned to MGM, Barrie starred opposite

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military pilot. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morality ...

in the 1936 film ''

Speed In everyday use and in kinematics, the speed (commonly referred to as ''v'') of an object is the magnitude of the change of its position over time or the magnitude of the change of its position per unit of time; it is thus a scalar quant ...

''. In 1939 she starred with Richard Greene and

Basil Rathbone Philip St. John Basil Rathbone MC (13 June 1892 – 21 July 1967) was a South African-born English actor. He rose to prominence in the United Kingdom as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in more than 70 films, primarily costume ...

in the

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Disn ...

version of ''

The Hound of the Baskervilles ''The Hound of the Baskervilles'' is the third of the four crime novels by British writer Arthur Conan Doyle featuring the detective Sherlock Holmes. Originally serialised in ''The Strand Magazine'' from August 1901 to April 1902, it is set ...

'', and with

Lucille Ball Lucille Désirée Ball (August 6, 1911 – April 26, 1989) was an American actress, comedienne and producer. She was nominated for 13 Primetime Emmy Awards, winning five times, and was the recipient of several other accolades, such as the Gold ...

in RKO's ''

Five Came Back ''Five Came Back'' is a 1939 American black-and-white melodrama from RKO Radio Pictures produced by Robert Sisk, directed by John Farrow, written by Jerry Cady, Dalton Trumbo, and Nathanael West, and starring Chester Morris and Lucille Ball. T ...

''. During 1939 and the early 1940s, Barrie made several of '' The Saint'' and '' The Falcon'' mystery films with George Sanders. She made her final motion picture in 1954.

Radio

Barrie was a member of the cast of ''The Jack Haley Show'' on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

(1937-1938) and CBS (1938-1939). She was an assistant on the ''Star for a Night'' program on the

Blue Network The Blue Network (previously known as the NBC Blue Network) was the on-air name of a now defunct American radio network, which broadcast from 1927 through 1945. Beginning as one of the two radio networks owned by the National Broadcasting Comp ...

(1943-1944), and she was one of the quizmasters on ''Detect and Collect'' on CBS (1945) and ABC (1945-1946).Dunning, John. (1998). ''On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio''. Oxford University Press. . Pp. 198, 364, 634. In 1956, she had a disc jockey program, the ''Wendy Barrie Show'', on WMGM in New York City.Sies, Luther F. (2014). ''Encyclopedia of American Radio, 1920-1960, 2nd Edition, Volume 1''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 55. She also hosted a widely syndicated radio interview show into the mid-1960s.

Television

With the dawn of television, in the late 1940s, Barrie turned to roles in that medium. From November 17, 1948, to February 9, 1949, Barrie hosted '' Picture This'' on

.Brooks, Tim & Marsh, Earle (1979). ''The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows: 1946-Present''. Ballantine Books. . Pp. 495-496. During 1948 and 1949, she hosted a

DuMont Television Network The DuMont Television Network (also known as the DuMont Network, DuMont Television, simply DuMont/Du Mont, or (incorrectly) Dumont ) was one of America's pioneer commercial television networks, rivaling NBC and CBS for the distinction of being ...

comedy for children featuring a cowboy puppet called '' The Adventures of Oky Doky''.Terrace, Vincent (2011). ''Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P. 15. However, she is best remembered by U.S. audiences as host of one of the first television talk shows. ''

The Wendy Barrie Show ''The Wendy Barrie Show'' (also known as ''Inside Photoplay'', ''Photoplay Time'', ''Through Wendy's Window'', and ''Who's Who With Wendy Barrie'') is an American talk show hosted by Wendy Barrie, which aired from November 10, 1948, to September 2 ...

'' debuted in November 1948 on ABC, then ran on DuMont and

, ending its run in September 1950. (Another source says the program debuted on DuMont March 14, 1949. Yet another source says that it debuted November 10, 1948, on NBC.) That program was replaced by ''Through Wendy's Window'' in August 1950. The 15-minute NBC program had Barrie interviewing celebrities and talking about fashions. Barrie was hostess of the short-lived ''Stars in Khaki and Blue'', a "prime-time talent show for members of the Armed Forces," which debuted on NBC September 13, 1952, and ended September 27, 1952.McNeil, Alex (1996). ''Total Television''. Penguin Books USA, Inc. . P. 788. She continued to appear on network television on panel shows and as a guest star in the early 1950s, and also as a spokesperson for commercial products, including a stint as the original

Revlon Revlon, Inc. is an American multinational company dealing in cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care. The headquarters of Revlon was established in New York City on March 1, 1932, where it still remains. Revlon was founded by brother ...

saleswoman on '' The $64,000 Question'' during its first months on air. Her pitching of Living Lipstick saw that product being sold out across the country. Barrie continued on local TV 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 ...

. In 1953, three television stations owned by Taft Broadcasting Company and

Cox Communications Cox Communications, Inc. (also known as Cox Cable and formerly Cox Broadcasting Corporation, Dimension Cable Services and Times-Mirror Cable) is an American digital cable television provider, telecommunications and home automation services. It i ...

formed the short-lived "Tri-State Network" to compete with entertainment programming produced by Crosley Broadcasting Corporation on Crosley television stations in the

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line w ...

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

and

Dayton Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Da ...

Ohio Ohio () is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Of the List of states and territories of the United States, fifty U.S. states, it is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 34th-l ...

broadcast markets. On January 11, 1954, a new ''

'' premiered from the studios of

WHIO-TV WHIO-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Dayton, Ohio, United States, affiliated with CBS. It has been owned by Cox Media Group since its inception, making it one of two stations that have been built and signed on by Cox (alongside company ...

in Dayton, simulcast on Taft Broadcasting's WKRC-TV in Cincinnati and

WTVN-TV WSYX (channel 6) is a television station in Columbus, Ohio, United States, affiliated with ABC, MyNetworkTV and Fox. It is owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, which provides certain services to TBD station WTTE (channel 28, owned by Cunningham ...

(now WSYX) in Columbus. Wendy Barrie's contract was terminated in October 1954.

Recognition

After appearances in more than 15 films in Britain and more than 30 in Hollywood, Barrie's contribution to the industry was recognized with a motion pictures star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...

at 1708 Vine Street, near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Her star was dedicated February 8, 1960.

Personal life and death

Barrie became a naturalized American citizen in 1942. She was reportedly engaged to and had a daughter named Carolyn with the infamous gangster

Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (February 28, 1906 – June 20, 1947) was an American mobster who was a driving force behind the development of the Las Vegas Strip. Siegel was not only influential within the Jewish Mob, but along with his childhood fri ...

, and at one time was married to textile manufacturer David L. Meyer. She died in

Englewood, New Jersey Englewood is a city in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey, which at the 2020 United States census had a population of 29,308. Englewood was incorporated as a city by an act of the New Jersey Legislature on March 17, 1899, from po ...

, in 1978, aged 65, following a

stroke A stroke is a disease, medical condition in which poor cerebral circulation, blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: brain ischemia, ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and intracranial hemorrhage, hemorr ...

that had left her debilitated for several years. She was buried in the

Kensico Cemetery Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads that served the city. Initially , it ...

Valhalla, New York Valhalla is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) within the town of Mount Pleasant, in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the New York City metropolitan area. Its population was 3,162 at the 2010 U.S. Census. The name was in ...

.Wilson, Scott. ''Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons'', 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Locations 25047-25048). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Photographs and literature
* with guest Jack Shaindlin * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrie, Wendy 1912 births 1978 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses English film actresses English stage actresses English television actresses British emigrants to the United States Naturalized citizens of the United States Burials at Kensico Cemetery 20th-century English actresses 20th-century American actresses