Wendy Barrie

Acting

Wendy Barrie

Born 1912-04-18 · Hong Kong, British Crown Colony [now China]

Wendy Barrie was a British actress who worked in British and American films. 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. 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 under the Korda brothers, Alexander and Zoltan, the best known of which is 1933's The Private Life of Henry VIII, in which she portrayed Jane Seymour. In 1934, she appeared in Freedom of the Seas and was contracted by Fox Film Corporation for a film directed by Scott Darling that was made in Britain. The following year, she moved to the United States and made her first Hollywood film for Fox opposite Spencer Tracy in the romantic comedy It's a Small World, followed by Under Your Spell with Lawrence Tibbett. Loaned to MGM, Barrie starred opposite James Stewart in the 1936 film Speed. In 1939 she starred with Richard Greene and Basil Rathbone in the 20th Century Fox version of The Hound of the Baskervilles, and with Lucille Ball in RKO's Five Came Back. 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. With the dawn of television, in the late 1940s, Barrie turned to roles in that medium. In 1956, she had a disc jockey program, the Wendy Barrie Show, on WMGM in New York City. She also hosted a widely syndicated radio interview show into the mid-1960s. 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 at 1708 Vine Street, near the corner of Hollywood and Vine. Her star was dedicated February 8, 1960. 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, and at one time was married to textile manufacturer David L. Meyer. She died in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1978, aged 65, following a stroke that had left her debilitated for several years. She was buried in the Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

Acting credits

A Date with the Falcon poster
6.5

In the second film of the series (and not a second part of anything), Gay Lawrence, aka The Falcon, is about to depart the city to marry his fiancée, Helen Reed, when a mystery girl, Rita Mara, asks for his aid in disposing of a secret formula for making synthetic diamonds. He deliberately allows himself to be kidnapped by the gang for which Rita works. His aide, "Goldy" Locke, trails the kidnappers and brings the police. But the head of the gang escapes, and the Falcon continues the pursuit.

A Date with the Falcon

1942

The Hound of the Baskervilles poster
7.1

When a nobleman is threatened by a family curse on his newly inherited estate, detective Sherlock Holmes is hired to investigate.

The Hound of the Baskervilles

1939

Dead End poster
7.0

The lives of a young man and woman, an infamous gangster and a group of street kids converge one day in a volatile New York City slum.

Dead End

1937

Under Your Spell poster
7.3

A famous singer, bored with music and fans, goes to live in Mexico. His manager sends a woman to bring him back. They fall in love.

Under Your Spell

1936

It Should Happen to You poster
7.1

Gladys Glover has just lost her modeling job when she meets filmmaker Pete Sheppard shooting a documentary in Central Park. For Pete it's love at first sight, but Gladys has her mind on other things, making a name for herself. Through a fluke of advertising she winds up with her name plastered over 10 billboards throughout city.

It Should Happen to You

1954

The Private Life of Henry VIII poster
6.4

Renowned for his excess, King Henry VIII goes through a series of wives during his rule. With Anne Boleyn, his second betrothed, executed on charges of treason, Henry weds maid Jane Seymour, but that wedded bliss also ends in tragedy. Not one to be single for long, the tyrannical king chooses German-born Anne of Cleves, but their union lasts only months before an annulment is granted, and so Henry's reign of spousal terror continues.

The Private Life of Henry VIII

1933

The Gay Falcon poster
6.3

Having forsaken the detective business for the safer confines of personal insurance, Gay Laurence is compelled to return to his sleuthing ways. Along with sidekick Jonathan "Goldie" Locke, he agrees to look into a series of home party robberies that have victimized socialite Maxine Wood. The duo gets more than they bargained for when a murder is committed at Wood's home, but Lawrence still finds time to romance the damsel.

The Gay Falcon

1941

Forever and a Day poster
7.5

In World War II, American Gates Trimble Pomfret is in London during the Blitz to sell the ancestral family house. The current tenant, Leslie Trimble, tries to dissuade him from selling by telling him the 140-year history of the place and the connections between the Trimble and Pomfret families.

Forever and a Day

1943

Speed poster
5.9

Terry is the chief car tester for Emery Motors and Frank is an Engineer. Jane has just been hired to work in publicity. Frank and Terry both want Jane to be their girl. Terry has designed a new carburetor that should bring him fame and money, but he cannot get it to work correctly. Terry and Gadget have tested it for over a year, but it still is not perfected. Emery Motors assigns Frank to help Terry with the carburetor, but Terry is not happy because Frank is an Engineer and is also vying for Jane. They finish the carburetor, and to test it, they enter a car in the Indianapolis 500 race. Terry is not yet satisfied with the carburetor before the big race even though it has passed all the tests.

Speed

1936

Cash poster
4.9

A formerly wealthy man and his daughter try to regain wealth by selling a scheme to some investors, when they come upon a huge amount of unclaimed cash that a young electrician has in his toolbox.

Cash

1933

I Am the Law poster
7.1

With the aid of his former law students, a professor-turned-prosecutor battles corruption and organized crime.

I Am the Law

1938

Men Against the Sky poster
4.6

A draftswoman, the sister of an aging, alcoholic pilot, secretly uses her brother's ideas to solve design problems for an experimental military plane in an attempt to save the company and salvage her brother's reputation.

Men Against the Sky

1940

Follies Girl poster
10.0

In PRC's Follies Girl, Wendy Barrie plays dress designer Anne Merriday, who becomes the object of middle-aged millionaire J. B. Hamlin's (J.C. Nugent) affections. To save his dad from throwing his life away on a supposed golddigger, Hamlin's son, Army private Jerry Hamlin (Gordon Oliver), begins courting Anne-and, of course, falls genuinely in love with her himself. Meanwhile, the rogueish J.B. tries to mount a Broadway burlesque show, with costumes designed by Our Heroine.

Follies Girl

1943

Collision poster
10.0

Conniving con artist Mrs Oliver targets the family of Mrs Carruthers, seducing her husband and framing her son for the theft of a valuable necklace. With her family facing ruin and disgrace, Mrs Carruthers resorts to increasingly violent measures to protect them.

Collision

1932

Five Came Back poster
6.3

Twelve people are aboard Coast Airline's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. Crashing into jungles known to be inhabited by head hunters, pilots Bill and Joe race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But damage to the plane and low fuel reserves means that only 5 people can be carried to safety.

Five Came Back

1939

College Scandal poster
6.8

Julie Fresnel is a co-ed at Redgate University and her father, Dr. Henri Fresnel, is the new French professor. Julie attraction from the make students drops a bit when two of her admirers are found murdered. When an attempt on the life of a third one is made. Seth Dunlap, an instructor at the school, decides to turn detective and find the killer. Assisted by his sister, who is in love with the third student, Dunlap begins to follow the the small trail of clues left by the killer.

College Scandal

1935

The Saint Takes Over poster
6.7

The Saint Takes Over, released in 1940 by RKO Pictures, was the fifth motion picture featuring the adventures of Simon Templar, a.k.a. "The Saint" the Robin Hood-inspired crimefighter created by Leslie Charteris. This film focuses on the character of Inspector Henry Farnack. When Farnack is framed by a gang he is investigating, it is up to The Saint to clear his name.

The Saint Takes Over

1940

There Goes Susie poster
8.0

No synopsis available yet.

There Goes Susie

1935

Love on a Bet poster
7.0

An aspiring theater producer convinces his wealthy uncle to finance a play on the condition that he lives the play’s far-fetched plot: making a cross-country trip with no money.

Love on a Bet

1936

No artwork available
7.0

Heiress Bonnie Parker, tired of newspaper stories about her society high-life, gives a false story to energetic reporter Bill Raymond, who has frequently pestered her for a scoop. When Bill is dismissed for the phony item, Bonnie realizes that she carried the prank too far.....

Gangs Of The City

1941

Eyes of the Underworld poster
5.6

Blackmail and murder in a tale of an auto-theft ring.

Eyes of the Underworld

1942

Pacific Liner poster
5.5

The S. S. Arcturus sails from Shanghai to San Francisco, and Dr. Jim Craig takes the post of ship's physician in order to be near Ann Grayson, the ship's nurse. Chief Engineer 'Crusher" McKay also has his eyes on Ann, and this brings an immediate conflict between the two men. When an epidemic breaks out below decks, Craig tells McKay the engine-and-fire rooms must be put under quarantine, but all of Craig's efforts to keep the disease from spreading are opposed by McKay.

Pacific Liner

1939

No artwork available
9.0

A telephonist falls for her employer.

Give Her a Ring

1934

Wings Over Honolulu poster
6.4

A Navy pilot gets involved in a romantic triangle while stationed in Hawaii.

Wings Over Honolulu

1937