T. Roy Barnes

Acting

T. Roy Barnes

Born — Died

1880-08-11 — 1937-03-30

Place of birth

Lincolnshire, England, UK

Known for

Acting

Credits

42 titles

Barnes appeared in over 50 films between 1920 and 1935, primarily in comedies. Barnes started his show career in vaudeville later turning to stage and film acting. During the 1920s, he often played "brash young go-getters" in supporting and leading roles. He’s best known for his roles as Buster Keaton's business partner Billy Meekin in Seven Chances (1925) and in W. C. Fields' comedy It's a Gift (1934), portraying an inquisitive Insurance Salesman. He retired from movies in 1935 and died two years later.

Known for

Seven Chances poster
7.5

Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.

Seven Chances

1925

It's a Gift poster
6.3

After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.

It's a Gift

1934

Hollywood poster
9.0

Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...

Hollywood

1923

Chicago poster
5.9

Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted.

Chicago

1927

Adam and Eva poster
8.0

An extravagant girl reforms when her father goes bust.

Adam and Eva

1923

Souls for Sale poster
6.3

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

Souls for Sale

1923

Film credits

1930s · 14 titles

It's a Gift poster
6.3

After he inherits some money, Harold Bissonette ("pronounced bis-on-ay") decides to give up the grocery business, move to California and run an orange grove. Despite his family's objections and the news that the land he bought is worthless, Bissonette packs up and drives out to California with his nagging wife Amelia and children.

It's a Gift

1934

Life Begins at Forty poster
10.0

A small-town newspaper publisher finds himself in opposition to the local banker on the return to town of a lad jailed possibly wrongly for a theft from the bank.

Life Begins at Forty

1935

Wide Open poster
5.8

An eccentric, fluttery bachelor is dismayed to discover an undressed woman in his apartment.

Wide Open

1930

Aloha poster
8.0

In the South Seas, a half-caste island girl refuses to follow tradition and marry a fellow islander, instead falling in love with a white man and heir to an American fortune.

Aloha

1931

Carnival poster
8.0

"Chick" Thompson is a puppet-master in a traveling carnival whose wife dies in childbirth and leaves him with an infant son he names "Poochy." His father-in-law and the baby's grandfather sues him for custody of the baby and Chick takes his son and hides out for a couple of years. He joins his former assistants, Daisy and "Fingers", in a circus act only to find that the persistent grandfather is still on his trail.

Carnival

1935

Village Tale poster
7.2

The insidious typical talk of a small town makes a young man and the married woman he is in love very unhappy.

Village Tale

1935

The Virginia Judge poster
10.0

In a small town in the South, Jim Preston resents his stepfather, Judge Calhoun Davis, in spite of everything the judge has done to be a father him. "Cal" is the most respected man in town, and makes his judgements in court with authority and generosity.

The Virginia Judge

1935

Women of All Nations poster
3.3

Marines Flagg and Quirt fought together in WWI and Panama. After some time in New York they go to Sweden and compete for the love of Else. Next they go to Nicaragua and help earthquake victims. Then to Egypt where Else is now in Prince Hassan's harem.

Women of All Nations

1931

Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5 poster
NR

Andy Clyde plays football with the Sennett girls; Mary Pickford's miniature golf course is shown.

Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5

1930

Doubting Thomas poster
7.5

A husband makes fun of his wife's theatrical aspirations when she agrees to appear in a local production. When she begins to neglect him, he decides to retaliate by also going on stage.

Doubting Thomas

1935

Sally poster
7.0

Sally is an orphan who was named by the telephone exchange where she was abandoned as a baby. In the orphanage, she discovered the joy of dancing. Working as a waitress, she serves Blair (Alexander Gray), and they both fall for each other, but Blair is engaged to socialite Marcia. Sally is hired to impersonate a famous Russian dancer named Noskerova, but at that engagement, she is found to be a phoney. Undaunted, she proceeds with her life and has a show on Broadway, but she still thinks of Blair.

Sally

1930

How's My Baby? poster
8.0

1930 Comedy short

How's My Baby?

1930

Kansas City Princess poster
4.9

Rosie and Marie are wisecracking Kansas City manicurists. Marie is an unabashed golddigger but Rosie would like to marry her gangster boyfriend Dynamite, who's given her an expensive ring. When she loses the ring, both friends have to flee Dynamite's wrath; their adventures include masquerading as girl scouts and taking an ocean voyage to Paris.

Kansas City Princess

1934

The Four Star Boarder poster
10.0

In an effort to appease his wife's wealthy aunt (Grace Goodall), newly-wed Charley must masquerade as a boarder in his own home while his wife (Constance Bergen) pretends to be married to an old beau (T. Roy Barnes).

The Four Star Boarder

1935

1920s · 28 titles

Seven Chances poster
7.5

Struggling stockbroker Jimmie Shannon learns that, if he gets married by 7 p.m. on his 27th birthday -- which is today -- he'll inherit $7 million from an eccentric relative.

Seven Chances

1925

Hollywood poster
9.0

Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...

Hollywood

1923

Chicago poster
5.9

Based on a true story, two-timing boozing wife Roxie Hart kills her lover in cold blood after he leaves her, and finagles her way out being indicted.

Chicago

1927

Adam and Eva poster
8.0

An extravagant girl reforms when her father goes bust.

Adam and Eva

1923

Souls for Sale poster
6.3

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

Souls for Sale

1923

A Trip to Paramountown poster
7.8

Documentary short film depicting the filmmaking activity at the Paramount Studios in Hollywood, featuring dozens of stars captured candidly and at work.

A Trip to Paramountown

1922

See My Lawyer poster
7.0

Robert Gardner and Billy Noble become interested in a machine capable--according to the inventor, Trueman--of producing artificial rubber. A trust is formed, circulars are sent out, and a demonstration is requested. When Billy discovers that the invention is fraudulent and refuses to demonstrate it, the trust lawyer becomes suspicious and notifies postal authorities. Robert feigns insanity, and Trueman accepts an offer of $1 million for the formula, which experts later discover produces an indestructible paving block.

See My Lawyer

1921

Young Ideas poster
7.0

Universal star Laura LaPlante stars in this lighthearted comedy based on Sophie Kerr's magazine story, Relative Values. Octavia Lowden (LaPlante) has virtually become a drudge in order to support her sponging relatives -- flapper sister Eloise (Lucille Ricksen), hypochondriac Aunt Minnie (Lydia Yeamans Titus), and storytelling Uncle Eph (James O. Barrows). Only Octavia's frail grandmother (Jennie Lee) really needs help. When Octavia's sweetheart, photographer Pritchett Spence (T. Roy Barnes), discovers the toll these bloodsuckers are exacting, he plots with the family doctor to rescue her.

Young Ideas

1924

Is Matrimony a Failure? poster
10.0

Mr. and Mrs. Amos Saxby's silver wedding anniversary is interrupted by the surprise elopement of their daughter Margaret with bank clerk Arthur Haviland. Law student Dudley King, and rival suitor for Margaret, announces that the marriage-license clerk is on vacation and that the license obtained by the elopers is invalid; he wires the proprietor of the lodge where the couple plan to spend their honeymoon, and Arthur and his wife indignantly return home.

Is Matrimony a Failure?

1922

A Kiss in Time poster
8.0

Although she finds the stiff Bostonian manners of her fiancé, Robert Ames, unsuited to her temperament, artist-illustrator Sheila Athlone refuses to illustrate an author's story because of its "absurd" premise that a girl would kiss a man she met only 4 hours earlier. Author Brian Moore, setting out to prove his point, poses as a butcher boy and induces her to ride out to a country orchard. His advances are refused until he saves a child from an explosion, and 2 minutes before the time limit, in admiration of his bravery, she allows him to kiss her.

A Kiss in Time

1921

Exit the Vamp poster
10.0

Marion Shipley is happily devoted to her husband, John, until Mrs. Willy Strong, a society "vampire," succeeds in capturing his affections. A jewelry salesman informs Marion of the affair, after John and Mrs. Strong enter his store together. Marion follows her husband to a restaurant, where she witnesses Mrs. Strong give John the key to her apartment. Gaining entrance to her rival's home, Marion transforms herself with the vamp's clothes and makeup, rendering herself unrecognizable to John in the dim light. Marion is in John's arms when Mrs. Strong arrives, and he denounces her for his wife.

Exit the Vamp

1921

Don't Get Personal poster
10.0

Patricia Parker, on the advice of her father, leaves her life as a chorus girl for the bucolic surroundings of Silas Wainwright, an old friend of her father's.

Don't Get Personal

1922

Ladies of Leisure poster
8.0

Rich, spoiled Marian pressures Eric to marry her. Her brother is in love with her friend Mamie, but a scheming ex-husband tries to blackmail her. Mamie is saved from suicide by Eric, who's in a compromising position when he brings her home.

Ladies of Leisure

1926

Her Face Value poster
8.0

Chorus girl Peggy Malone, supporting her father and brother, marries press agent Jimmy Parsons. They settle into a quiet life until her "shiftless" relatives move in, causing marital strain and financial pressure. To escape the domestic chaos and support her family, Peggy returns to the stage and eventually joins a motion picture company in Los Angeles. She quickly becomes a famous film star, continuing to provide for her ungrateful family while Jimmy moves to Arizona to recuperate from failing health. While filming a dangerous stunt, Peggy is seriously injured. During her recovery, she is forced to choose between the wealthy admirer Martin Fox and her husband Jimmy, who travels to Los Angeles to win her back. Peggy chooses love over wealth, reuniting with Jimmy (now a successful scenarist) and finally finding true happiness.

Her Face Value

1921

The Great White Way poster
8.0

Ambitious press agent Jack Murray introduces two of his clients, Follies dancer Mabel Vandegrift and prize fighter Joe Cain, to each other and they fall in love. After Brock Morton, the owner of the show, says that he will bring down the curtain on the show in the middle of opening night unless Mabel renounces Joe, the latter goes on the stage and announces that, in spite of his prior refusal, that he will fight the English boxing champion. With the money he gets from boxing promoter Tex Rickard, he buys out Morton and the show goes on. Prior to the fight, Morton dopes Joe, but he is brought around so that he is able to fight and eventually wins the match. Joe's father comes east and then brings Joe and Mabel back west with him. A lost film.

The Great White Way

1924

A Regular Scout poster
7.0

Silent cowboy western about a man on a mission to exact revenge on the gang who, he feels, are responsible for his mother's death, after their raid. Upon discovering that one of the gang members killed in the raid was the long-lost son of the Monroe family, so he decides to impersonate him to exact his revenge on the their family.

A Regular Scout

1926

Too Much Wife poster
10.0

Myra Coningsby, a newlywed who is determined not to be a submissive wife but ultimately learns to find a balance in her marriage after a dramatic incident involving a faked drowning.

Too Much Wife

1922

A Blonde for a Night poster
5.7

After an argument, a newlywed decides to test her husband's fidelity by disguising herself as a blonde.

A Blonde for a Night

1928

The Re-Creation of Brian Kent poster
7.0

To support a demanding wife, bank clerk Brian Kent embezzles a large sum of money and, overcome with remorse, attempts to commit suicide by casting himself adrift in a small boat on a rough river. The boat is caught in willows, however, and Brian meets Judy, a little maidservant who introduces him to her mistress, Auntie Sue, a schoolteacher. Under Auntie Sue's benign influence, Brian reforms and writes a book. Falling in love with Betty Jo, Brian incurs the enmity of Judy, who tells her father of Brian's unsavory past. Judy's father starts out for the bank, but Auntie Sue gets there first and persuades the bank president (a former pupil of hers) not to prosecute Brian. Brian's wife attempts to visit him and is drowned. Brian finds happiness with Betty Jo.

The Re-Creation of Brian Kent

1925

The Go-Getter poster
8.0

Bill Peck is discharged from an army hospital and goes in search of a job. Cappy Ricks hires Bill, but gives him an seemingly impossible test of finding and buying a particular blue vase to prove he can handle a challenging job in China.

The Go-Getter

1923

The Old Homestead poster
8.0

Silent drama film based upon the play of the same name by Denman Thompson.

The Old Homestead

1922

No artwork available
8.0

Jerry Warner (Barnes) and Edith Somers (Breamer) are in love, but her father Judge Somers (Marshall) will not allow them to marry because he sees Jerry as a poor prospect. When Jerry's uncle sends him ten thousand dollars to set up a business Judge Somers tells him if he has that money at the end of six months, he can marry Edith. After several close calls all turns out all right for the lovebirds.

Reckless Romance

1924

The Unknown Cavalier poster
10.0

Tom Drury, a cowboy whose quick thinking stops a notorious outlaw, "The Hawk," from further misdeeds. The villain, as it turns out, is none other than Henry Suggs (James Mason), heretofore considered a pillar of the community.....

The Unknown Cavalier

1926

Body and Soul poster
7.0

A disgraced alcoholic surgeon settles in a small village in the Swiss Alps. He falls for Hilda, a servant at the hotel where he lives. He tricks her into marrying him by making her think her lover, Ruffo, has abandoned her. Things don't go quite as planned, however, when Ruffo returns.

Body and Soul

1927

Dangerous Curves poster
6.6

A young bareback rider in a circus is in love with a trapeze artist, but he has two problems: he drinks too much and he's fallen under the spell of a "vamp" who's nothing but trouble for him.

Dangerous Curves

1929

Butterfly poster
9.0

A woman (Ruth Clifford) dedicates her life to her ungrateful younger sister (Laura La Plante), a brilliant violinist. “…a real gem of a photoplay…[Laura La Plante] does about the best work of her career in this role. She acts without showing she is acting, and she makes human and lovable the most trying character she has yet been called upon to essay.” – Moving Picture World.

Butterfly

1924

So Long Letty poster
10.0

Harry Miller is a "natural-born mixer" while his wife Grace is a homebody, distressed by her husband's errant ways. Grace finds a kindred spirit in Tommy Robbins, who lives in an adjoining bungalow and whose wife Letty is devoted to the cabarets. Harry admires Letty as much as Tommy admires Grace, and suggests to his neighbor that they arrange an exchange of wives. The wives overhear their husbands' plotting to obtain divorces and, still in love with the men they married, conceive a counter-plan of a week of platonic trial marriages. Over the seven-day period, the wives make life so miserable for each other's husbands that the two men gladly return to their respective spouses.

So Long Letty

1920

The Crowded Hour poster
10.0

Telephone operator Peggy, puts on an act with Matt Wilde at a Bowery amateur night and is seen by Billy Laidlaw, who becomes convinced of her talents. Billy subsequently arranges for the Broadway debut of the act and falls in love with Peggy, who wholeheartedly returns his affection. When the World War breaks out, Billy remains unconcerned until his younger brother is killed in action. Billy then immediately enlists and is sent to France; Peggy joins the Red Cross to be with him, and Grace Laidlaw, Billy's wife, also goes to France, working with the Y. M. C. A. Billy is assigned to destroy an ammunition dump, and Peggy learns, after he has left on the mission, that he has been recalled.

The Crowded Hour

1925