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(Eugene Klass 1919– ). American actor.
Given his naturally inclination toward nonchalance, it was perhaps
appropriate that he had previously been cast in two 1950s science
fiction movies which required him not so much to defeat an alien invasion
as to endure it; while he tried his best to seem duly concerned about
the attacking Martians in The
War of the Worlds, he was more bemused in response to the peculiarly
convoluted scheme of honor-bound alien invaders to get humanity to
commit suicide in the unique The 27th Day, a story line that not even
the desperate sincerity of a William SHATNER
could have made credible.
Garnering some fame on television as the elegant and
detached Bat Masterson (1958–1961),
Barry went on two other series, the aforementioned Burke's Law and The Name of
the Game (1968–1971). His presence did little to contribute to the impact
of the latter series' sole venture into science fiction, "Los Angeles 2019 AD,"
although he deserves some credit for allowing such a format-defying episode to
be filmed when he presumably could have deep-sixed the project by throwing a
star tantrum.
Life is rarely kind to television stars after they pass the age of fifty,
and Barry's last thirty years in Hollywood have been a generally dispiriting
array of television shows and movies (including the inevitable humiliation
of 1970s has-beens, a trip to Fantasy Island), though he did surprisingly well as the Devil in "Time
and Teresa Golowitz," a 1987 episode of Twilight Zone. Now approaching the age of ninety, he is unlikely to
do more than cameo appearances, though it would be nice to see Tim
BURTON, having launched another bizarre project,
asking Barry to participate in his remake of The 27th Day.
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