Phyllis Barrington

Phyllis Barrington
Born
Clara Otelia Parry

February 7, 1904
Ogden, Utah, U.S.
DiedJune 20, 1989, (aged 85)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Phyllis Barrington (February 7, 1904 – June 20, 1989) was an American actress. Born Clara Parry and raised in Salt Lake City, she was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Parley M. Parry.[1] She was a graduate of Salt Lake's East High School.[2] She danced with the Alexander Oumansky ballet company and then toured in stock companies, where she appeared in such plays as The Second Year and She Got What She Wanted. She attended the Major School of Acting in Long Beach, California and studied voice.[3][4] A 1931 interview reported her hobbies as landscape drawing and sculpture.[5]

Independent, low-budget producer Willis Kent was impressed by the young actress and signed her to a contract in 1930. Kent changed her professional name from the unpretentious Clara Parry to the more elegant Phyllis Barrington and tried to promote her as an important player. His trade advertisements singled out her starring films in large, bold type as "Phyllis Barrington Specials," the first being Golddiggers of Hollywood,[6] ultimately released as Playthings of Hollywood and Chiselers of Hollywood (1930). Perhaps her most notable credit was Ten Nights in a Bar-Room, the 1931 sound "rematch" of William Farnum and Tom Santschi recreating their epic, barehanded fight scene from the 1914 silent feature The Spoilers.[7] Barrington also appeared in various Willis Kent melodramas, including The Law of the Tong (1931), with John Harron and Jason Robards, Sr.,[8] Sinister Hands (1932) with Jack Mulhall,[9] Sucker Money (1933), with Mischa Auer,[10] and her last picture, The Murder in the Museum (1934), with Henry B. Walthall and John Harron.[11] Barrington "appeared" in one last Willis Kent production, the 1936 western Gun Smoke, in which only her photograph was seen.

Barrington also appeared in plays.[3][12]

Her tenure with Willis Kent guaranteed her steady employment during the Depression years, but it didn't further her career or advance her to more important pictures at major studios. She worked in Willis Kent's minor-league productions exclusively.

At some point before her father's death in 1938, she returned to her birth name and moved to New York City. She died in Los Angeles on June 20, 1989, aged 85.[13][14]

  1. ^ Hollywood Filmograph, Dec. 2. 1933, p. 3.
  2. ^ "Scores Success". The Salt Lake Tribune. September 14, 1930. p. 46. Retrieved November 13, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  3. ^ a b "Actress To Essay Lead In Tragedy". Los Angeles Times. July 5, 1931. p. 16 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  4. ^ "Voice Student Gets New Role". Los Angeles Times. December 14, 1930. p. 39. Retrieved November 13, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  5. ^ Boston Globe, "Stock Actress Is Now Film Leading Lady", Feb. 1, 1931, p. A42.
  6. ^ Harry Levette, Associated Press, Dec. 11, 1930.
  7. ^ Hartford Courant, May 10, 1931, p. D3.
  8. ^ Langman, Larry; Daniel Finn (1995). A Guide to American Crime Films of the Thirties. Greenwood Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-0-313-29532-4.
  9. ^ Goble, Alan (1 January 1999). The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film. Walter de Gruyter. p. 360. ISBN 978-3-11-095194-3.
  10. ^ Langman, Larry (30 March 2009). The Media in the Movies: A Catalog of American Journalism Films, 1900–1996. McFarland. p. 251. ISBN 978-1-4766-0925-6.
  11. ^ Parish, James Robert; Pitts, Michael R. (1990). The Great Detective Pictures. Scarecrow Press. p. 358. ISBN 978-0-8108-2286-3.
  12. ^ "From Leslie Howard To Shakespeare". Los Angeles Times. November 5, 1933. p. 32. Retrieved November 13, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  13. ^ "Parry Funeral Set For Sunday". Salt Lake City Telegram. February 5, 1938. p. 9. Retrieved November 13, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon
  14. ^ "Two S.L. Girls Winning Fame". Salt Lake City Telegram. September 14, 1930. p. 22. Retrieved November 13, 2017 – via Newspapers.com. Open access icon