Wendy Barrie

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Wendy Barrie 18 April 1912 2 February 1978 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 Kings Counsel and her mother a RussianJewish actress who had performed in the worlds first professional Yiddishlanguage 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 1933s 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 Its 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 RKOs 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 mid1960s After appearances in more than 15 films in Britain and more than 30 in Hollywood Barries 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