La Cage's Tony-Nominated Gene Barry Dies at 90

The Washington Post is reporting that actor Gene Barry has died at age 90 in his Woodland Hills, California home today.

Gene Barry started as a song-and-dance man, appearing in several long-running 1940s musicals on Broadway. By the 1950s he had switched to film acting where his most popular film was the original War of the Worlds, where Barry played a scientist. He played the federal agent who pursued moonshiner Robert Mitchum in the whiskey noir Thunder Road, and he was a wealthy cad in a plane crash in Back from Eternity.

On TV, Barry starred from 1958-61 as the high-class gambler and good guy Bat Masterson, the western hero who generally eschewed the gun and instead won fights by wielding his cane. From 1963-66 he played millionaire cop Amos Burke on Burke's Law. From 1968-71 he played Glenn Howard, the crusading publisher of People magazine, on The Name of the Game.

Returning to the stage in the 1980s, Barry was Tony-nominated for the original Broadway production of La Cage aux Folles. His baritone is also recognisable for singing the jingle for Lowenbrau beer: the company usEd Barry's rendition of the song in most of its commercials through the early 1990s.

Barry's Theatre Credits Include:
La Cage aux Folles [Broadway]
Original Broadway Production, 1983
Georges

Spotlight [Broadway]
Closed on the road, 1978
Performer

The Perfect Setup [Broadway]
1962
Performer

Destry Rides Again [US Tour]
National Tour, 1960
Destry

Bless You All [Broadway]
Original Broadway Production, 1950

Happy as Larry [Broadway]
Original Broadway Production, 1950
The Doctor

The Would-Be Gentleman [Broadway]
1946

Catherine Was Great [Broadway]
1944
Lieutenant Bunin

The Merry Widow [Broadway]
Broadway Revival, 1943
Nova Kovich (of the Embassy)

Rosalinda [Broadway]
Broadway Revival, 1942
Falke

The New Moon [Broadway]
1942
Captain Paul Duval