Gene Barry was born Eugene Klass in New York City on June 14, 1919. Musical at an early age, he was considered a violin virtuoso during adolescence (a gift inherited from his father) and possessed a natural, attractive baritone voice.

After breaking his arm playing football, he concentrated on singing, finding work in nightclubs, choirs, fairs, and even with dance bands while still in high school. Following graduation, he appeared on the vaudeville stage and on radio, eventually getting a break on Broadway in the Mae West vehicle "Catherine Was Great" in 1944, where he met and later married his wife Betty. For the rest of the decade, he appeared in a random selection of plays and musicals which did little to further his career. Hollywood finally beckoned in the 1950s and he co-starred in such dramatic B films as _Atomic City, The (1952)_ , Those Redheads from Seattle, and Alaska Seas, none of which capitalized on his singing skills. The one movie in which he did sing, Red Garters, did not fare well with the public. His most outstanding role was as Dr. Clayton Forrester, a scientist who finds himself in the midst of a Martian invasion in the cult sci-fi classic The War of the Worlds.

Television became his preferred medium after being offered the title role in Bat Masterson, and he established a comfortable and very profitable niche as a suave, dapper gentleman from the West in this and many other TV productions. Despite the elegant, globe-trotting typecast that seemed inevitable, his other TV gents proved just as successful: jet-setting detective Amos Burke in Amos Burke, Secret Agent, for which he won a Golden Globe award, and well-groomed publishing tycoon Glenn Howard in The Name of the Game.

He returned to the stage in the 1970s (often with his wife as co-star), and triumphantly re-established his singing career in the 1980s in the Broadway musical based on the film Cage aux folles, La in 1983, which earned him a Tony nomination. Since then he has made only occasional TV and stage appearances (bringing back his famous characters Bat Masterson and Amos Burke, much to the enjoyment of his fans), preferring instead to indulge his hobby of painting and also occasional political activism. Wife Betty died in 2003 after a nearly 60-year marriage.
Father of director Michael Barry. An avid political activist, he was among the many campaign supporters with Robert F. Kennedy at the Ambassador Hotel in L.A. when the politician was assassinated. Met his wife Betty (her stage name was Julie Carson) during rehearsals of the 1944 Broadway show "Catherine Was Great." Betty was fired before opening night because she was a blonde and Mae West, the star, would not have competing blondes in her show. Betty had disguised her hair color with a dark black wig. Gene and Betty married later that year and lived a long happy life together until her death in 2003. Sons Michael Lewis Barry and Frederick James Barry were born in 1946 and 1953, respectively. They adopted daughter Elizabeth (Liza) in 1967. Changed his name to Gene Barry in honor of his idol, John Barrymore. Was nominated for Broadway's 1984 Tony Award as Best Actor (Musical) for "La Cage aux Folles."