Born in London's East End, Barry's career began when he won a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art at the age of 15. Upon graduation, he followed with successful stage runs in London's West End and in theatrical productions throughout the United Kingdom, and appeared on the BBC's earliest live television broadcasts in the late 1930s. Barry relocated to Canada in the early 1950s, working in live theatre, on CBC Radio, and in the premiere CBC-TV broadcasts. While a staple in many of the anthology and dramatic series of the 1950s and 1960s, he is probably best known in North America for his TV roles as "Lt. Philip Gerard" in Le fugitif (1963) and as "Prof. Victor Bergman" in Cosmos 1999 (1975). A journalist once determined that Barry had played more than 3,000 roles on the stage, screen, and radio in a career spanning eight decades.
