Don 'Red' Barry

Don "Red" Barry
"Red" Barry in 1979
Born	(1912-01-11)January 11, 1912 Houston, Texas, U.S.
Died	July 17, 1980(1980-07-17) (aged 68) North Hollywood, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide by firearm
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, California
Occupation	Actor, writer
Years active	1933–1980
Spouse(s)	Peggy Stewart (1940–44; divorced) Barbara (1963-80; his death); 2 children

Donald Barry de Acosta (January 11, 1912 – July 17, 1980), known as Red Barry, was an American film and television actor. He was nicknamed "Red" after appearing as the first Red Ryder in the highly successful 1940 film Adventures of Red Ryder; the character was played in later films by "Wild Bill" Elliott and Allan Lane. Barry went on to bigger budget films following Red Ryder, but none reached his previous level of success.

Barry was born in Houston, Texas. He attended Allen Academy and the Texas School of Mines. Prior to acting, Barry had been a high school and college football player. He went to Los Angeles, California, to work in advertising.

Barry's initial venture into acting was in a production of Tobacco Road on stage in New York in the late 1930s.

By the 1950s, Barry was a supporting actor instead of playing leads in westerns. Early in 1955, he appeared as the bandit Milt Sharp in an episode of the syndicated series, Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis.

Barry played "Clete" in the 1956 western film Seven Men from Now, starring Randolph Scott. He guest starred as Tanner in the 1958 episode "Bullet Proof" of the ABC/Warner Brothers series Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins; he was cast as Arkansas in the 1959 Sugarfoot episode "The Return of the Canary Kid". Barry appeared four times in the ABC/WB western Colt .45. Barry was cast as black-clad gunfighter in a 1961 episode, "Last Stop: Oblivion", of the ABC/WB western series, Maverick with Jack Kelly and fellow guest star Buddy Ebsen.