Why didn't he get the fame?

[Fi]

When I watched BAD COMPANY all those years ago, the information from film references books I managed to find out about Barry was in relation to his filmwork only, this included the tv movies to promote the idea of a new tv series - the Universal producers weren't going to waste money by filming a whole series if the public didn't watch them - so someone came up with the idea of the tv movie.

I remember the only films ever shown in the UK were THE BIRDMEN, GREAT NORTHFIELD MN RAID and PIRANHA. I watched them all anxiously waiting for Barry's appearance and each time I didn't recognise him (we didn't have the luxury of a video recorder back then).

As we've mentioned on the yahoo group he did want to be remembered as a serious actor, but when he was given those type of roles he was unrecognisible or given such little screen time, why, it was frustrating for the viewer, imagine how he must have felt, as an actor having a few minutes on screen.

Then, when he does get "centre stage" with his tv work the casting people have him play such weak characters, like his "Len" from Then Came Bronson (with a bossy girlfriend who doesn't appreciate him - thus making his "image" appeal to vulnerable teenage girls) or Mike Kiley from "Marcus Welby" who in both episodes is portrayed as a sensitive, caring young man (In My Father's House as Mike he drops out of college to take a job cleaning hotels to help pay for his father's medical bills).

It seems obvious now that Universal were trying to cash in on his good looks and sensitivity and I wondered how much pressure was placed on him and other actors to do magazine photos and questions about non-acting related issues.

The only other young actor who springs to mind who should have gotten more fame is Timothy Bottoms, who like Barry started with a very promising career. I read from some film books he was "difficult to work with" and can only assume from that he spoke his mind and cared more for his craft and love of acting than pleasing some overpaid studio boss.

I do try and think about other intelligent young actors of the '70s and there weren't that many and remember this was at a time when the offspring of established Hollywood stars were given priority with roles - the Carradines, Bridges and Fondas are just a few I can think of, very talented young actors of their time, I'm not disputing that and popular with film audiences, but unfortunately making the career ladder even more harder to climb.

[roberta]

Barry Brown was a child of the 60's and obviously inspired by a sense of idealism. It's redundant to say that he was highly intelligent - but intelligence sometimes must be tempered with pragmatism.

It's a shame that he didn't have an "old timer" for an agent - some grizzled old cigar chomper
who had been in the business for about 50 years, and would have sat him down and said
(along these lines:)

"Barry, bubele (they always called people "bubele"), ya got looks, ya got brains, you're sensitive, but - ya gotta do a lotta things ya don't like before ya get to the top.

"So what, baby? Do a few interviews with 'kiddie' magazines; tell 'em ya like the colour red,
that your favourite food is hamburger. Go on a coupla dates that some dopey teenage girls won witcha in a contest, or somthin'. It's exposure, kid!

"Then, when ya get the money and the exposure and the clout - then ya can follow your
(whadja callit, kid?) - oh, yeah - 'artistic vision.'

"But, son - listen to ol' uncle Bernie (or whatever his name would be): ya need the money -
and the clout - to do alla whacha wanna do."

That would have been the sagest counsel Barry Brown could have received in a meat grinder
environment like Hollywood. It's admirable to have high principles (such as moral, religious, or national ones), but when it comes to show business - the ones who control the purse strings control the artistic content.

Also, the "mood of the crowd" dictates what fare is popular, and what isn't - which explains why
"The Dukes of Hazzard" will set box-office records (and that is an insult to all Southerners in the U.S., presuming that we are all sensationalistic, ignorant, law-breaking rednecks whose women
dress like hookers), but a movie based upon a "classical" theme (e.g., the ill-starred "Daisy
Miller") will fall flat on its face.

If Barry had been able to stomach some of the movie content (and some of the Hollywood types behind the movies), get a wise busness manager (who would have pyramided his investments) -
he probably could have gone to Britain or to Europe and made movies that would have fulfilled
all of his dreams. (Or, he could have done PBS work; they have adaptations of classical works
for those of us here who can - and DO - read something more taxing than NASCAR magazines,
or "Soap Opera Digest.")

Also, there's money to be made by actors in creating audio books. But these are all post mortems after the fact. All that eventuated was preordained, and it's beyond our comprehension as humans to understand...