Barbara Read

Acting

Biography

Born in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada, Barbara Read was the daughter of a contractor. Under contract to Columbia, she was paid but never used for a single picture. She quit in disgust. She was later signed by Universal and was cast as one of the Craig sisters inThree Smart Girls (1936) along with Deanna Durbin and Nan Grey. This was Barbara's first and best remembered film. Her career was over by the time she married actor William Talman, of "Perry Mason" fame, in 1953. The couple had two children: Barbara ("Barbie") and William III ("Bobo"). The marriage was turbulent as both she and Talman suffered from alcohol problems. They divorced in 1960 with Barbara gaining custody of the children. Talman took over custody a year later when Barbara's alcoholism and mental/emotional problems became overbearing. Committed suicide at her Laguna Beach, California home when she turned on the gas jets of her stove and sealed the doors and windows. She left a suicide note blaming "ill health". Barbara Read bore a powerful likeness to Deanna Durbin, whose sister she was portraying in "Three Smart Girls". Date of Death: 11 December 1963, Laguna Beach, California (suicide)

Filmography Movies

Acting

MOVIE

Make Way for Tomorrow

7.5(0.2K)

An elderly couple are forced to separate themselves from each other after their children refuse to take both into one house.

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Make Way for Tomorrow

Rhoda Cooper

MOVIE

Coroner Creek

6.2(0.0K)

A man is bent on taking revenge on those responsible for his fiancée's death.

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Coroner Creek

Abbie Miles (as Barbara Reed)

MOVIE

Three Smart Girls

6.5(0.0K)

The three Craig sisters – Penny, Kay, and Joan – go to New York to stop their divorced father from marrying gold digger Donna Lyons and reunite him with their mother.

Key Witness

4.8(0.0K)

A man takes over the identity of a dead man while on the lam from a crime he didn't commit.

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Key Witness

Martha Higby (as Barbara Reed)

MOVIE

The Missing Lady

4.8(0.0K)

While investigating the theft of a valuable jade statue known as "The Missing Lady" -- and the subsequent murder of an art dealer -- imperceptible sleuth Lamont Cranston aka the Shadow (Kane Richmond) finds himself being blamed for the crime. It doesn't help the Shadow's claims of innocence when more bodies begin piling up. Good thing he knows exactly who's guilty among an increasingly smaller group of suspects.

The Shadow Returns

5.8(0.0K)

The Shadow (Kane Richmond) cracks a case of missing jewels, murder and plastics.

Behind the Mask

5.5(0.0K)

Falsely accused of murdering a crooked newspaper reporter, suave detective Lamont Cranston -- aka the Shadow -- vows to track down the real killer.

Curtain Call

7.3(0.0K)

Two theatrical producers plan to get even with a demanding actress by tricking her into starring in the worst play they can find.

Married and in Love

5.7(0.0K)

Two married couples become engulfed in a storm of emotional fury when Doctor Leslie Yates runs into writer Doris Wilding, his old college flame, whom he has not seen in ten years. After reminiscing about their past, Doris and Leslie make a dinner date with their respective spouses. On the eve of the Yates's dinner party, Leslie's wife Helen brings home a magazine article written by Doris, which sparks Leslie's memory of his separation from her.

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Married and in Love

Helen Yates