Barry MacKay (actor)

{{Short description|English actor (1906–1985)}}

{{distinguish|text=the American tennis player Barry MacKay (tennis)}}

{{Use British English|date=January 2022}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}

{{more footnotes|date=January 2013}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Barry MacKay

| image = Barry MacKay in A Christmas Carol trailer.jpg

| caption = MacKay in the trailer for A Christmas Carol (1938)

| birth_name = Barry Leonard Graham Reay-Mackey

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1906|01|08|df=yes}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1985|12|12|1906|01|08|df=yes}}

| death_place = Chelsea, London, England

| occupation = Actor

| years_active = 1933–1955

| spouse = Natalie Hall

}}

Barry MacKay (born Barry Leonard Graham Reay-Mackey; 8 January 1906 – 12 December 1985) was an English actor.{{cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0533131/|title=Barry MacKay|website=IMDb}}{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba44e1fae|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817075753/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2ba44e1fae|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 August 2017|title=Barry Mackay|publisher=}}

He was most prominently seen in light comedic roles in the British cinema of the 1930s and is perhaps best known as Jessie Matthews' leading man in Evergreen (1934), Gangway (1937) and Sailing Along (1938).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mqyuDQAAQBAJ&dq=barry+mackay+The+Encyclopedia+of+British+Film%3A+Fourth+edition&pg=PA481|title=The Encyclopedia of British Film: Fourth Edition|first1=Brian|last1=McFarlane|first2=Anthony|last2=Slide|date=14 August 2017|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=9780719091391|via=Google Books}} On Stage he performed at the Comedy Theatre, London, in the Green Room Rags of 2 December 1934; opposite Ann Todd in the sketch Every Twenty Thousand Years.

Other notable roles include Lieutenant Somerville in Brown on Resolution (1935) and as Fred, Scrooge's nephew, in MGM's film A Christmas Carol (1938), the latter being one of two films he made in the US; the other was the lead role in a B-picture, Smuggled Cargo (1939). After these films and serving in the Canadian navy during WW II, followed by stage work, there was a long gap in his film career until he reappeared as a character actor in the 1950s, making his last film (Timeslip a.k.a. The Atomic Man ) in 1955.{{cite web|url=https://www.tvguide.com/celebrities/barry-mackay/credits/141317/|title=Barry Mackay|website=TVGuide.com}}

Barry also appeared in the 1954 Sheldon Reynolds produced Sherlock Holmes television series.{{cite web|url=http://epguides.com/SherlockHolmes_1954/|title=Sherlock Holmes (1954) (a Titles & Air Dates Guide)|website=epguides.com}} He portrayed Reggie "Sardines" Taunton in episode 17; "The Case of the Laughing Mummy".{{cite web|url=http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b83b7e55b|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170817081308/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b83b7e55b|url-status=dead|archive-date=17 August 2017|title=The Case of the Laughing Mummy (1955)|publisher=}}