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Mona Barrie

{{Short description|English-American actress (1905–1964)}}

{{Use British English|date=May 2017}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2016}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Mona Barrie

| image = Mona Barrie CM736.jpg

| image_size =

| caption = Mona Barrie in 1936

| birth_name = Mona Barlee Smith

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1905|12|18}}{{Citation needed|date=July 2023}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1964|6|27|1905|12|18}}

| death_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| resting_place = Knox United Church Cemetery, Agincourt, Toronto

| other_names =

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1932–1953

| spouse = {{plainlist|

  • {{marriage|Charles Harold Rayson|1928|1931|reason=divorced}}
  • {{marriage|Paul Macklin Bolton
    |1938}}

}}

}}

Mona Barrie (born Mona Barlee Smith;{{cite book |last1=Wilson |first1=Scott |title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed. |date=19 August 2016 |publisher=McFarland |isbn=978-1-4766-2599-7 |page=44 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&dq=%22Mona+Barlee+Smith%22&pg=PA44 |access-date=November 16, 2021 |language=en}} 18 December 1905 – 27 June 1964){{Citation needed|date=July 2023}} was an English-born actress, active on stage in Australia before establishing a career in the US, and in Hollywood films.

Career

Born Mona Barlee Smith in London to comedian Phil Smith and variety performer Jessie Barlee, she lived in Australia from 1914, and made her professional debut as Mona Barlee on stage in a 1922 J.C. Williamson production of The Merry Widow.Biographer Dr. Clay Djubal believes this suggests a 1906 date of birth as more likely than 1909. For the next 10 years, she performed for J.C. Williamson's, mostly in musical comedies and earning a popular reputation, appearing with numerous Australian-based variety stars, including Roy Rene. She also appeared in His Royal Highness, her first film, with Australian comedian George Wallace.{{cite web|url=https://ozvta.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/barlee-mona-r-notes-6112015.pdf|author= Dr Clay Djubal|title=Mona Barlee Research notes|publisher=Australian Variety Theatre Archive|access-date=10 January 2017}}

In 1933, she emigrated to New York City; she was given a test for films, which led to signing with Fox Film Corporation. She made her first U.S. film Sleepers East using the stage name Mona Barrie.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PQANAAAAIBAJ&sjid=MmkDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3698,3632515&dq=mona-barrie&hl=en|title=Fox's Newest Actress Set .Mona Barrie Handed Her First Role... |date=18 October 1933|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|accessdate=19 October 2010}}

While her lack of a glamorous beauty resulted in her generally being cast in important but secondary roles, during a film career spanning almost 20 years, she appeared in more than 50 films. She co-starred in 1942's Dawn on the Great Divide, the last film Buck Jones made before he died in the Cocoanut Grove fire in Boston, Massachusetts. Barrie also performed at various playhouses across the U.S, debuting on Broadway in 1937 as Lady Agatha in Arthur Schwartz's Virginia.{{cite work|title=THE PLAY: 'Virginia' Opens the Season with a Large Musical Drama at the Center Theatre Theatre Units' Plays Tonight|author=Brooks Atkinson|work=The New York Times|date=September 3, 1937|page=13}}

For her contributions to the film industry, Barrie received a motion pictures star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960. Her star is located at 6140 Hollywood Boulevard.{{cite web|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/mona-barrie |title=Hollywood Walk of Fame - Mona Barrie |website=walkoffame.com |publisher=Hollywood Chamber of Commerce |access-date=November 13, 2017}}

Personal life

She married Charles Harold Rayson in Melbourne, Australia in July 1928; however the marriage was not a success, and a divorce was granted in 1931.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/205842796 The Age (Melbourne, Vic.: 1854-1954), 4 June 1931, Page 11 "DIVORCE COURT"]; accessed 10 January 2017. In 1938, she married Canadian Paul Macklin Bolton. Both unions were childless.

Barrie died in 1964 in Los Angeles, aged 54, from undisclosed causes. She and Bolton are interred together in the Knox United Church Cemetery in Agincourt, Toronto.{{cite news|url=http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/mona-barrie|title=Hollywood Star Walk - Mona Barrie|date=17 June 2010|work=Los Angeles Times|accessdate=19 October 2010}}

Family

Barrie's sister, Rene Barlee, was a variety artist in Australia in the 1920s, and her brother, Roly Barlee, was chief announcer for Melbourne radio station 3UZ.[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/224825567 Weekly Times (Melbourne, Vic.: 1869-1954), 25 October 1941, Page 9, "The Voice Behind the 'Mike'"]; accessed 10 January 2017.

Partial filmography

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References

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External links

{{Commons}}

{{Portal|Biography}}

  • {{IMDb name|0057399}}
  • {{IBDB name}}
  • [http://film.virtual-history.com/person.php?personid=5374 Photographs of Mona Barrie]
  • {{Find a Grave|7288559}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrie, Mona}}

Category:1905 births

Category:1964 deaths

Category:20th-century English actresses

Category:Actresses from London

Category:British expatriate actresses in Australia

Category:English emigrants to the United States

Category:English film actresses

Category:English stage actresses