Actor

Barbara Read

Acting

Career Snapshot

Explained

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Acting credits

Active

Consistent number of acting credits.

TMDB popularity

1.7

Low visibility

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Movies: 21Series: 0

TMDB ID: 140081

IMDb ID: nm0713799

Known for: Acting

Born: December 29, 1917

Died: December 11, 1963

Age: 45

Place of birth: Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada

Gender: Female

Adult content flag: No

Career span: 1936 - 1948

Years active: 13

Average TMDB rating: 6.68

Wikidata: Q4859243

Also known as

Barbara French Read • Barbara Reed

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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)