Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
21
Gender
Female
Birthday
December 29, 1917 ( 46 years old )
Place of Birth
Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada
Also Known As
Barbara French Read
Barbara Reed
Barbara Read
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)
Known For
Make Way for Tomorrow
1937-05-09Coroner Creek
1948-07-01Three Smart Girls
1936-12-20Key Witness
1947-10-09The Missing Lady
1946-08-17The Shadow Returns
1946-02-16Behind the Mask
1946-05-25Curtain Call
1940-04-18Married and in Love
1940-01-19Sorority House
1939-05-05