WENDY BARRIE
Wendy Barrie
- © London Film Productions
- (Wendy Barrie in The Private Life of Henry VIII., 1933)
Biography
BIO
Wendy Barrie was born Marguerite Wendy Jenkins in Hong Kong, China. Her father, a lawyer, was Counsel to the King at a time when Hong Kong was a protectorate of the United Kingdom. Barrie was schooled in Europe and working in a hair salon in London when she was ‘discovered’ by the producer/director Alexander Korda.
She debuted, along with another Korda protege, Merle Oberon, in a Korda produced and directed film in 1932 at the age of 20. Following the success of The Private Life of Henry VIII. (1933), Barrie was courted by Warner Bros. and soon left for Hollywood to star in her first American film.
Barrie became a leading actress in the U.S. and appeared in more than 40 feature films before retiring in 1943.
She began her television career in 1948 and briefly was the hostess of her own show from 1948-1950.
Barrie died of a stroke in Englewood, New Jersey, in 1978, at the age of 65.
Additional Broadway stage history is available at: 
Additional biographical information is available at: 
