1917-12-29 ( 107 years old ) in Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada
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)
Movies
Coroner Creek
1948-07-01
Key Witness
1947-10-09
Ginger
1947-01-04
The Missing Lady
1946-08-17
Death Valley
1946-08-15
Behind the Mask
1946-05-25
The Shadow Returns
1946-02-16
Rubber Racketeers
1942-06-26
Too Many Women
1942-02-27
Curtain Call
1940-04-18
Married and in Love
1940-01-19
The Spellbinder
1939-07-28
Sorority House
1939-05-05
The Crime of Doctor Hallet
1938-03-12
Midnight Intruder
1938-02-06
Merry Go Round of 1938
1937-11-14
The Man Who Cried Wolf
1937-08-29
The Road Back
1937-06-01
Make Way for Tomorrow
1937-05-09
The Mighty Treve
1937-01-17
Three Smart Girls
1936-12-20
Powered by Powerxsoft Ltd using the TMDB API