Julian Barry

{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}} {{Short description|American screenwriter and playwright (1930–2023)|bot=PearBOT 5}} {{Infobox person | image =  | name = Julian Barry | birth_name = Julian Barry Mendelsohn Jr. | birth_date = {{birth date|1930|12|24}} | birth_place = New York City, U.S. | death_date = {{death date and age|2023|7|25|1930|12|24}} | death_place = Beverly Hills, California, U.S. | occupation = Screenwriter, playwright, author, theatre director | spouses = {{Plainlist| * Sheila Ann Shulman * Patricia Jane Foley (died 1981) * {{marriage|Laura Ziskin|1978||end=div}}}} | children = 4 }}

'''Julian Barry''' (né '''Julian Barry Mendelsohn Jr.'''; December 24, 1930 – July 25, 2023) was an American screenwriter and playwright, best known for his Oscar-nominated script for the 1974 film ''Lenny'' about comedian Lenny Bruce. Barry adapted the script from his successful Broadway play of the same name. The film, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Dustin Hoffman and Valerie Perrine, was nominated for the so-called Oscar Grand Slam, one of some 40 films to be so honored.

Barry wrote or rewrote screenplays for several notable films including ''The River'', ''Eyes of Laura Mars'', and ''Rhinoceros'', ''Me, Myself and I'', and ''A Marriage - Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz'' (PBS/American Playhouse Production). Barry appeared as himself in the film documentary ''Pablo'', about the graphic artist and film director Pablo Ferro.

Barry's autobiography, ''My Night with Orson'', was published on July 9, 2011, by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform ({{ISBN|978-1-4635-5134-6}}).

==Early life== Julian Barry Mendelsohn Jr. was born on December 24, 1930, in New York City to Jewish parents,<ref name=NYTObit>{{cite web |last1=Traub |first1=Alex |title=Julian Barry, Who Made Lenny Bruce Into 'Lenny,' Dies at 92 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/movies/julian-barry-dead.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=July 27, 2023}}</ref> the only child of Julian B. and Grace (née Fein) Mendelsohn.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1997/03/18/classified/paid-notice-deaths-mendelsohn-grace-v.html Grace Mendelsohn obituary], nytimes.com. March 18, 1997. Accessed September 29, 2022.</ref> He was raised in the Riverdale neighborhood of The Bronx.<ref name=STILLER>{{cite book |title=Married to Laughter: A Love Story Featuring Anne Meara |last=Stiller |first=Jerry |authorlink=Jerry Stiller |year=2000 |publisher=Simon and Schuster |location=New York City, New York |isbn=0-7432-1146-4 |page=[https://archive.org/details/marriedtolaughte00stil_0/page/78 78] |url=https://archive.org/details/marriedtolaughte00stil_0 |url-access=registration |accessdate=December 27, 2009}}</ref> He played saxophone for his high school band, and traveled to jazz clubs in New York City to hear jazz performed by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane.<ref name=3AM>{{cite web|url=http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/unleashing-ocasey-julian-barry-lenny-bruce-american-tragedy/ |title=Unleashing O'Casey: Julian Barry, Lenny Bruce & American tragedy |author=Pleasants, Ben |date=March 14, 2009 |work=3:AM Magazine |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100109003625/http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/unleashing-ocasey-julian-barry-lenny-bruce-american-tragedy/ |archivedate=January 9, 2010 |accessdate=December 26, 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

After high school, Barry attended Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York, where he majored in drama and performed in university productions with comedian Jerry Stiller.<ref name=STILLER /> He was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean War and served until 1953.<ref name="nytobit">[https://web.archive.org/web/20230801002231/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/27/movies/julian-barry-dead.html Julian Barry, Who Made Lenny Bruce Into ‘Lenny,’ Dies at 92] ''The New York Times'' via Internet Archive. Retrieved August 24, 2023.</ref>

==Early career== Barry was cast in the 1955 Orson Welles production of ''King Lear'' at New York City Center theater. He continued working on Broadway as an actor in the musical ''Shinbone Alley'', where he was also stage manager, He also stage managed the Budd Schulberg treatment of ''The Disenchanted'', about the real life adventures of F. Scott Fitzgerald. He stage managed seven other Broadway productions, appearing as an actor in several of them as well, and he worked in the Broadway theatre in this capacity through the mid sixties when he started writing full-time.

In 1969, Barry was hired by Columbia Pictures to write the screenplay for ''Lenny''. The prospects for the project were reportedly harmed by the commercial success of ''Love Story'', having created a demand for romantic films, which ''Lenny'' certainly was not. Barry suggested to theatre director Tom O'Horgan, who was fresh from his success with the musical ''Hair'', that the ''Lenny'' screenplay be redone as a play and the play was a hit starring Cliff Gorman.

At the 47th Academy Awards in 1974, ''Lenny'' was honored with nominations in all five categories that constitute the Oscar Grand Slam, including a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay for Barry.<ref name=IMDBLENNY>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071746/ |title=Lenny |work=Internet Movie Data Base |accessdate=December 26, 2009 }}</ref> He was also nominated that year for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium, as well as a Jeff Award for his directorial efforts on the ''Lenny'' stage show in Chicago.<ref name=IMDBBARRY>{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0058057/ |title=Julian Barry |work=Internet Movie Data Base |accessdate=December 26, 2009 }}</ref>

In 1983, Barry wrote the book for ''Jean Seberg'', a musical biography of the American actress and political activist who committed suicide in Paris in 1979. The production was directed by Peter Hall at London's National Theatre with music by Marvin Hamlisch. The production was a flop. Later he co-authored an opera with Peter Hall, ''Born Again'' at the Chichester Festival Theatre in England starring Mandy Patinkin and José Ferrer.

Barry ventured back into opera writing the libretto for ''Zyklon'', an opera about the life of German-Jewish scientist Fritz Haber. The music was composed by the British composer Peter King.

==Personal life== {{Unreferenced section|date=July 2023}} Barry met his second wife, Patricia Foley  when he hired her for a Chicago production of ''Guys and Dolls'' to play the role of Sister Sarah Brown, opposite Tony Bennett. Barry and Patricia were married three weeks later. They had three children: Sally, Michael, and Jennifer. Patricia died in November 1981 in a car accident.

Barry later married and divorced film producer Laura Ziskin, who died in 2011.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gilbey |first=Ryan |date=2011-06-15 |title=Laura Ziskin obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2011/jun/15/laura-ziskin-obituary |access-date=2026-03-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> They had a daughter, Julia (born 1983).

Barry died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, on July 25, 2023, at the age of 92, from complications of heart failure and kidney disease.<ref name=NYTObit/>

==Selected works== * ''Me, Myself and I'' (screenplay) * ''A Marriage: Georgia O'Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz'' (screenplay) * ''The River'' (screenplay) * ''Eyes of Laura Mars'' (screenplay) * ''Lenny'' (play, 1974 screenplay) * ''Rhinoceros'' (play, screenplay) * ''Zyklon'' (opera, libretto)

==Other works== * ''Jean Seberg'' (biographical musical librettist) * ''Born Again'' (opera; co-writer with Peter Hall)

==Awards and nominations== * Nomination, Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay (''Lenny'', 1974) * Nomination, Writers Guild of America Award, Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium (''Lenny'', 1974) * Nomination, Joseph Jefferson Award, Director - Play (''Lenny'', 1974) * Drama Logue Awards in Los Angeles for both writing and directing the play The Reunification Hotel in 1999.

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{IMDb name|0058057}} * {{IBDB name}} * {{discogs artist|Julian Barry (4)}} * [http://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/unleashing-ocasey-julian-barry-lenny-bruce-american-tragedy/ Unleashing O'Casey: Julian Barry, Lenny Bruce & American tragedy] * [http://www.film.com/celebrities/julian-barry/biography/14602374 Julian Barry at Film.com] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20100120061827/http://www.jeffawards.org/home/index.cfm Jeff Awards - Celebrating Excellence in Chicago Theater]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barry, Julian}} Category:1930 births Category:2023 deaths Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century American male writers Category:20th-century American screenwriters Category:American male dramatists and playwrights Category:American male screenwriters Category:American male television writers Category:American television writers Category:American musical theatre librettists Category:Deaths from congestive heart failure in California Category:Deaths from kidney disease Category:Jewish American military personnel Category:Jewish American screenwriters Category:Military personnel from New York City Category:Military personnel from New York (state) Category:People from Redding, Connecticut Category:People from Riverdale, Bronx Category:Screenwriters from Connecticut Category:Screenwriters from New York City Category:United States Army personnel of the Korean War Category:Writers from the Bronx Category:Dramatists and playwrights from New York (state)