Introduction
Joan Barry, born Ina Florence Marshman Bell (5 November 1903 - 10 April 1989) was an English stage and film actress, whose career straddled the development of talkies.
Family
She was a daughter of Francis Marshman Bell, who went to Sydney, and wife Norah Cavanagh.
Biography
Born in Carlisle, she had her first role at the age of 15. Barry appeared at St James's Theatre, London when seventeen. She memorably dubbed the voice of Anny Ondra in the early Alfred Hitchcock thriller Blackmail (1929). The limited sound technology available at the time meant that Barry had to dub the Czech actress in real time as she performed the role.
Barry appeared on-screen for Hitchcock in Rich and Strange two years later.
Marriages and issue
She retired from the screen after her first marriage to Henry Hampson in 1934. On 3 October 1936 she married her second husband, Henry Frederick Tiarks III (born Woodheath, Chislehurst, 8 September 1900, died Marbella, 2 July 1995), son of banker Frank Cyril Tiarks and himself a wealthy merchant banker also marrying for the second time. They had two children. One of them, Edward Henry Tiarks, died when he was only six months old in 1943. The other, Henrietta Joan Tiarks, married Robin Russell, the Marquess of Tavistock, who eventually became the 14th Duke of Bedford. She is now Henrietta, Dowager Duchess of Bedford. Joan Barry was the Godmother of James Macintyre Boyd.
Selected filmography
- The Card (1922)
- Hutch Stirs 'em Up (1923)
- The Happy Ending (1925)
- Blackmail (1929) voice only
- Atlantic (1929)
- A Man of Mayfair (1931)
- Rich and Strange (1931)
- The Outsider (1931)
- A Man of Mayfair (1931)
- Rome Express (1932)
- Sally Bishop (1932)
- The First Mrs. Fraser (1932)
- Ebb Tide (1932)
- Women Who Play (1932)
- Mrs. Dane's Defence (1933)