Early life

Newman was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of a Belarusian-born mother, Sarah (née Ostrovsky), and an Austrian father, Carl Newman. Barry Newman attended the prestigious Boston Latin School.

After graduating from Brandeis University with a degree in Anthropology, Newman was drafted into the army and having learned saxophone and clarinet in high school he was assigned to the 3rd Army band in Atlanta Georgia. After being discharged Newman went to New York to receive his masters degree in Anthropology from Columbia University, when a friend, who was studying acting with Lee Strasberg. invited him to sit in on the class. His destiny changed for he fell in love with acting and left Columbia University after only five weeks, to study acting with Lee Strasberg.

Career

Newman's first acting job was in Herman Wouk's first comedy, Nature's Way, in which he played a jazz musician who, coincidentally, played saxophone, for which Newman received his very first Broadway review, in which New York critic Richard Watts called him, " The creme of the Jesters". This was followed by a featured part in the play Maybe Tuesday, written by Mel Tolkin, Sid Caesar's head writer, and Lucille Kallen, Imogene Coca's head writer.

Newman then went on to star in the New York production of the longest running play on the British stage, Agatha Christie's The Mousetrap. After numerous parts on Broadway, in the musical What makes Sammy Run, Sidney Kingsley's Night Live, America Hurrah, to name a few, Newman went on to do TV and movies. While working at nights on Broadway in What Makes Sammy Run, Newman starred as John Barnes in the LIVE daytime drama, The Edge of Night for two years. Earlier, Newman also co-starred in his first film, the gangster potboiler, Pretty Boy Floyd (1960) but he made his breakthrough with his first starring role in The Lawyer (1970), directed by Sidney Furie, for which Newman received critical acclaim. Newman then went on to star in the 1971 cult movie Vanishing Point, as Kowalski, followed by starring roles in 20th Century Fox's, The Salzburg Connection, and Paramount's, Fear Is The Key. In 1974 he starred in the hit NBC TV Series Petrocelli.

After Petrocelli, Newman starred in the film, City On Fire, with Henry Fonda and Ava Gardner, then in Disney's Amy, and starred in more than twenty TV movies of the week, also co-starring in several mini series including NBC's, Fatal Vision, and ABC's, King Crab, which won the ABC theater award and Variety calling Newman, " The Spencer Tracy of the 80's".

In 1989 Barry Newman starred with Suzanne Pleshette in the Television series, Nightingales, playing Doctor Garret Braden. Then, in the early 1990's, Newman went to London to star in the BBC's production of Miss Marple, The Mirror Cracked, with Claire Bloom. During the 1990's Newman went back to co-star in movies such as, Daylight with Sylvester Stallone, Bowfinger, starring Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy, and in Steven Soderbergh's comeback movie, The Limey, amongst others.

Vanishing Point

Director Richard C. Sarafian's original choice for the role of Kowalski was Gene Hackman but the studio, 20th Century Fox, insisted on using Newman. The film was not initially a success in the United States when it first opened in 1971 but received critical acclaim and was a commercial success in Europe.

Newman's success with the two hour TV film, Night Games, based on the 1970 movie The Lawyer, led to the NBC TV series, Petrocelli, starring Newman as a compassionate big-city lawyer, living and working in the fictional town of San Remo, Arizona (actually filmed in Tucson, Arizona). He was nominated for an Emmy in 1975 for Outstanding Lead Actor In A Drama Series and, in 1976, for a Golden Globe.

Awards and nominations

• Year: 1975 TV Series: Petrocelli Award: Emmy Category: Best Actor Result: Nominated
• Year: 1976 TV Series: Petrocelli Award: Golden Globe Category: Best Actor in a Drama Series Result: Nominated

Filmography

• Pretty Boy Floyd (1960) ... Al Riccardo
• The Moving Finger (1963)
• The Lawyer (1970) ... Tony Petrocelli
• Vanishing Point (1971) ... Kowalski
• Fear Is the Key (1972) ... John Talbot
• The Salzburg Connection (1972) ... Bill Mathison
• Night Games (1974) ... Anthony J. Petrocelli
• Sex and the Married Woman (1977) ... Alan Fitch
• City on Fire (1979) ... Dr. Frank Whitman
• King Crab (1980) ... Johnny Campana
• Amy (1981) ... Dr. Ben Corcoran
• Deadline (1982) ... Barney Duncan
• Fantasies (1982) ... Detective Flynn
• Having It All (1982) ... Peter Baylin
• Second Sight: A Love Story (1984) ... Richard Chapman
• My Two Loves (1986) ... Ben
• The Mirror Crack'd from Side to Side (1992, TV) ... Jason Rudd
• Daylight (1996) ... Norman Bassett
• Brown's Requiem (1998) ... Jack Skolnick
• Goodbye Lover (1998) ... Sen. Lassetter
• The Limey (1999) ... Jim Avery
• Bowfinger (1999)... Hal Mclean
• Fugitive Mind (1999) ... Dr. Chamberlain
• G-Men From Hell (2000)... Greydon Lake
• Jack the Dog (2001)... Simon
• True Blue (2001) ... Monty
• Good Advice (2001) ... Donald Simpson
• 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002) ... Walter Sullivan
• Manhood (2003) ... Frank
• What the Bleep Do We Know!? (2004) ... Frank
• Grilled (2006) ... Boris

Television work

• The Edge of Night (1956) (Cast Member 1964-1965)
• Way Out (1961) ... Officer Police (1 episode, "Hush-Hush")
• Armstrong Circle Theatre (1963) ... (1 episode, 1963)
• Naked City (1963) "Beyond This Place There Be Dragons" ... Cabbie
• Death of Ocean View Park (1967)
• Get Smart (1965) ... Assistant Guru (1 episode, 1968)
• The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson ... Himself (3 episodes, 1973-1975)
• Petrocelli (1974) ... Anthony J. Petrocelli (45 episodes, 1974-1976)
• Dinah! (1975) ... (Cast Member 1975-1977)
• Quincy M.E. (1976)
• The Peter Marshall Variety Show (1976)
• The Fall Guy (1981) Himself (1 episode: "The Detectives", season #4, episode #6, 1984)
• Nightingales (1989) ... Dr. Garrett Braden (13 episodes, 1989)
• Murder She Wrote (1989) ... Detective Jack Ballinger (1 episode, 1989)
• The New Hollywood Squares (1989) .... Special Guest(1 episode, 1989)
• L.A. Law (1994) ... Frank Askoff (2 episodes, 1994)
• NYPD Blue ... Jimmy Wexler (2 episodes, 1994-1998)
• The O.C. (2005) ... Professor Max Bloom (3 episodes, 2005)
• The Cleaner (2009) ... Marcus O'Hara (1 episode "Hello America")
• Ghost Whisperer (2009)... Ray James (1 episode "Till Death Do Us Start")

[ Source: Wikipedia ]