Barry Primus

Last updated
Barry Primus
Born (1938-02-16) February 16, 1938 (age 86)
New York City, New York, U.S.
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipUnited States
Education Bennington College
Occupations
  • Actor
  • director
  • writer
Years active1963–present
SpouseJulie Arenal

Barry Primus (born February 16, 1938) is an American television and film actor, director, and writer.

Contents

Career

While Primus is primarily an actor, he has also worked as a writer and director in films in which he has acted. For the first decade of his career, he was employed as a stage actor. He gained some experience on TV in shows like The Defenders , East Side/West Side and The Virginian .

He then made his initial film appearance in the Manhattan-filmed The Brotherhood (1968). His other films include Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (film) (1971) Boxcar Bertha (1972), Autopsy (1975), Heartland (1979), The Rose (1979), Night Games (1980), Absence of Malice (1981), and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). He had a recurring role on the TV series Cagney and Lacey (1982 1988) as Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless)'s boyfriend, Sergeant Dory McKenna, whose drug problem compromises his performance as a fellow police officer. [1]

After working as second unit director on Mark Rydell's The Rose (1979), Primus increased his behind-the-camera activities; in 1992, he directed his first theatrical feature, the "inside" Hollywood comedy/drama Mistress .

A member of the Actors Studio, [2] Primus has taught acting and directing classes at the American Film Institute, Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, the UCLA campus, and at The Maine Media Workshops [3] in Maine. He has taught acting at Loyola Marymount University and at Columbia University.

Primus's recent film work includes Jackson , a film directed by J.F. Lawton; he had a cameo in Righteous Kill with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, American Hustle , Grudge Match , and The Irishman .

Personal life

Primus has been married to choreographer Julie Arenal for over 50 years.

Select filmography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Cagney</span> American actor and dancer (1899–1986)

James Francis Cagney Jr. was an American actor and dancer. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. He won acclaim and major awards for a wide variety of performances.

<i>Absence of Malice</i> 1981 film by Sydney Pollack

Absence of Malice is a 1981 American drama neo noir thriller film directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Paul Newman, Sally Field, Wilford Brimley, Melinda Dillon and Bob Balaban.

<i>The Rose</i> (film) 1979 film by Mark Rydell

The Rose is a 1979 American musical drama film directed by Mark Rydell, and starring Bette Midler, Alan Bates, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, Barry Primus, and David Keith. Loosely based on the life of Janis Joplin, the film follows a self-destructive rock star in the late 1960s, who struggles to cope with the pressures of her career and the demands of her ruthless business manager.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joe Pesci</span> American actor (born 1943)

Joseph Frank Pesci is an American actor and musician. He is known for portraying tough, volatile characters in a variety of genres and for his collaborations with Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese in the films Raging Bull (1980), Goodfellas (1990), Casino (1995), and The Irishman (2019). He has received several awards including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award with nominations for three Golden Globe Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raoul Walsh</span> American film director and actor (1887–1980)

Raoul Walsh was an American film director, actor, founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and the brother of silent screen actor George Walsh. He was known for portraying John Wilkes Booth in the silent film The Birth of a Nation (1915) and for directing such films as the widescreen epic The Big Trail (1930) starring John Wayne in his first leading role, The Roaring Twenties starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, High Sierra (1941) starring Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart, and White Heat (1949) starring James Cagney and Edmond O'Brien. He directed his last film in 1964. His work has been noted as influences on directors such as Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jack Hill, and Martin Scorsese.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barbara Hershey</span> American actress

Barbara Lynn Herzstein, better known as Barbara Hershey, is an American actress. In a career spanning more than 50 years, she has played a variety of roles on television and in cinema in several genres, including westerns and comedies. She began acting at age 17 in 1965 but did not achieve widespread critical acclaim until the 1980s. By that time, the Chicago Tribune referred to her as "one of America's finest actresses".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Naughton</span> American actor and director (born 1945)

James Naughton is an American actor and director. He is best known as Michael Bower on Who's the Boss? (1984-1992) and was also notable for his earlier role as the astronaut Pete Burke in the 1974 single-season television adaptation of Planet of the Apes .

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ben Reitman</span> American anarchist and physician to the poor

Ben Lewis Reitman M.D. (1879–1943) was an American anarchist and physician to the poor. He is best remembered today as one of radical Emma Goldman's lovers. Martin Scorsese's 1972 feature film Boxcar Bertha is based on one of Reitman's books.

<i>Boxcar Bertha</i> 1972 film directed by Martin Scorsese

Boxcar Bertha is a 1972 American romantic crime drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and produced by Roger Corman, from a screenplay by Joyce H. Corrington and John William Corrington. Made on a low budget, the film is a loose adaptation of Sister of the Road, a pseudo-autobiographical account of the fictional character Bertha Thompson. It was Scorsese's second feature film.

Lover or lovers may refer to a person having a sexual or romantic relationship with someone outside marriage. In this context see:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pat O'Brien (actor)</span> American actor (1899–1983)

William Joseph Patrick O'Brien was an American film actor with more than 100 screen credits. Of Irish descent, he often played Irish and Irish-American characters and was referred to as "Hollywood's Irishman in Residence" in the press. One of the best-known screen actors of the 1930s and 1940s, he played priests, cops, military figures, pilots, and reporters. He is especially well-remembered for his roles in Knute Rockne, All American (1940), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and Some Like It Hot (1959). He was frequently paired onscreen with Hollywood star James Cagney. O'Brien also appeared on stage and television.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Frawley</span> American director and actor (1936–2019)

James Joseph Frawley was an American director and actor. He was a member of the Actors Studio since around 1961. He was best known for directing The Muppet Movie (1979), and The Monkees television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack Huston</span> British actor

Jack Alexander Huston is a British actor. He appeared as Richard Harrow in the HBO television drama series Boardwalk Empire. He also had a supporting role in the 2013 film American Hustle, portrayed the eponymous Ben-Hur in the 2016 historical drama, and appeared as one of the main characters in the fourth season of the FX anthology series Fargo (2020). In 2023, he starred in the supernatural television series Mayfair Witches.

<i>Mistress</i> (1992 film) 1992 film by Barry Primus

Mistress is a 1992 American comedy-drama film directed by Barry Primus in his directorial debut, written by Primus and J. F. Lawton, and starring Robert De Niro, Danny Aiello, Eli Wallach, Robert Wuhl and Martin Landau.

John Raymond Harkins was an American stage, film, and television actor.

The Detroit Film Critics Society is a film critic organization based in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 2007, and comprises a group of over twenty film critics. To become a member, the critic must have reviewed at least twelve films a year in an established publication, with no more than two different critics per publication admitted. It presents annual awards at the end of the year, for the best films of the preceding year.

<i>Grudge Match</i> 2013 film by Peter Segal

Grudge Match is a 2013 American sports comedy film directed by Peter Segal. The film stars Sylvester Stallone and Robert De Niro as aging boxers stepping into the ring for one last bout. Stallone and De Niro have both previously been in successful boxing films and worked together in Cop Land. It was previously scheduled for a January 10, 2014 release, but was moved up to December 25, 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Martinez (actor)</span> American actor

Adrian Martinez is an American actor and comedian, known for The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and Focus. He also worked in the theatre. He is also known for his role as the "Discount Double Check" guy in a series of State Farm commercials starring Aaron Rodgers.

Pacific View Memorial Park is a cemetery located in the Corona del Mar neighborhood of Newport Beach, in Orange County, California. It first opened in 1958, and is the final resting place of actor John Wayne and basketball player Kobe Bryant.

John Henderson Martin is an American film and television actor.

References

  1. "Barry Primus biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times . 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
  2. Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio . New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p.  279. ISBN   0-02-542650-8.
  3. "Maine Media |". Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-04-15.