A warning from Gene Barry

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32783, 7 December 1971, Page 4

A warning from Gene Barry

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, Dec. 5. The name of the game for television’s “Name of The Game” star Gene Barry, is talent. Speaking today at the Auckland International Airport. shortly before he left to see relatives in Whangarei, Mr Barry warned budding Clark Gables and Marilyn Monroes to put away their face packs and manicure sets and learn to act. “The public will just not accept the pap of the 19401950 era,” he said. “They want something with depth, they want to know that they are seeing something they feel to be totally honest. “The world has just caught up with the unreality of the motion picture business. No longer can the public be given chocolate syrup when the world is filled with so much pepper.” In the past, it was a clear skin, sparkling eyes and

a full figure which drew the talent scouts, he said. “Nowadays, the motion picture industry and television are just not geared for the handsome and beautiful people.

“Now, they find people with talent, who are basically actors, people who have to be actors to get on. There are exceptions, but they must have some extreme ability or quality which a director knows he can mould for his medium."

Gene Barry has played extensively to audiences on the wide screen and theatre, as well as television, he has appeared in such broadway plays and musicals as “Brigadoon,” “Kismet,” and “Destry Rides Again.” After a week-end in Whangarei visiting his sister and brother-in-law, Gene Barry will fly to Sydney where he is due to appear at the Chevron Hotel . . . as a singer.