Acting
Barry first entered films as an extra and in small roles. He was discovered by John Wayne during a football game with Wayne providing Barry introductions to producers. He appeared in a variety of roles before he found his forte and nickname "Red" in the Republic Pictures serial The Adventures of Red Ryder (1940). Though Barry was short and stocky rather than the lean and lanky hero of the Red Ryder comic strip, studio head Herbert J. Yates demanded Barry play the role. Yates thought Barry's appearance similar to James Cagney, with Barry unsuccessfully asking Yates to cast him in gangster films. Barry continued in Western roles and made two war films Remember Pearl Harbor (1942) for Republic as well as being lent to 20th Century Fox for The Purple Heart (1944). He continued making Westerns for Republic and other studios.
By the 1950s, Barry was a supporting actor instead of playing leads in Westerns. Early in 1955, he appeared as the bandit Milt Sharp in an episode of the syndicated series, Stories of the Century.
Barry played Clete in the 1956 Western film Seven Men from Now, starring Randolph Scott. In 1958, he appeared (credited as Donald Barry) on the TV Western Cheyenne in the episode "Dead to Rights". He guest-starred as Tanner in the 1958 episode "Bullet Proof" of the ABC/Warner Bros. series Sugarfoot, starring Will Hutchins; he was cast as Arkansas in the 1959 Sugarfoot episode "The Return of the Canary Kid". Barry appeared four times in the ABC/WB Western Colt .45. Barry was cast as black-clad gunfighter in a 1961 episode, "Last Stop: Oblivion", of the ABC/WB Western series, Maverick with Jack Kelly and fellow guest star Buddy Ebsen, as well as an even larger titular role in a James Garner episode set in New Orleans titled "The Resurrection of Joe November". In 1961, Barry appeared as Dusty McCade in the TV Western Lawman in the episode titled "Hassayampa".
Barry's voice in the television Westerns sounded much like that of the character actor Dub Taylor. About this time, he also guest-starred on two other ABC/WB dramas, Bourbon Street Beat and The Roaring 20s. He appeared, as well, in the syndicated crime drama, U.S. Marshal, starring John Bromfield, and the NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus. Barry continued making Westerns as part of the ensemble casts of A.C. Lyles' Paramount second feature Westerns in the mid-1960s. In 1966, Barry played Confederate soldier Lt. Farrow in the Western film Alvarez Kelly with William Holden and a one-eyed Richard Widmark. Barry played a supporting role in the 1968 film, Shalako with Sean Connery, as well as in the television series Dragnet.
Barry played supporting roles in dozens of television series, particularly Westerns. He appeared eight times on the long-running NBC series, The Virginian, in the 1960s. He appeared in six episodes of Michael Landon's Little House on the Prairie as racist farmer Judd Larrabee, and was a recurring character, Lt. Ray Snedigar, on the 1960s detective show Surfside 6. He also appeared in all-star TV miniseries, such as Rich Man, Poor Man Book II and The Dream Merchants.
