On the 16th of October 1940, Leonard Barrie Corbin was born in Lamesa, Texas. The eldest of three children (brother Blaine and sister Jane), born to Kilmer and Alma Corbin. His first public performance was delivered from behind a piano at church at the age of six. By age seven, Barry was organizing neighborhood plays. He told his parents he planned to be an actor. He drew cartoons and learned to play the guitar.
Like most 10-year-old-boys, Barry sat in the darkened Majestic Theater in Lamesa for Saturday afternoon matinees. Dreams of exchanging places with the larger-than-life heroes on the screen filled his head. He was mesmerized by "B" Westerns, and he idolized the Durango Kid, but he realized the character actors had more fun.
Barry attended Monterey High School in Lubbock, where he appeared regularly in school plays including musicals, where he sang "not real well, but loud". He became a member of the Future Farmers of America. He studied theatre at Texas Tech University between the late 50's and early 60's during the reign of professors Clifford Ashby and the late Ronald Schulz and soon became a leading actor. In his freshman year he played Falstaff,
When not enrolled full time at Texas Tech, Barry took roles in community theatre, chopped cotton, and worked on an oil rig. But, thanks to the job at the oil rig, Barry had the opportunity to sharpen a talent most people aren't aware he has. At 21, Barry left the university to join the Marine Corps on a hangover and a friend's dare. Barry spent about two years at Camp Pendleton in California, training South Vietnamese officers. Barry still maintains that although he never left California, much less saw any action, his Marine Corps training has served him well in both his public and private pursuits. After his discharge, Barry returned to Texas to pursue his dreams and started acting in regional theatres.
In 1966, Barry arrived in New York and was hit smack in the face with the realization that roles in off-Broadway plays paid $48 a week and unemployment benefits amounted to $90 a week. In other words, it didn't pay to work in New York theatre.
Instead, Barry used New York as a home base and traveled the country to perform in regional theatre, dinner theatre and with touring theatre companies, as well as some TV work. For the next decade, he starred in a string of stage productions. In such roles as Jud in "Oklahoma!", Henry II in "Beckett", Falstaff in "The Merry Wives of Windsor", and as Macbeth in "Macbeth". He also appeared in several musicals including "Kiss Me Kate" and "My Fair Lady." In 1972, the six-foot, solid, brown-haired and -eyed Shakespearean performer was playing his trade in Alabama. Barry returned to New York City in 1976, but then, one year later, Hollywood beckoned and he moved west.
In May 1979, Barry auditioned for the role of Uncle Bob in "Urban Cowboy", the John Travolta film that made mechanical bulls, Gilley's Honkytonk and Debra Winger famous. Writer Aaron Latham and director James Bridges wanted to hire Barry, but they had misplaced his photo and résumé. A week later, someone remembered his name and Barry had his first movie break.
"Urban Cowboy" was released in the summer of 1980, the year that Barry's prolific film career began. Since then, he's appeared in more than 200 films and TV shows, but he still treasures the memory of his time at Gilley's. Besides "Urban Cowboy" in 1980, Barry was also on the big screen with supporting roles in "Any Which Way You Can", a Clint Eastwood comedy, and "Stir Crazy" with Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor.
From the silver screen Barry moved into regular work on the small screen as well. On the hit TV series "Dallas", he played a recurring character between 1979 and 1984, "Sheriff Fenton Washburn." The producers needed to find someone that was tough enough to stand up to J.R. Ewing and the rest.
Barry established himself as one of the busiest character actors in Hollywood. Having roles in movies such as "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" with Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton, "Honkytonk Man" with Clint Eastwood, and "The Man Who Loved Women" with Burt Reynolds and Kim Bassinger.
In 1986, Barry played a Lyndon Johnson adviser, Judge Wirtz, in the "LBJ: The Early Years" a miniseries with Randy Quaid. Barry enjoyed that role because his father, Kilmer Corbin, knew the man he portrayed. He also appeared in other miniseries such as "Murder in Texas", "The Thorn Birds", "Fatal Vision", "A Death in California", and "I Know My First Name Is Steven”.
Barry guest-starred in several TV-Series, most of them in Prime Time such as "M*A*S*H", "Hart To Hart" , "Hill Street Blues", "The Duck Factory" with Jim Carrey, "The A-Team" , "The Twilight Zone", "Matlock", "Murder, She Wrote", and "Designing Women". But Barry never stopped doing movies. By the end of the 80's he had worked with Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason in "Nothing In Common", with Keanu Reeves in "Permanent Record", with Tommy Lee Jones in "Stranger on My Land" with John Candy in "Who's Harry Crumb?", and with Tom Skerritt and Max Von Sydow in "Red King, White Knight" among many others.
Then there was "Lonesome Dove" in 1989..."Lonesome Dove" is a western hailed as a masterpiece by critics and audiences alike. Barry played the role of Roscoe Brown, July Johnson's loyal but bumbling deputy. If during the 80's Barry was noted for his work on many hit mini-series, the 90's showed Barry in almost every prime-time TV show. Good character actors such as Barry are most in demand by producers shooting pilots for prospective series. Nothing impresses the network brass more than a well-spoken line of dialogue.
At the time he was called by the producers of "Northern Exposure," Barry had completed work on three pilots. For a time, he said he was making a living from pilots, and that was fine with him. He didn't care about a series. Barry was called in to read for "Northern Exposure" in 1990. He auditioned for executive producers Joshua Brand and John Falsey, doing pushups as he talked. Such bravado fit Maurice Minnifield's character perfectly. The show premiered July 12, 1990, and delighted critics as well as a small but loyal audience during its eight-week summer run.
Those eight episodes were all Barry expected to do, but then CBS decided to shoot seven more. The new episodes, plus repeats of the original shows, were aired in spring and summer 1991. "Northern Exposure", with its blend of urbane humor and deadpan whimsy, suddenly became the hip show to watch. In the '91-92 fall season the show regularly placed in the Top 20, and the network ordered nine more episodes. The show aired for 6 seasons from 1990 to 1995 and won several American Television Awards (Emmys) and The Golden Globe Award. It continues to attract more loyal followers as it continues on in syndication around the world and seen at least twice a day in North America. Barry was nominated for an Emmy in the category of Best Supporting Actor for his interpretation of proud former astronaut, Maurice Minnifield, in the series "Northern Exposure".
Alan Mercer: Barry, when you were doing theater for all those years did you ever imagine you would have such an illustrious career in film and television?
Barry Corbin: That was always my aim when I was a kid. I wanted to be in movies and television and then I got sidetracked into theater. I was nearly 40 years old when I made my first movie. I turned 39 during the shooting of ‘Urban Cowboy’.
AM: Wow, you auditioned and got the part and never looked back.
BC: That’s right. I did ‘Urban Cowboy’ and then I did ‘Stir Crazy’ and then I did ‘Any Which Way You Can’. I did all those movies within a few months, and they all came out the same summer. Then I played the sheriff in the TV show ‘Dallas’ which came out about the same time as well. They were 4 distinctly different parts.
AM: You got lucky to have 4 big hits one right after the other.
BC: It all fell into place. From then on, I pretty much had all the features I wanted to do. I didn’t want to do television particularly. Earl Hamner, who created ‘The Waltons’ wanted me to do a show that he had written. My agent kept calling me and they kept upping the price, but I kept saying no I don’t really want to do a TV series. Finally, one day the phone rang so I picked it up and I hear, “Barry, this is Earl Hamner. I really need you to do this television show that I’m working on. How the hell can you say no to John Boy?
AM: What did you tell him?
BC: I told him I was honored and thank you, so I did it. That was my first television series.
AM: That was ‘Boone’, and it didn’t make it past 13 episodes.
BC: No, this was when the networks were switching their programs to urban cop shows and this was a fictional show about the birth of rock & roll. Elizabeth Huddle, who is one of the finest actresses in the business ended up being the artistic director of the Intiman Theatre in Seattle Washington. She never was that interested in film, she was always interested in theater.
AM: Did you ever get concerned about being typecast?
BC: There was a period of time for about three years I turned down any part who’s first name was sheriff. I know actors who got stuck playing the same parts and were never allowed to play the parts they wanted to play.
AM: After the TV show ended you got right back into movies, especially Westerns.
BC: I always wanted to do Westerns. I enjoy doing Westerns.
AM: You have had some iconic work in Westerns alone.
BC: There are people who think I’m a cowboy. I’ve had people write me and say from one cowboy to another cowboy, I enjoy all your work.
AM: That’s an honor.
BC: It is an honor. I did used to go out, just for fun and help people gather cattle on their ranches.
AM: Well, that makes you authentic. You really are a cowboy. Do you remember the first time you got a role playing the bad guy?
BC: Yeah, it was in the TV show, ‘Hart To Hart’ I think. I played a crooked sheriff who tried to blow up a building with Stefanie Powers and RJ Wagner in it. I was a bad villain.
AM: Was it fun to play that kind of a part?
BC: Oh yeah, it’s always fun. Whatever I’m doing is always fun. You figure out where you fit into the story so you can fit in and not overwhelm the story.
AM: Speaking of bad guys, I saw you in ‘Deadly Family Secrets’ with Loni Anderson and you were the bad guy and it was fun to watch.
BC: Oh yeah, I played that asthmatic guy! That was a lot of fun.
AM: You have co-stars that are the biggest names in the business. Were you able to get along with most everyone?
BC: For the most part, yes. I’ve never had any problems with people, but I have been around people who cause problems. I just walk off and go to my trailer.
AM: How did you come up with the idea to do a one-man stage show?
BC: I had done a one-man show based on Charlie Goodnight. (a rancher in the American West)
AM: When did you do this show?
BC: The last time I did that show was ten years ago. The first time I did it was at the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City. Then I toured with it in Washington and Oregon.
AM: This was a fully scripted show, right?
BC: Yes, it was all scripted and it lasted an hour and half. With my new one-man show, I don’t like to be prepared. For this show I want to do a program that is like having people over in my living room. I just want to talk.
AM: Many people can’t do that. You shine when you are spontaneous. Many actors would freeze in that situation.
BC: Oh yeah, most actors don’t know what to do without a script. I just want to go through my childhood and my theater days when things were a little tough. Sometimes when we needed some dinner I would take some books to the used book store.
AM: Almost every creative person has done that before.
BC: I did it regularly. I would three or four books a week that I had already read and take them off the shelf and go sell them.
AM: Do you have your show booked anywhere else yet?
BC: Not yet. I’m going to try and do a circle tour in West Texas with stops in Lubbock, Midland, Odessa and down around in that area. I’m going to the Texas Poetry Gathering in Alpine in February, so I’m going to try and do the show there sometime later.
AM: I think you’ll be able to take it anywhere you want in Texas.
BC: I’d like to black out a month and do three shows a week.
AM: Do you still have a burning desire to make more movies?
BC: Yes, I want to, but I only want to do what I want to do. I don’t want to do any of this CGI bullshit. It’s not fun to make. I did a video game where I played a coach, and they had lights all over me and a thing on my head. I never knew what was going on.
AM: You spent a longer time in the lobby talking with people than in the show. Is that kind of what it’s about for you?
BC: That’s mostly what it’s about. The question and answer segment and after the show talking with people.
AM: You enjoy that don’t you?
BC: Yes, to me that’s the fun part. I’m interacting with people, and we have something in common which is my career. I guess that’s egotistical, but that’s what people want to talk about, and I don’t mind. I’ll talk about other people but I’m not going to trash anybody.
