Lex Barker

Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American film and television actor. He was known for playing Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953 and portraying leading characters from Karl May's novels,<ref>Obituary Variety, May 16, 1973.</ref> notably as Old Shatterhand in a film series by the West German studio Rialto Film. At the height of his fame, he was one of the most popular actors in German-speaking cinema and received Bambi Award and Bravo Otto nominations for the honor.

Early life

Barker was born in Rye, New York, the second child of Alexander Crichlow Barker Sr., a wealthy Canadian-born building contractor and stockbroker,<ref name=boller>Template:Cite book</ref> and his American wife, the former Marion Thornton Beals.<ref>"Miss Beals's Wedding", The New York Times, April 20, 1913.</ref> He had an elder sister, Frederica Amelia "Freddie" Barlow (1917–1980). Of English and Spanish ancestry, Barker was a direct descendant of the founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, and of Sir William Henry Crichlow, historical governor-general of Barbados.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Raised in New York City and Port Chester, New York, he attended the Fessenden School and graduated from Phillips Exeter Academy, where he played football and the oboe. He attended Princeton University, but dropped out to join a theatrical stock company, much to his family's chagrin.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Career

Theatre

Barker made it to Broadway once, in a small role in a short run of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1938.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> He also had a small role in Orson Welles's disastrous Five Kings, which met with so many problems in Boston and Philadelphia that it never made it into New York City.<ref>Leaming, Barbara. Orson Welles: A Biography, pp. 188–201</ref>

World War II

In February 1941, 10 months before the attack on Pearl Harbor, Barker left his fledgling acting career and enlisted in the U.S. Army. He rose to the rank of major during the war.<ref>Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938–1946 [Archival Database]; World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64</ref> He was wounded in action (in the head and leg) fighting in Sicily.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was awarded the Purple Heart twice.

Early film roles

Back in the US he recuperated at a military hospital in Arkansas, then upon his discharge from service traveled to Los Angeles. Within a short time he landed a small role in Doll Face (1945), his first film.Template:Sfn

A string of small roles followed in films such as Two Guys from Milwaukee (1945) and Cloak and Dagger (1946).

RKO

Barker signed a contract at RKO. He had small roles in The Farmer's Daughter (1947), Crossfire (1947), and Under the Tonto Rim (1947).Template:Sfn

Barker went to Paramount Studios for Unconquered (1947). Back at RKO he was in Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947), Berlin Express (1948), Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948), The Velvet Touch (1948), and Return of the Bad Men (1948), playing Emmett Dalton.Template:Sfn

Tarzan

In Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949), Barker became the 10th official Tarzan of the movies. His blond, handsome, and intelligent appearance, as well as his athletic 6'4" frame, helped make him popular in the role Johnny Weissmuller had made his own for 16 years. His Jane was Brenda Joyce, who had been in Weissmuller's last three films.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Barker's second Tarzan movie was Tarzan and the Slave Girl (1950), where Jane was played by Vanessa Brown. In Tarzan's Peril (1951), Barker's Jane was Virginia Huston, with African location footage. Dorothy Hart was Jane in Tarzan's Savage Fury (1952), directed by Cy Endfield.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Barker got the chance to play a non-Tarzan role in Battles of Chief Pontiac (1952), a Western.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He returned to the role one last time in Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Westerns

Barker supported Randolph Scott in Thunder Over the Plains (1953).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

At Universal he starred in the Western The Yellow Mountain (1954) and The Man from Bitter Ridge (1955). He went to Columbia to make Duel on the Mississippi (1955).Template:Sfn

Barker had a rare non-Western role in The Price of Fear (1956), a film noir with Merle Oberon. He was in the war movie Away All Boats (1956)Template:Sfn and the thriller The Girl in the Kremlin (1957).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Barker made two films for Howard W. Koch: War Drums (1957)Template:Sfn and Jungle Heat (1957),.Template:Sfn He went to 20th Century Fox for The Deerslayer (1957),Template:Sfn then did The Girl in Black Stockings (1957).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Italy

In 1957, as he found it harder to find work in American filmsTemplate:Why?, Barker moved to Europe (he spoke French, Italian, Spanish, and some German),Template:Sfn where he found popularity and starred in over 40 European films, including two movies based on the novels by Italian author Emilio Salgari (1862–1911).Template:Sfn

He started his European career with a British thriller The Strange Awakening (1958). He went to Italy to star in Captain Falcon (1959), Son of the Red Corsair (1959), The Pirate and the Slave Girl (1959), and Terror of the Red Mask (1960).Template:Sfn

Barker had a short but compelling role as Anita Ekberg's fiancé in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

He went back to swashbucklers: Knight of 100 Faces (1960), Pirates of the Coast (1960), Robin Hood and the Pirates (1960), and The Secret of the Black Falcon (1961).Template:Sfn

West Germany

Barker had his greatest success in West Germany. There, he starred in movies based on the "Doctor Mabuse" stories (formerly filmed by Fritz Lang), in the movies The Return of Doctor Mabuse (1961).Template:Sfn He was in Doctor Sibelius (1962).

Barker then played Old Shatterhand in an adaptation of the novel by popular German author Karl May (1842–1912), Treasure of the Silver Lake (1962).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It was a huge hit, and 11 movies adapting stories by Karl May followed until 1968.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Circular reference Barker did the comedy Breakfast in Bed (1962), then the adventure movie Storm Over Ceylon (1963). He returned to Italy for The Executioner of Venice (1963)Template:Sfn<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance (1963).Template:Sfn

Barker reprised his role as Old Shatterhand in Apache Gold (1964), Old Shatterhand (1964), and Last of the Renegades (1965).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn He went to South Africa for Harry Alan Towers' West German-British international co-production Victim Five (1964),Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn then returned to West Germany for other adaptations of May books: The Treasure of the Aztecs (1965) and The Pyramid of the Sun God (1965) .Template:Sfn 24 Hours to Kill (1965) was a British movie.Template:Sfn The Hell of Manitoba (1965) and The Desperado Trail (1966) were Westerns.Template:Sfn

Though Barker did speak German, he was almost always dubbed in his West German films. His go-to dubber was Gert Günther Hoffmann, whose distinctive voice contributed to Barker's success.

In 1966, Barker was awarded the "Bambi Award" as Best Foreign Actor in West Germany, where he was a very popular star.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He even recorded two songs in German: "Ich bin morgen auf dem Weg zu dir" ("I'll be on the way to you tomorrow", composed by Martin Böttcher, the composer of some of the soundtracks of the Karl May movies) and "Mädchen in Samt und Seide" ("Girl in Silk and Velvet", composed by Werner Scharfenberger).<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

His later films included Killer's Carnival (1966), and Winnetou and the Crossbreed (1967). In the same year, he starred in a Eurospy film Spy Today, Die Tomorrow and a horror film The Blood Demon, and appeared in the anthology film Woman Times Seven (1967).Template:Sfn

He returned to the United States occasionally and made a handful of guest appearances on American television episodes, but Europe, and especially West Germany, was his professional home for the remainder of his life.

Personal life

File:Lex Barker Karen Kondazian May 1973.jpg

Barker with his fiancée Karen Kondazian in on May 1, 1973, a few days before Barker's death

Barker was married five times:

• Constance Rhodes Thurlow (1918–1975) (married June 27, 1942–divorced 1950),Template:Sfn a daughter of Leon Rhodes Thurlow, a vice president of the Decorated Metal Manufacturing Company.<ref name="ReferenceA">"Mrs. Barker's Nuptials", The New York Times, September 12, 1952</ref> They had one daughter, Lynn Thurlow Barker (April 11, 1943 – 2010), and a son, Alexander "Zan" Crichlow Barker III (March 25, 1947 – October 2, 2012). In 1952, Constance Barker married her second husband, John Lawrence Adams, a descendant of John Quincy Adams.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
• Actress Arlene Dahl (married 1951–divorced 1952)Template:Sfn
• Actress Lana Turner (married September 8, 1953–divorced July 22, 1957).Template:Sfn Turner's daughter Cheryl Crane later accused Barker of having repeatedly raped her when she was between the ages of 10 ½ and 13.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and that this was the reason for the breakup of the marriage. According to Crane, to avoid public scandal, no charges were ever filed.

• Irene Labhardt (married 1957–1962; her death from leukemia), a Swiss actress. They had one son, Christopher (born 1960), who became an actor and singer.Template:Sfn
• Tita Cervera (married 1965–divorced 1972, although divorce not deemed legally valid), a Spanish beauty-pageant winner. Voted Miss Spain in 1962, she later became the wife of movie producer Espartaco Santoni in 1975 (the marriage turned out to be bigamous) and later still, in 1985, the fifth and final wife of billionaire art collector Baron Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Death

Barker died on May 11, 1973, of a heart attack, three days after his 54th birthday, while walking down Lexington Avenue on New York City's Upper East Side to meet his fiancée, actress Karen Kondazian.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The funeral was held in New York. He was cremated and the ashes were taken by his estranged wife Tita to Spain.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1945	Doll Face	Coast Guardsman	Uncredited
1946	Do You Love Me	Party Guest
	Two Guys from Milwaukee	Fred
	Cloak and Dagger	Rescued Man
1947	Template:Sortname	Olaf Holstrom
	Crossfire	Harry
	Under the Tonto Rim	Deputy Joe
	Unconquered	Royal American Officer	Uncredited
	Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome	Ambulance Driver
1948	Berlin Express	Soldier
	Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House	Carpenter Foreman
	Template:Sortname	Paul Banton
	Return of the Badmen	Emmett Dalton
1949	Tarzan's Magic Fountain	Tarzan
1950	Tarzan and the Slave Girl
1951	Tarzan's Peril
1952	Tarzan's Savage Fury
	Battles of Chief Pontiac	Lt. Kent McIntire
1953	Tarzan and the She-Devil	Tarzan
	Thunder Over the Plains	Captain Bill Hodges
1954	Template:Sortname	Tremal Naik	Original (Italian) title: Template:Ill
	Template:Ill		Original (Italian) title: La vendetta dei Tughs
	The Yellow Mountain	Andy Martin
1955	Template:Sortname	Jeff Carr
	Duel on the Mississippi	André Tulane
1956	The Price of Fear	Dave Barrett
	Away All Boats	Commander Quigley
1957	War Drums	Mangas Coloradas
	The Girl in the Kremlin	Steve Anderson
	Jungle Heat	Dr. Jim Ransom
	The Deerslayer	Deerslayer
	Template:Sortname	David Hewson
1958	The Strange Awakening	Peter Chance
	Captain Falcon	Pietro	Original (Italian) title: Capitan Fuoco
1959	Son of the Red Corsair	Enrico di Ventimiglia	Original (Italian) title: Il figlio del corsaro rosso
	The Pirate and the Slave Girl	Dragon Drakut	Original (Italian) title: La scimitarra del Saraceno
	Mission in Morocco	Bruce Reynolds
1960	Terror of the Red Mask	Marco	Original (Italian) title: Terrore della maschera rossa
	La Dolce Vita	Robert	Italian film
	Knight of 100 Faces	Riccardo D'Arce	Original (Italian) title: Il cavaliere dai cento volti
	Pirates of the Coast	Captain Luis Monterey	Original (Italian) title: I pirati della costa
	Robin Hood and the Pirates	Robin Hood	Original (Italian) title: Robin Hood e i pirati
1961	The Secret of the Black Falcon	Captain Don Carlos de Herrera	Original (Italian) title: Il segreto dello sparviero nero
	Template:Ill	Fred	Spanish/French film
	The Return of Dr. Mabuse	FBI-Agent Joe Como	Original (German) title: Im Stahlnetz des Dr. Mabuse
1962	Template:Interlanguage link	FBI-Agent Joe Como	Original (German) title: Die unsichtbaren Krallen des Dr. Mabuse
	Doctor Sibelius	Dr. Georg Sibelius	Original (German) title: Frauenarzt Dr. Sibelius
	Treasure of the Silver Lake	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Der Schatz im Silbersee
1963	Breakfast in Bed	Victor H. Armstrong	Original (German) title: Frühstück im Doppelbett
	Storm Over Ceylon	Larry Stone	Original (German) title: Das Todesauge von Ceylon
	The Executioner of Venice	Sandrigo Bembo	Original (Italian) title: Il boia di Venezia
	Kali Yug: Goddess of Vengeance	Major Ford	Original (Italian) title: Kali Yug, la dea della vendetta
	Template:Ill	Major Ford	Original (Italian) title: Il mistero del tempio indiano
	Apache Gold	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Winnetou I
1964	Apaches' Last Battle	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Old Shatterhand
	Victim Five	Steve Martin	UK film, US title: Code 7, Victim 5
	The Shoot	Kara Ben Nemsi	Original (German) title: Der Schut
	Last of the Renegades	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Winnetou II
1965	The Treasure of the Aztecs	Dr. Karl Sternau	Original (German) title: Der Schatz der Azteken
	The Pyramid of the Sun God	Dr. Karl Sternau	Original (German) title: Die Pyramide des Sonnengottes
	Twenty-Four Hours to Kill	Captain Jamie Faulkner	UK/German co-production film
	The Hell of Manitoba Template:Aka A Place Called Glory	Clint Brenner	Original (German) title: Die Hölle von Manitoba
	Template:Interlanguage link	Kara Ben Nemsi	Original (German) title: Durchs wilde Kurdistan
	Template:Sortname	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Winnetou III
	Template:Interlanguage link	Kara Ben Nemsi	Original (German) title: Im Reiche des silbernen Löwen
1966	Template:Ill	Sam Dobie	Original (German) title: Wer kennt Johnny R.?
	Killer's Carnival	Glenn Cassidy	Original (French) title: Le carnaval des barbouzes, (Rio segment)
	Winnetou and the Crossbreed	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Winnetou und das Halbblut Apanatschi
1967	Woman Times Seven	Rik	(segment "Super Simone")
	Spy Today, Die Tomorrow	Bob Urban	Original (German) title: Mister Dynamit – Morgen küßt Euch der Tod
	The Blood Demon	Roger Mont Elise	Original (German) title: Die Schlangengrube und das Pendel
1968	The Valley of Death	Old Shatterhand	Original (German) title: Winnetou und Shatterhand im Tal der Toten
1970	Aoom	Ristol
	When You're With Me	Kapitän Hannes Schneider	Original (German) title: Wenn du bei mir bist

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1952	Tales of Tomorrow	Kurt	Episode: "Red Dust"
1956	Lux Video Theatre	Stephen Dexter	Episode: "Hired Wife"
1956–57	Studio 57	Brad / Robin Ridour	2 episodes
1960	Tales of the Vikings	König Gordar	Episode: "The Shield"
1963	Berlin-Melodie		Television film
1969	It Takes a Thief	Kurt 'Matt' Matson	Episode: "The King of Thieves"
1971	The Name of the Game	Will Cheyenne	Episode: "The Man Who Killed a Ghost"
	The F.B.I.	Owen Stuart	Episode: "Three-Way Split"
1972	Night Gallery	Charlie McKinley	Segment: "The Waiting Room"

Discography

• "Ich bin morgen auf dem Weg zu dir" / "Mädchen in Samt und Seide" 1965, Single, Decca D 19 725
• Winnetou du warst mein Freund 1966, CD, Bear Family Records

See also

• Johnny Weissmuller
• Tarzan
• Jock Mahoney
• Denny Miller
• Buster Crabbe
• Mike Henry (football)

Sources

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External links

• [https://www.imdb.com/{{#if: 0000851

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• Official site in English and German
• Lex Barker at Brian's Drive-In Theater