Barry Atwater
Encyclopedia
Garrett "Barry" Atwater (May 16, 1918 – May 24, 1978) was an American
character actor
who appeared frequently on TV from the 1950s into the 1970s. He appeared on Twilight Zone
(1960); Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
(1965); Mission:Impossible (1966); Hawaii Five-0 (1970); Kung Fu
(1974); and The Rockford Files
(1977).
painter of the same name
, Garrett Atwater was born in Denver, Colorado
. He served as head of the UCLA Sound Department before he began his acting career. His work teaching audio
techniques led to a role in the student film A Time Out of War
, a Civil War
allegory that won the Oscar
as best short film of 1954.
He began appearing often in TV episodes, often as a primary guest star, even playing the title characters on episodes of such shows as The Millionaire, Meet McGraw
, The Court of Last Resort
, One Step Beyond (as Abraham Lincoln
), and Cheyenne
(as George Custer). By 1960, he had achieved enough stature to be named by host Rod Serling
in the on-screen promo as one of the stars of the well-known Twilight Zone
episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
." This flourishing period of TV appearances coincided with some major supporting roles in low-budget movies; otherwise, film was an only occasionally fertile medium for him. Atwater also performed regularly on stage throughout his career.
In the mid-1960s, Atwater spent three years on the soap opera
General Hospital while also working in prime-time appearances, billing himself as "G.B." Atwater from 1963 to 1965, during a period in which he (like many other actors who had thrived on 1950s anthology shows) was cast in supporting parts. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, Atwater was again scoring primary guest-star roles, particularly on fantasy and sci-fi series—including The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
, The Wild Wild West
, Night Gallery
, and Kung Fu
— where his altered facial appearance suited his grim and sinister countenance. By the mid-1970s, he was relegated to featured TV parts and small bits in movies, and he returned to UCLA to teach TV and film sound production.
Atwater’s role as vampire
Janos Skorzeny (pictured, far right) in the acclaimed TV thriller The Night Stalker (1972) made him a popular guest at 1970s fan gatherings that capitalized on the resurgence of classic horror during that decade. Had he lived a little longer, his role as Surak
in the original Star Trek
series (pictured, right) would have made him an even bigger attraction at the sci-fi conventions that were just taking off at the time of his death.
Atwater was one of the few actors to portray a character from Mr. Spock's planet on the original TV show (as the iconic father of Vulcan
philosophy); his ability to convey superior confidence without betraying the species' well-known emotionless aspect has made him a posthumous fan favorite, though the episode ("The Savage Curtain"), with its portrayals of various real and fictional historic figures, including Abraham Lincoln
, is not. (Famously, Atwater couldn't achieve the Vulcan salute naturally, so when he bids farewell in a medium shot, he has to first lower his arm so his hand is out of camera view as he pushes his fingers against his body to configure them properly.)
, shortly after his 60th birthday, from a stroke.
At least two sources who were close to the actor believe the dramatic changes in his facial structure that started in the mid-1960s also resulted from steroid overuse, which is known to cause acromegaly
. The bridge of his nose widened, his brow became very prominent (causing his eyes to appear more sunken), and his jaw line started to weaken. He appears to have also undergone extensive and intentional plastic surgery
that included a facelift
, eyelid surgery, and at least two dramatic rhinoplasties
.
His final TV role was as a gun fence in one scene on The Rockford Files
in 1977, with Atwater's character "Roach" interviewed by star James Garner
in closeup while feeding pigeons from a park bench.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
character actor
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
who appeared frequently on TV from the 1950s into the 1970s. He appeared on Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
(1960); Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (TV series)
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea is a 1960s American science fiction television series based on the 1961 film of the same name. Both were created by Irwin Allen, which enabled the movie's sets, costumes, props, special effects models, and sometimes footage, to be used in the production of the...
(1965); Mission:Impossible (1966); Hawaii Five-0 (1970); Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
(1974); and The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
(1977).
Life and career
The son of a renowned landscapeLandscape
Landscape comprises the visible features of an area of land, including the physical elements of landforms such as mountains, hills, water bodies such as rivers, lakes, ponds and the sea, living elements of land cover including indigenous vegetation, human elements including different forms of...
painter of the same name
Barry Atwater (painter)
Barry Atwater Barry Atwater Barry Atwater (born in Minnesota in 1892, died in 1956 was an American artist primarily known for painting landscapes of the southwestern United States...
, Garrett Atwater was born in Denver, Colorado
Denver, Colorado
The City and County of Denver is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Denver is a consolidated city-county, located in the South Platte River Valley on the western edge of the High Plains just east of the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains...
. He served as head of the UCLA Sound Department before he began his acting career. His work teaching audio
Sound
Sound is a mechanical wave that is an oscillation of pressure transmitted through a solid, liquid, or gas, composed of frequencies within the range of hearing and of a level sufficiently strong to be heard, or the sensation stimulated in organs of hearing by such vibrations.-Propagation of...
techniques led to a role in the student film A Time Out of War
A Time Out of War
A Time Out of War is a 1954 short war film directed by Denis Sanders. It won an Academy Award in 1955 for Best Short Subject , first prize at the Venice Film Festival Live Action Short Film category, and a special BAFTA Award....
, a Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
allegory that won the Oscar
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
as best short film of 1954.
He began appearing often in TV episodes, often as a primary guest star, even playing the title characters on episodes of such shows as The Millionaire, Meet McGraw
Meet McGraw
Meet McGraw is an American dramatic television series starring Frank Lovejoy in the role of the hard-hitting detective McGraw, a man specifically given no first name in the program. Forty-one half-hour episodes aired on NBC during the 1957-1958 season, sponsored by Procter & Gamble. The series was...
, The Court of Last Resort
The Court of Last Resort
The Court of Last Resort is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC from 1957 through 1958. It was co-produced by Erle Stanley Gardner's Paisano Productions, which also brought forth the long-running hit television program, Perry Mason on CBS.Its approach to dealing with...
, One Step Beyond (as Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
), and Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
(as George Custer). By 1960, he had achieved enough stature to be named by host Rod Serling
Rod Serling
Rodman Edward "Rod" Serling was an American screenwriter, novelist, television producer, and narrator best known for his live television dramas of the 1950s and his science fiction anthology TV series, The Twilight Zone. Serling was active in politics, both on and off the screen and helped form...
in the on-screen promo as one of the stars of the well-known Twilight Zone
The Twilight Zone (1959 TV series)
The Twilight Zone is an American anthology television series created by Rod Serling, which ran for five seasons on CBS from 1959 to 1964. The series consisted of unrelated episodes depicting paranormal, futuristic, dystopian, or simply disturbing events; each show typically featured a surprising...
episode "The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street
"The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street" is an episode of the American television anthology series The Twilight Zone. Originally aired when memories of the Second Red Scare were still fresh in the minds of viewers, the episode is often presented commercial-free as part of the Cable in the Classroom...
." This flourishing period of TV appearances coincided with some major supporting roles in low-budget movies; otherwise, film was an only occasionally fertile medium for him. Atwater also performed regularly on stage throughout his career.
In the mid-1960s, Atwater spent three years on the soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
General Hospital while also working in prime-time appearances, billing himself as "G.B." Atwater from 1963 to 1965, during a period in which he (like many other actors who had thrived on 1950s anthology shows) was cast in supporting parts. By the late 1960s and early 1970s, however, Atwater was again scoring primary guest-star roles, particularly on fantasy and sci-fi series—including The Man From U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E. is an American television series that was broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1964, to January 15, 1968. It follows the exploits of two secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a fictitious secret international espionage and law-enforcement...
, The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
, Night Gallery
Night Gallery
Night Gallery is an American anthology series that aired on NBC from 1970 to 1973, featuring stories of horror and the macabre. Rod Serling, who had gained fame from an earlier series, The Twilight Zone, served both as the on-air host of Night Gallery and as a major contributor of scripts, although...
, and Kung Fu
Kung Fu (TV series)
Kung Fu is an American television series that starred David Carradine. It was created by Ed Spielman, directed and produced by Jerry Thorpe, and developed by Herman Miller, who was also a writer for, and co-producer of, the series...
— where his altered facial appearance suited his grim and sinister countenance. By the mid-1970s, he was relegated to featured TV parts and small bits in movies, and he returned to UCLA to teach TV and film sound production.
Sci-fi legacy
Atwater’s role as vampire
Vampire
Vampires are mythological or folkloric beings who subsist by feeding on the life essence of living creatures, regardless of whether they are undead or a living person...
Janos Skorzeny (pictured, far right) in the acclaimed TV thriller The Night Stalker (1972) made him a popular guest at 1970s fan gatherings that capitalized on the resurgence of classic horror during that decade. Had he lived a little longer, his role as Surak
Surak
Surak is a fictional character in the backstory of the Star Trek television series and franchises. He is portrayed as the most important philosopher in the history of the planet Vulcan...
in the original Star Trek
Star Trek: The Original Series
Star Trek is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry, produced by Desilu Productions . Star Trek was telecast on NBC from September 8, 1966, through June 3, 1969...
series (pictured, right) would have made him an even bigger attraction at the sci-fi conventions that were just taking off at the time of his death.
Atwater was one of the few actors to portray a character from Mr. Spock's planet on the original TV show (as the iconic father of Vulcan
Vulcan (Star Trek)
Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...
philosophy); his ability to convey superior confidence without betraying the species' well-known emotionless aspect has made him a posthumous fan favorite, though the episode ("The Savage Curtain"), with its portrayals of various real and fictional historic figures, including Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was the 16th President of the United States, serving from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. He successfully led his country through a great constitutional, military and moral crisis – the American Civil War – preserving the Union, while ending slavery, and...
, is not. (Famously, Atwater couldn't achieve the Vulcan salute naturally, so when he bids farewell in a medium shot, he has to first lower his arm so his hand is out of camera view as he pushes his fingers against his body to configure them properly.)
Steroid use and death
Atwater's health history has been subject to much speculation. Early in his career, he used steroids heavily to add bulk to his six-foot-one-inch frame. Suffering from terminal cancer, he died on May 24, 1978 in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, shortly after his 60th birthday, from a stroke.
At least two sources who were close to the actor believe the dramatic changes in his facial structure that started in the mid-1960s also resulted from steroid overuse, which is known to cause acromegaly
Acromegaly
Acromegaly is a syndrome that results when the anterior pituitary gland produces excess growth hormone after epiphyseal plate closure at puberty...
. The bridge of his nose widened, his brow became very prominent (causing his eyes to appear more sunken), and his jaw line started to weaken. He appears to have also undergone extensive and intentional plastic surgery
Plastic surgery
Plastic surgery is a medical specialty concerned with the correction or restoration of form and function. Though cosmetic or aesthetic surgery is the best-known kind of plastic surgery, most plastic surgery is not cosmetic: plastic surgery includes many types of reconstructive surgery, hand...
that included a facelift
Facelift
Facelift is the common name for rhytidectomy, a cosmetic surgery procedure.Facelift may also refer to:* Facelift , the revival of a product through cosmetic means such as changing its appearance...
, eyelid surgery, and at least two dramatic rhinoplasties
Rhinoplasty
Rhinoplasty , also nose job, is a plastic surgery procedure for correcting and reconstructing the form, restoring the functions, and aesthetically enhancing the nose, by resolving nasal trauma , congenital defect, respiratory impediment, and a failed primary rhinoplasty...
.
His final TV role was as a gun fence in one scene on The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files
The Rockford Files is an American television drama series which aired on the NBC network between September 13, 1974 and January 10, 1980. It has remained in regular syndication to the present day. The show stars James Garner as Los Angeles-based private investigator Jim Rockford and features Noah...
in 1977, with Atwater's character "Roach" interviewed by star James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...
in closeup while feeding pigeons from a park bench.