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Lex Barker
Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American film and television actor. He played Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953 and portrayed leading characters from Karl May's novels, including 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.
Barker was born in Rye, New York, the second child of Alexander Crichlow Barker Sr., a wealthy Canadian-born building contractor and stockbroker, and his American wife, the former Marion Thornton Beals. 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.
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.
Barker made it to Broadway once, in a small role in a short run of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1938. 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.
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. He was wounded in action (in the head and leg) fighting in Sicily. He was awarded the Purple Heart twice.
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.
A string of small roles followed in films such as Two Guys from Milwaukee (1945) and Cloak and Dagger (1946).
Barker signed a contract at RKO. He had small roles in The Farmer's Daughter (1947), Crossfire (1947), and Under the Tonto Rim (1947).
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Lex Barker
Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. (May 8, 1919 – May 11, 1973), known as Lex Barker, was an American film and television actor. He played Tarzan for RKO Pictures between 1949 and 1953 and portrayed leading characters from Karl May's novels, including 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.
Barker was born in Rye, New York, the second child of Alexander Crichlow Barker Sr., a wealthy Canadian-born building contractor and stockbroker, and his American wife, the former Marion Thornton Beals. 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.
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.
Barker made it to Broadway once, in a small role in a short run of Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor in 1938. 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.
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. He was wounded in action (in the head and leg) fighting in Sicily. He was awarded the Purple Heart twice.
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.
A string of small roles followed in films such as Two Guys from Milwaukee (1945) and Cloak and Dagger (1946).
Barker signed a contract at RKO. He had small roles in The Farmer's Daughter (1947), Crossfire (1947), and Under the Tonto Rim (1947).