Lynn Bari Pics

Lynn

Bari

17 December 1917

67

Slim

Hazel

Brown - Dark

Roanoke, Virginia

Sagittarius

20 November 1989

Santa Barbara, California

Heart Attack

White

City Of Chance (1940)

Schuyler

American

Female

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Lynn Bari (December 18, 1913 – November 20, 1989), born Margaret Schuyler Fisher, was a movie actress (usually in B-movies) who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in over one hundred 20th Century Fox films from the early 1930s through the 1940s.

A curvaceous, dark-haired WWII pin-up beauty (aka "The Woo Woo Girl" and "The Girl with the Million Dollar Figure"), "B" film star Lynn Bari had the requisite looks and talent but little of the lucky breaks to permeate the "A" rankings during her extensive Hollywood career. Nevertheless, some worthy performances continue to stand out for her in late-night viewings. She was born with the elite-sounding name of Margaret Schuyler Fisher on December 18, 1913 (various sources also list 1915, 1917 and 1919!) in Roanoke, Virginia. She and her younger brother John moved with their mother to Boston following the death of their father in 1926. Her mother remarried, this time to a minister, and the family relocated once again when her stepfather was assigned a ministry in California (Institute of Religious Science in Los Angeles). Paying her dues for years as a snappy bit-part chorine, secretary, party girl and/or glorified extra while being groomed as a starlet under contract to MGM and Fox respectively), her first released film was the MGM comedy Meet the Baron (1933) providing typical window dressing as a collegiate. For the next few years there was little growth at either studio, usually standing amidst others in crowd scenes and looking excited. Finally in Lancer Spy (1937), she received her first billing on screen in a minor part as "Miss Fenwick". Though more bit parts were to dribble in, the year 1938 proved to be her break through year. She finally gained some ground into playing the "other woman" role in glossy soaps and musicals, first giving Barbara Stanwyck some trouble in Always Goodbye (1938). Fox Studios finally handed her some smart co-leads and top supports in such second-tier films as Return of the Cisco Kid (1939), Pack Up Your Troubles (1939), Hotel for Women (1939) and Hollywood Cavalcade (1939). Anxiously waiting for "the big one", she made due with her strong looks, tending toward unsympathetic parts. She enjoyed the attention she received playing disparaging society ladies, divas, villainesses and even a strong-willed prairie flowers in such films as Pier 13 (1940), Earthbound (1940), Kit Carson (1940) and Sun Valley Serenade (1941), but they did little to advance her in the ranks. The very best role of her frisky career came with the grade "A" comedy The Magnificent Dope (1942) sharing top billing with Henry Fonda and Don Ameche. But good roles were hard to find in Lynn`s case and she good-naturedly took whatever was given her. Other ripe, above-average movies (she appeared in well over 150) of this period came with China Girl (1942), Hello Frisco, Hello (1943), The Bridge of San Luis Rey (1944) and Nocturne (1946). With diminishing offers for film parts by the 1950s, she starting leaning heavily towards stage and TV work. She continued her career until the late 60s and then retired. Her last work included the film The Young Runaways (1968) and TV episodes of "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E." and "The F.B.I." Divorced three times in all, husband #2 was volatile manager/producer Sidney Luft, better known as Judy Garland ex-hubby years later and the father of her only child. Her third husband was a doctor/psychiatrist and she worked as his nurse for quite some time. They divorced in 1972. Plagued by arthritis in later years, Lynn passed away from heart problems on November 20, 1989. Although she may have been labeled a "B" leading lady, she definitely was in the "A" ranks when it came to class and beauty.

Marjorie Schuyler Ficher

John Fisher

Marjorie Halpen

John Owen

Alice Faye, Vivian Blaine, Jean Rogers, Dana Andrews, Roddy McDowall

Mary Beth Hughes

Reverened Robert Bitzer (step father)

Foxy Lady: The Authorized Biography of Lynn Bari [2010] (Jeff Gordan)

Actor/Actress, Soundtrack

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