Barbara Read, also known as Barbara Reed, (December 29, 1917 – December 12, 1963) was a Canadian film actress of the 1930s and 1940s, who appeared in twenty one films during her career.

Born in Port Arthur, Ontario

Port Arthur, Ontario

Port Arthur was a city in Northern Ontario which amalgamated with Fort William and the townships of Neebing and McIntyre to form the city of Thunder Bay in January 1970. Port Arthur was the district seat of Thunder Bay District.- History :...

, Canada, Read relocated to Hollywood during the mid-1930s. Her first film appearance was a role in the 1936 comedy film

Comedy film

Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...

 Three Smart Girls

Three Smart Girls

Three Smart Girls is a 1936 musical comedy film. The Craig sisters, played by Barbara Read, Nan Grey and Deanna Durbin in her first feature film role, travel to New York City to prevent their father from remarrying....

, which starred Binnie Barnes

Binnie Barnes

Gertrude Maud "Binnie" Barnes was an English-American actress. She was born in Islington to a Jewish father and an Italian mother and was brought up Jewish, although she converted to Catholicism later in life....

, Ray Milland

Ray Milland

Ray Milland was a Welsh actor and director. His screen career ran from 1929 to 1985, and he is best remembered for his Academy Award–winning portrayal of an alcoholic writer in The Lost Weekend , a sophisticated leading man opposite a corrupt John Wayne in Reap the Wild Wind , the murder-plotting...

, and Alice Brady

Alice Brady

Alice Brady was an American actress who began her career in the silent film era and survived the transition into talkies. She worked up until six months before her death from cancer in 1939...

. From 1937 through 1939 Read appeared in nine films, most notably with a lead starring role in The Spellbinder, opposite Lee Tracy

Lee Tracy

William Lee Tracy was an American actor.- Early life :Tracy was born in Atlanta, Georgia.After graduating from Western Military Academy in 1918 he studied electrical engineering at Union College, and then served as a 2nd lieutenant in World War I. In the early 1920s he decided to work as an actor...

. From 1940 through 1948 she would appear in eleven films. Her most remembered role was portraying "Margo Lane

Margo Lane

Margo Lane is a fictional character in The Shadow stories. Margo is a friend and companion to Lamont Cranston, and spies for his alter ego, The Shadow, in the wealthy set. Her first appearance was in 1937 in the Shadow radio drama...

" in three films from The Shadow

The Shadow

The Shadow is a collection of serialized dramas, originally in pulp magazines, then on 1930s radio and then in a wide variety of media, that follow the exploits of the title character, a crime-fighting vigilante in the pulps, which carried over to the airwaves as a "wealthy, young man about town"...

series, starring opposite Kane Richmond

Kane Richmond

Kane Richmond was an American film actor of the 1930s and 1940s, mostly appearing in cliffhangers and serials...

. She and Richmond teamed together in The Shadow Returns

The Shadow Returns

- Cast :*Kane Richmond as Lamont Cranston*Barbara Read as Margo Lane*Tom Dugan as Shrevvy*Joseph Crehan as Police Insp. Cardona*Pierre Watkin as Police Commissioner J.R...

, Behind the Mask, and The Missing Lady, all in 1946. Her last role was alongside Randolph Scott

Randolph Scott

Randolph Scott was an American film actor whose career spanned from 1928 to 1962. As a leading man for all but the first three years of his cinematic career, Scott appeared in a variety of genres, including social dramas, crime dramas, comedies, musicals , adventure tales, war films, and even a few...

 and Marguerite Chapman

Marguerite Chapman

Marguerite Chapman was an American actress.Born in Chatham, New York, she was working as a telephone switchboard operator in White Plains, New York when her good looks brought about the opportunity to pursue a career in modeling...

 in the 1948 western Coroner Creek

Coroner Creek

Coroner Creek is a 1948 western film starring Randolph Scott as a man who seeks vengeance for the death of his fiancée. It was based on the novel of the same name by Luke Short.-Cast:*Randolph Scott as Chris Denning*Marguerite Chapman as Kate Hardison...

.

She was the second wife (married 1953; separated September 1959; divorced August 23, 1960) of actor William Talman; they had
one daughter, Barbie, and one son, William Whitney Talman III.

She died of an apparent suicide on December 12, 1963, in Laguna Beach, California

Laguna Beach, California

Laguna Beach is a seaside resort city and artist community located in southern Orange County, California, United States, approximately southwest of the county seat of Santa Ana...

. "Notes she left behind blamed ill health for her action."

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