TV ICON GENE BARRY GONE

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Bat Masterson, Burke’s Law and  War of the Worlds star Gene Barry shuffles off mortal coil at 90.

Barry who played everything from debonair lawmen to a swinging sci-fi hero Gene’s career spanned more than 60 years passed yesterday in Woodland Hills, Calif at an assisted living facility, his daughter Elizabeth confirmed.

Born June 14, 1919, Eugene Klassin in the Bronx NY, Gene won a scholarship to the Chatham Square School of Music and sang on radio station WHN  before making his B’way debut in the garment center labor musical PIns and Needles.

After a string of musical hits including a series of operettas at Carnegie Hall, Barry headed west to Hollywood in 1951 and two years later this most famous film role as scientist Dr. Clayton Forrester in impresario Geo. Pal’s classic production of HG Wells The War of the Worlds.

He appeared in more than 20 features including Soldier of Fortune with Clark Gable and Susan Hayward and Thunder Road with Robert Mitchum.

But Barry’s greatest fame came on TV.

First as the dapper star of Bat Masterson, which ran from 1958 to 1961, Barry sported a derby hat and gilt tipped cane to bring justice back in the days "when the west was young,"as the theme song said.

For producer Aaron Spelling he starred in Burke’s Law (1963-66) as playboy millionaire Los Angeles police captain Amos Burke who fought crime in a chauffeur driven limo with a bevy of beauties on his arm.

He then starred In The Name of the Game as a  two-fisted celeb publishing tycoon in which he rotated starring roles with Robert (The Untouchables) Stack and Tony Franciosa in TV’s first 90 minute block of weekly mini-movies.

Ultimately, Gene returned to Broadway in 1984 winning a Tony for his performance in the musical La Cage Aux Folles.

Among his many TV appearances included Twilight Zone, Playhouse 90, Charlie’s Angels, Our Miss Brooks, The Love Boat and Murder She Wrote.

One of Gene’s last roles was in Spielberg’s tepid re-imagining of War of the Worlds 2005.  He appears in the last scene along with his costar from the original classic, Ann Robinson.