Barrett was born in 1929 in
Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated in 1950 from
Anderson University (South Carolina). Prior to his career as a screenwriter, he served in the
United States Marines. His first screenplay (based on his teleplay
The Murder of a Sand Flea) was for the 1957 film,
The D.I., which starred
Jack Webb as a Marine Corps
drill instructor at
MCRD Parris Island. Barrett had been on Parris Island as a recruit in 1950 and served in the
Korean War. Barrett, along with Peter Udell and Phillip Rose won the 1975
Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical for
Shenandoah, which was based on his
1965 film by the same name, which starred
James Stewart. Other notable works written or co-written by Barrett include the
1965 epic film The Greatest Story Ever Told,
Smokey and the Bandit,
The Green Berets,
Bandolero! and co-writing
On the Beach. Barrett also scripted a made-for-TV remake of
The Defiant Ones (which starred
Carl Weathers and
Robert Urich in the
Sidney Poitier and
Tony Curtis roles), and adapted the 1967 movie
In the Heat of the Night for a
weekly series. (The show starred
Carroll O'Connor and
Howard Rollins, in the
Rod Steiger and
Sidney Poitier roles.) Barrett wrote and produced
...tick...tick...tick..., a similarly themed Southern crime drama starring
Jim Brown and
George Kennedy. ==Death==