Barry was cast in the 1955
Orson Welles production of
King Lear at
New York City Center theater. He continued working on Broadway as an actor in the musical
Shinbone Alley, where he was also
stage manager, He also stage managed the
Budd Schulberg treatment of
The Disenchanted, about the real life adventures of
F. Scott Fitzgerald. He stage managed seven other Broadway productions, appearing as an actor in several of them as well, and he worked in the Broadway theatre in this capacity through the mid sixties when he started writing full-time. In 1969, Barry was hired by Columbia Pictures to write the screenplay for
Lenny. The prospects for the project were reportedly harmed by the commercial success of
Love Story, having created a demand for romantic films, which
Lenny certainly was not. Barry suggested to theatre director
Tom O'Horgan, who was fresh from his success with the musical
Hair, that the
Lenny screenplay be redone as a play and the play was a hit starring
Cliff Gorman. At the
47th Academy Awards in 1974,
Lenny was honored with nominations in all five categories that constitute the
Oscar Grand Slam, including a nomination for
Best Adapted Screenplay for Barry. He was also nominated that year for a
Writers Guild of America Award for Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium, as well as a
Jeff Award for his directorial efforts on the
Lenny stage show in Chicago. In 1983, Barry wrote the book for
Jean Seberg, a musical biography of the
American actress and political activist who committed suicide in Paris in 1979. The production was directed by
Peter Hall at London's
National Theatre with music by
Marvin Hamlisch. The production was a flop. Later he co-authored an opera with Peter Hall,
Born Again at the Chichester Festival Theatre in England starring Mandy Patinkin and José Ferrer. Barry ventured back into opera writing the libretto for
Zyklon, an opera about the life of
German-Jewish scientist
Fritz Haber. The music was composed by the British composer
Peter King. ==Personal life==