Well-known Australian actor, who worked initially in radio and then spent 20 years in Britain, holding significant television roles. He is perhaps best known for playing Mogul field agent Peter Thornton in the BBC drama The Troubleshooters, which ran 1965 to 1972. As a voice actor, he played a number of characters in the mid-1960s cartoon Thunderbirds. Barrett won a best supporting actor AFI award, for portraying Farrell in Fred Schepisi's 1978 film, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. AFI also gave him an award for lifetime achievement in 2005. Barrett's last acting role was in 2008, playing Nicole Kidman's father Ramsden in Baz Luhrmann's Australia. Low blood pressure in later years made him prone to accidental falls. In 2009, he suffered a fall at his home in Gold Coast, and was pronounced dead from a cerebral hemorrhage thirty minutes later at a nearby hospital.
[1] Gold Coast Hospital, Southport, Queensland.
Wife: (div., one daughter)
Daughter: Suellen
Wife: Miren (div., two sons)
Son: Reg
Son: John
Wife: Gaye (m. 4-Oct-1986, until his death)
High School: Brisbane State High School
Raymond Longford Award 2005
TELEVISION
Something in the Air Len Taylor (2000)
The Troubleshooters Peter Thornton (1965-72)
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Australia (26-Nov-2008)
Visitors (15-Jun-2003)
After the Deluge (15-Jun-2003)
Heaven's Burning (6-Sep-1997)
Hotel de Love (12-Sep-1996)
Brilliant Lies (8-Aug-1996)
Dad and Dave: On Our Selection (20-Jul-1995)
Hotel Sorrento (20-Apr-1995)
Waiting (25-Jul-1991)
Prisoners of the Sun (26-Jul-1990)
Frenchman's Farm (15-Dec-1987)
Contagion (1987)
Rebel (5-Dec-1985)
The Empty Beach (12-Sep-1985)
Where the Green Ants Dream (May-1984)
A Dangerous Summer (21-Oct-1982)
The Earthling (24-Jul-1980) · Parnell
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (21-Jun-1978) · Farrell
Don's Party (10-Nov-1976)
The Amorous Milkman (Jan-1975)
Little Laura & Big John (May-1973)
Inn of the Frightened People (1971)
Just Like a Woman (26-Feb-1967)
Thunderbirds Are GO (15-Dec-1966) · John Tracy, etc. [VOICE]
The Reptile (6-Mar-1966) · Harry
80,000 Suspects (15-Aug-1963)
Jigsaw (21-Aug-1962)
Mix Me A Person (Aug-1962)
Author of books:
Ray Barrett: An Autobiography (1995, memoir)
AKA Raymond Charles Barrett