Barry Primus

American film director and actor (born 1938)

Actor
director
writer

Years active1963–presentSpouseJulie Arenal

Barry Primus (born February 16, 1938) is an American television and film actor, director, and writer.

Career

While Primus is primarily an actor, he has also worked as a writer and director in films in which he has acted. For the first decade of his career, he was employed as a stage actor. He gained some experience on TV in shows like The Defenders, East Side/West Side and The Virginian.

He then made his initial film appearance in the Manhattan-filmed The Brotherhood (1968). His other films include Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me (film) (1971) Boxcar Bertha (1972), Autopsy (1975), Heartland (1979), The Rose (1979), Night Games (1980), Absence of Malice (1981), and Guilty by Suspicion (1991). He had a recurring role on the TV series Cagney and Lacey (1982 — 1988) as Christine Cagney (Sharon Gless)'s boyfriend, Sergeant Dory McKenna, whose drug problem compromises his performance as a fellow police officer.^[1]

After working as second unit director on Mark Rydell's The Rose (1979), Primus increased his behind-the-camera activities; in 1992, he directed his first theatrical feature, the "inside" Hollywood comedy/drama Mistress.

A member of the Actors Studio,^[2] Primus has taught acting and directing classes at the American Film Institute, Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute, the UCLA campus, and at The Maine Media Workshops^[3] in Maine. He has taught acting at Loyola Marymount University and at Columbia University.

Primus's recent film work includes Jackson, a film directed by J.F. Lawton; he had a cameo in Righteous Kill with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro, American Hustle, Grudge Match, and The Irishman.

Personal life

Primus has been married to choreographer Julie Arenal for over 50 years.

Select filmography

1968 The Brotherhood as Vido
1970 Puzzle of a Downfall Child as Aaron Reinhardt
1971 Von Richthofen and Brown as Hermann Goering
1971 Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me as Gnossos 'Paps' Pappadopoulis
1972 Boxcar Bertha as Rake Brown
1974 The Gravy Train as Tony
1975 Autopsy as Father Paul Lenox
1977 New York, New York as Paul Wilson
1978 Avalanche as Mark Elliott
1979 Heartland as Jack
1979 The Rose as Dennis
1980 Night Games as Jason St. John
1981 Les Uns et les Autres
1981 Absence of Malice as Waddell
1983 Over Here, Mr. President as Mike Yaeger
1984 The River as Roy
1986 Down and Out in Beverly Hills as Lou Waltzberg
1986 Jake Speed as Lawrence
1986 SpaceCamp as Brennan
1987 Talking Walls as Professor Hirsch
1987 The Stranger as Sergeant Drake
1988 Big Business as Michael
1989 Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death as Ford Maddox
1990 Denial as Jay
1990 Torn Apart as Arie Arnon
1990 Final Stage as Detective #1
1991 Guilty by Suspicion as Bert Alan
1992 Night and the City as Tommy Tessler
1992 Mistress (writer, director, producer)
1996 Flipping as Joey, Leo's Crew
1999 Black and White as Priest
2001 15 Minutes as Cab Driver
2001 James Dean as Nicholas Ray
2001 Life as a House as Tom
2003 Frankie and Johnny Are Married as Himself
2004 Cross Bronx as Mary Green
2004 When Will I Be Loved as Victor Barrie
2005 Break a Leg as Ira Goldstein
2006 Mustang Sally as Dr. Koshansky
2008 Jackson as Donald
2008 Righteous Kill as Dr. Prosky
2012 The Legend as Arnold
2013 Memoirs (Short) as Ray Harris
2013 American Hustle as Tellegio's Consigliere
2013 Grudge Match as Joey, The Bartender
2013 Redemption as Scott McCabe
2013 The Next Cassavetes as Fire Marshal
2014 Small Time as Jerry
2014 The Longest Week as Bernard, the Chauffeur
2015 Bad Hurt as Marty
2015 Joy as Rudy's Attorney
2017 Breakable You as Dr. Chazen
2019 The Irishman as Ewing King
2020 Arkansas as Old Greek

References

^ "Barry Primus biography". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2014. Archived from the original on April 4, 2014. Retrieved December 13, 2014.
^ Garfield, David (1980). "Appendix: Life Members of The Actors Studio as of January 1980". A Player's Place: The Story of the Actors Studio. New York: MacMillan Publishing Co., Inc. p. 279. ISBN 0-02-542650-8.
^ "Maine Media |". Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Retrieved 2010-04-15.