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Barry Conners (1882-1933)—actor, playwright, attorney, and screenwriter—was born and raised in Oil City, Pennsylvania, the son of a country doctor. Although he graduated from law school, he never practiced law. Instead, he pursued theater as an actor, aiming to master stagecraft and become a playwright. For a period, he performed as a song-and-dance man in vaudeville and toured the country with various repertory companies. Early in the 20th century, he joined the White Rats Movement ("Star" spelled backwards), an organization co-founded by Maurice Barrymore, father of Ethel Barrymore. The group sought to improve conditions for actors who were controlled by a few monopolistic theatrical producers, primarily Charles Frohman's syndicate. This organization, a forerunner of the Actors Guild, was dissolved around World War I, and Conners was subsequently blacklisted from theater acting. He then worked as a hunting and fishing guide near Lake Tahoe, Nevada, while beginning to write plays. Several of his works were produced in New York City during the 1920s, starting with the off-Broadway production of "Mad Honeymoon." Among his successful plays was "Hell's Bells," which in 1925 marked the Broadway debut of actress Shirley Booth and actor Humphrey Bogart. His other Broadway plays included "Applesauce" and "Unexpected Husbands." After the success of "The Patsy," starring Marion Davies, William Randolph Hearst's mistress, Conners seized the opportunity to leverage his voice talent and transitioned from Broadway to Hollywood as talkies transformed the film industry at the decade's end. He spent several years working as a screenwriter for Fox Films.
Conners died in a fire at his Los Angeles apartment building on January 5, 1933, at the age of 50.
