Actor Tony Barry has died aged 81 as tributes pour in.
The veteran actor, who starred in the hit Hollywood movie Australia besides Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman, reportedly died after being diagnosed with melanoma in 2007.
Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, took to Facebook to share the announcement.
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Their post on Facebook read: “Vale Australian veteran actor Tony Barry who passed away. Despite the difficulties caused by his illness, Tony worked up until shortly before his death.”
Filmmaker Gaylene Preston also posted a tribute to the actor, penning: “It is with a heavy heart that we farewell Tony Barry, who died peacefully yesterday at Murwillumbah NSW after a long illness.”
She posted a photo of the two during the making of the 2010 film Home For Christmas, during which she wrote: “He played my father and became one of the family ever after. He won the best actor at the Qantas awards in 2010 for that performance. He was one of a kind”.
“A fierce fighter for the underdog, working for indigenous rights and as part of rehabilitation programmes in the justice system and for the environment. He considered himself an honorary Kiwi being the only Australian to feature on an NZ postage stamp for his role in Goodbye Pork Pie.”
Tony’s IMDb page lists 160 acting credits, which include the 1981 Kiwi classic Goodbye Pork Pie, where he played the character John.
His long career began in 1968 as he made a guest appearance role on Skippy, the famous series about a bush kangaroo.
Arguably his most famous role came four decades later, in 2008, when he starred alongside Nicole and Hugh in Baz Luhrmann’s Australia, where he portrayed the role of Sgt Callahan in the blockbuster.
(Image: AFP/Getty Images)
The director of Gold, Anthony Hayes, wrote: “#tonybarry was an excellent actor. Brimming with warmth beneath his gruff exterior. You can’t bottle that stuff. You have it or you don’t. Beautiful man. Vale. X”
Dr Quinn star Jane Seymour penned: ‘Nooooo…a most kind man and wonderful actor.”
While Fat Pizza actor Will Ward also commented that Tony was “the most supportive person I’ve ever met in 18 years in the industry”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
