Biography

Black leotard

Long, reddish-brown pony-tail

Capri pants

Her legs

Elegant, and incredibly fast, spins.

Danced with Fred Astaire on his TV specials.

She debuted her Las Vegas act in the Congo Room of the Sahara Hotel in April, 1963 (on a bill with John F. Kennedy impersonator Vaughn Meader). Her choreography was by Hermes Pan and her costumes were by Jean Louis.

According to an interview Barrie gave during the 50th anniversary celebrations for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) she was in Sweden when her agent called and told her Stanley Kramer wanted to see her the next day about a part in a movie. She thought it was just an audition, but she flew back anyway. It turned out his wife had suggested he hire Barrie for the role so it was hers if she wanted it (she did). After the meeting she was walking down the Sunset Strip when she ran into an actor friend, and she told him she'd just gotten a part that was shooting the next day but she had no idea how to play the character. He read her script pages and he noticed the name was a Mrs. He asked her if the guy in the scene was her husband and she said no. It's easy then, he said, they are stoned. The next day Barrie told Kramer, who was directing as well as producing the picture, of her plan to play it as if she were stoned and he liked the idea. But this presented a problem - Barrie had never been stoned, and didn't know how to properly "toke a doobie" (watch closely the next time when she sits on the bed - she's not lighting a cigarette - it's a prop joint). A helpful member of the crew had to take her aside and give her a quick tutorial on the procedure. This was probably the first time such a thing appeared in a comedy movie, but since it wasn't common in 1963 society most people then, and still, missed it, but it accounts for Barrie's strange zoned-out look during the dance. Her interpretation also came in handy because it was the only way to keep a straight face while Dick Shawn (Sylvester) ricocheted around her and screamed in her ear. Oh, and the actor who had helped her "find" the character - that was Steve McQueen.

After her fourth TV special with Fred Astaire in 1968, she made the decision to devote her time to her husband, Richard Kaufman, DDS, and their son, retiring from the performing world. In 2004 the Kaufmans moved from a large home in Beverly Hills to a smaller place on one of the canals in Venice, California. Her husband retired from the dental profession. In addition, all three members of the family are avid cyclists and returned from a nine-month cycling tour of Europe, which was a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Again, in an interview Barrie gave during the 50th anniversary celebrations for It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) when she got the part she hadn't danced in a while and was carrying an extra, unwanted, ten pounds. They sent her to wardrobe and she was horrified to be given a choice of three bikinis. She chose the black fringed one for two reasons - she hoped the movement of the fringe would distract the audience, and the top was constructed in such a way that she was able to shove some of her extra flesh, as well as a few other items, into it to give herself more volume in the right places.