Gary Barber

Barber was born to a Jewish family^[2] in Johannesburg, South Africa.^[3][4] He was educated at King David School, Linksfield, in Johannesburg. He then received an accounting degree from the University of the Witwatersrand, also in Johannesburg.^[1][5] He later worked as a Chartered Accountant and Certified Public Accountant in South Africa and the United States, both with Price Waterhouse.^[1]

In 1982, he won a trip to the Arlington Million horse race in Illinois.^[5] In the same year, he moved to the United States, where his brother Cecil had been living since 1979. In the mid-1980s, Barber became a U.S. citizen.^[3] In 1998, he and Roger Birnbaum founded Spyglass Entertainment in Los Angeles.^[1] His highest-grossing film as producer was The Tourist (2010), which grossed close to US$280 million at the worldwide box office.^[6]

In December 2010, Barber became Chief Executive Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM).^[1] Under his leadership, MGM together with Eon Productions and Sony Pictures financed the successful James Bond film Skyfall, which grossed US$1,1 billion. MGM then also financed The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012), 21 Jump Street (2012) and Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013). MGM then moved forward with remakes of RoboCop and Poltergeist.^[7][8] In March 2018, Barber was ousted from MGM, coming five months after the renewal of his contract with the studio to 2022; he received a $260M settlement.^[9][10]

Barber has three daughters and lives in Los Angeles.^[5]

Horse racing

Barber is also a Thoroughbred racehorse owner. The Deputy, owned in partnership with Team Valor, won the 2000 running of the Grade II Santa Catalina Stakes and the Grade I Santa Anita Derby at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. In 2006, Becrux, also owned in partnership with Team Valor, won the Grade I Woodbine Mile at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada.^[11] In 2014, his filly Lexie Lou won the Queen's Plate and was named the Canadian Horse of the Year.^[12] His horse War of Will won the 2019 Preakness Stakes.^[13]

Executive Producer

Producer

Special thanks