Judith Barrie

Born Catherine Brown^[a] and raised in Sacramento, Barrie was the granddaughter of a wealthy wheat merchant in California.^[4] Her father was Fred Brown, and her mother, Eva Brown, of Lincoln, California.^[1] She had one older sister, Hermia (born 1906).^[2] She graduated from Miss Head's School, a girls' boarding school in Berkeley.^[5] After graduating, she worked as a model in New York City,^[4] and became a muse of artist James Montgomery Flagg.^[6][7] While in New York, she also performed professionally as a concert pianist.^[8]

While modeling, Barrie was noticed by producer Edward Halperin (brother of director Victor Halperin^[9]) who suggested to her that she seek a career in film.^[9] After appearing in her feature debut in Party Girl (1930) opposite Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, she served as a model for the life-size bronze statue used to welcome visitors at the 1932 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.^[9] She subsequently appeared in Ex-Flame (1930), and the Western The Last Frontier (1932).^[10] She was then cast in a lead role opposite Tom Mix in the Western Hidden Gold (1932).^[10]

Barrie was married to Edward Halperin from 1928 until 1932, when he filed for divorce, claiming she did not love him.^[11] She subsequently married Norman Coit Lee, a broker from New York City, on August 25, 1933 in Reno, Nevada.^[1] After her marriage to Lee, Barrie formally retired from acting.^[1]