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Veteran Actor Ray Barrett has passed away aged 82.

All the news media have mentioned his Television and Movie credits and surprisingly they also mentioned his Supermarianation voice over credits. But here we will go further back into Ray's career and mention his radio credits. It was his radio skills that led to the rest. Ray Barrett was a talented Radio Actor and great with voices.

The night before he passed away, I was listening to his starring performance in an episode of Carter Brown Mystery Theatre, called Swimsuit Sweetheart. In fact it would be difficult to listen to episodes of popular Australian Radio Shows without hearing Ray Barrett.

Ray started his radio career at 4BH Brisbane as office boy at age 15. At 16 he was given the opportunity of taking over the Midday to 2.00pm shift playing 78rpm records and reading the advertising copy. He then moved to the breakfast 6.00am to 9.00am session. During WWII he was doing both sessions and Sunday afternoon 'Smokes for sick Soldiers'.

When 4KQ opened at the end of WWII Ray was offered a position for ten pounds a week. In his autobiography penned with Peter Corris, Ray explains that while he was working at 4KQ he was also appearing in ABC radio plays and receiving good notices. I have a lot of original radio scripts from Ray's era at 4KQ and he was appearing in a number of live Radio plays there as well. Many of the scripts are Ray's own copies with his name on them. As the performances were 'Live' no recordings survive. Only the scripts show that the broadcasts ever existed. Ray was then offered a one year contract working exclusively for the ABC as an actor and was the first to be hired in this way. After 4 years Ray was once again thinking of making the move to Sydney when Walter Pym offered him the lead in a Caltex Theatre Production if he could possibly go down to Sydney.

Ray Barrett's move to Sydney was successful, with him walking straight into leading parts in Lux Radio Theatre and also Caltex Playhouse.

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In the Encyclopaedia of Australian Radio Shows database (EARSdb) we currently have Ray credited in the following series/serials:

Address Unknown, Adopted Son (the role of Max Conway), Angel on my Shoulder, Archie in Australia, Brand of Justice, Carter Brown Mystery Theatre, Danger with Grainger (Steve Grainger), the Doomsday Man, Educating Archie (ABC), Fallen Angel, Famous Decisions, Famous Trials, Farming today (Presenter), Friday Bandwagon, Have Patience delaney, It is the Mirage, Jukebox Jackpots ((Presenter), Laura Chiltern, Life of Mary Southern (Max Saunders), Moments of Peril, Myths for Moderns, Reach for the Sky, Robin Hood (Robin of Loxley), Short Story, Stairway to Fame, The State of Never Never, Tarzan (Tarzan), Tea with the Thomas's (Al Thomas), That Strong Guy, We're Asking You (Presenter), White Rabbit. Many of those series were 5 days a week and lead roles, yes, the 5 episodes were often recorded in the one session.

That is a fair spread of different roles. Ray was also busy with Commercials, cigarette, corn pads and cough medicine, he was also the Ford Pills man. When you also include over 100 Radio Plays, mainly lead roles in Caltex Theatre, General Motors Hour and Lux Radio Theatre and various other productions, you get an idea of how busy and how popular Ray Barrett was. Then consider that these series/serials and plays were basically in a 4 year period before Ray travelled to England in 1958 to fame and fortune on Television and you really start understanding where he honed his talent for voices and roles. It is an amazing amount of work in such a short period of time in Sydney.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Ray Barrett didn't arrive in 4BH as an Office Boy at age 15 without a previous History. Ray had the support of his family, they all sang together and Ray's big break into 4BH came from winning the local Eisteddfod. He also had elocution lessons and took part in community singing radio sessions. Even during his busy period in Sydney he was 'treading the boards'. In England he even made a hit record .

Ray Barrett has left behind some great memories for us all. We can rewatch his movie performances and listen to surviving radio shows and appreciate the entetainment he has given over a long career.

'Ray Barrett An Autobiography' with Peter Corris, was published in 1995 and readily available on ebay or 2nd hand shops for as little as a dollar. The book is one of the best autobiographies of a Sydney Radio Actor in its detail and explanation of how serials were made and the relationships with Directors and Producers as well as with other actors. It is a good read.