George Barrie
Born9 February 1912
New York City, New York, United States
Died16 November 2002 (aged 90)
Occupation(s)Company director, film producer
SpouseDorothy Barri
Children3

George Barrie (9 February 1912[1] – 16 November 2002)[2] was the owner and CEO of Fabergé Inc. from 1964 to 1984.[3][4] He was nominated for two Oscars for Best Original Song[5] and created the cologne Brut. Though not one of the first to use celebrities to advertise, he was one of those that made it commonplace.

Biography

Born to a Jewish family[4] in New York City and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, he trained to be a musician. But in need of steady work, Barrie took a salesman job with the hair products company Rayette during the 1930s.

Rayette and Barrie purchased the perfume and hair-care company Fabergé Inc. for $26 million in 1964, and the Brut line began achieving international success soon after.

Barrie was considered to be a pioneer in the area of celebrity endorsements, as he wooed stars such as Cary Grant, Farrah Fawcett, Joe Namath, Roger Moore, Muhammad Ali, Margaux Hemingway and Laurence Harvey to pitch company products.

Barrie and his Brut Productions produced the very successful film A Touch of Class (1973), which starred Glenda Jackson and George Segal, as well as Night Watch, Whiffs (1975), Sweet Hostage (1975), Thieves (1977), Nasty Habits (1977), and Fingers (1978).

Barrie and Sammy Cahn were nominated for the 1975 Academy Award for Best Original Song, after writing "Now That We're In Love." Barrie and Cahn had been nominated in the same category in 1973, for "All That Love Went To Waste."

Trivia

Annual Straw Hat Awards – Party by Fabergé June 16, 1970 at the George Barrie Townhouse with Bette Davis[6]

Personal life

He was married to Dorothy Barrie; and had three children: Caryl Barrie Kaplan, Richard Barrie, and Craig Barrie.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "George Barrie".
  2. 1 2 "George Barrie Obituary (2002) - Miami, FL". The Miami Herald. November 17, 2002 – via Legacy.com.
  3. ↑ George Barrie, 90, Songwriter, Producer and Fabergé Executive
  4. 1 2 "George Barrie". The Daily Telegraph. November 22, 2002. George Barrie was born in New York in 1912, into a Jewish family of Russian...
  5. ↑ Awards for George Barrie at IMDb
  6. ↑ "1st Annual Straw Hat Awards - Party by Faberge, 1970". Archived from the original on 2007-03-11. Retrieved 2006-07-10.
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