Barret was born on 24th August 1973 (a Friday) in the Los Angeles area of California. His parents were Kent and Kathy Oliver - Kent was an interior designer. There was no family connection with the entertainment industry, but Kent and Kathy already had one son, Kyle, then aged 2. Though little information is available about Barret's early years, it is generally accepted that he attended the Los Feliz (private) School - also sometimes called the Apple School - and continued to live in the LA area throughout his acting career. He may still be there.
In the late 1970's, a friend of the Oliver family with Hollywood connections introduced Kyle to the movie business, where he soon achieved some modest success in juvenile roles. At once Barret - on his own initiative - declared that he too would like to venture on to the screen. His first appearances were in a number of commercials, and this led to small roles in TV productions such as Battlestar Galactica and The Incredible Hulk.
By March 1983, however, the casting directors for The
The Neverending Story was filmed in Munich during the spring and (hot) summer of 1983, and premiered in Germany in April 1984. Barret's powerful contribution to the success of this movie brought him a measure of international stardom, and it is still regarded as a classic. However, at just this time Tim Burton was planning his first live-action movie under the Disney banner. This was to be Frankenweenie, a spoof of (but also loving tribute to) the Gothic horror genre. The lead role was that of a young boy who uses Frankensteinian techniques to resuscitate his beloved dog, killed in a traffic accident. Burton was keen to cast Barret in this part, and the movie was shot in a few weeks in the early summer of 1984. Once it was completed, however, Disney lost the courage to release it, though it is now regarded as a minor classic, and is widely available.
Barret was not short of screen work at this time. He spent the late summer of 1984 in Florida, filming the role of 'David' in Cocoon under the direction of Ron Howard. Barret plays this role to perfection, but he himself was quick to acknowledge his debt to Howard's directorial assistance. The 'David' character is central to the movie's storyline, appearing in both the first and last scene, and Barret also had the chance to learn from working with a cast of former Hollywood stars. Yet Barret's career was developing further even while Cocoon was being shot. He had been shortlisted for the title role of Daryl in D.A.R.Y.L., and he was flown to New York during the Cocoon shoot to confirm him in this role.
Filming for D.A.R.Y.L. started in January 1985 - the first scene to be shot was Daryl's and Turtle's first day at school. There were location shoots in Florida, North Carolina, and France, while the technical scenes were completed at Pinewood studios near London, England, in March 1985. The movie opened in June of that year, and critical reaction was mixed. The movie itself was regarded as enjoyable, but less meaningful in the context of its human/android theme than had been hoped; yet Barret's playing of the title role was universally regarded as a masterpiece of juvenile acting. It remains so, yet the limited commercial success of the movie resulted in Barret once again receiving less than the deserved recognition. He and his family paid their only visit to Japan at this time, to promote D.A.R.Y.L., and there was considerable worlwide interest in the movie. There are also rumors that a sequel to D.A.R.Y.L. had been planned, but the plans were subsequently dropped - such decisions hang as always on financial considerations.
Barret's next appearance was in the
Henceforth Barret, his voice now changed, took on 'teenage' rather than juvenile roles. In 1987 he returned to England to shoot The Secret Garden with a galaxy of British stars that included Sir Michael Hordern and Sir Derek Jacobi. The casting of an American in the role of Dickon Sowerby, an English rustic lad, is open to question, but Barret performed manfully, giving the part a wistful twist. Next, after completing an episode in the Hooperman series, he was recalled in 1998 for a reprise of the Cocoon theme in Cocoon 2: The Return, but by this time his natural charm and confidence in front of a camera was less conspicuous, and he lacked the support of a Ron Howard. In 1989 he was asked by Paul Bartel to take on the role of 'Willie Saravian' in Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Here Barret broke new ground - he played a diseased teenager with sexual fantasies that are fulfilled late one night by the swimming-pool!
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There is one further rumor worth recording. Somewhere on the Net, a few years ago, someone claiming distant contact with the Oliver family expressed the view that Barret had no interest in his fans, would not contact them, and would simply like his legend to live on. Well, the legend does persist, and the fact is due to Barret's own enormous talent, charm, and appeal in all he recorded for our entertainment. This site simply records the basis of that legend, together with the hope that it will continue to live on -- and that Barret is content wherever he may be.
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1 comment:
Well a second generation has discovered this young star. My grand children digging through my old collection of tapes played in my old VCR. Were quick that, the movie didn't match current airport security. But all and all enjoyed the movie. I guess, I will have to have it transferred to a DVD.
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