Barret Oliver

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Barret Oliver (born August 24, 1973 in Los Angeles, California, USA) was an American child actor and currently works as a photographer. He is famous for such roles as the boy Bastian in the film adaptation of The NeverEnding Story and an android in D.A.R.Y.L.

Contents

[edit] Early Years

He was born to the interior designer Kent Oliver and his wife Kathy. 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 Los Angeles area throughout his acting career.

In the late 1970s, 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 would like to venture on to the screen. His first appearances were in a number of commercials, and this eventually led to small roles in television productions such as Battlestar Galactica and The Incredible Hulk.

[edit] Early '80s TV and Film

By 1982, Barret was being offered more significant, speaking roles in the feature movies Kiss Me Goodbye, Jekyll and Hyde... Together Again, and Uncommon Valor. There was also a well-developed character for him in the pilot episode of Knight Rider for TV, and in a further pilot for The Circle Family which did not evolve into the expected series. During the autumn of the same year, he was one of 200 boys to audition for the role of Bastian in the imminent production of The NeverEnding Story, to be directed by Wolfgang Petersen. Barret made a strong impression, but was initially rejected on the grounds of being too young and immature for the role.

[edit] The Never Ending Story

By March 1983, however, the casting directors for The NeverEnding Story had still not found their ideal Bastian, and Barret was called to re-audition. The agents were amazed that he had matured so much in a few months, and they were impressed by the confidence and intensity with which he read the scene with Bastian in conversation with Koreander, though he had declined the chance of a practice run. It happened that Petersen was in LA at that time for the Oscar presentations. So it was arranged that Barret should meet Petersen in a lounge at LA airport - Petersen's Lufthansa flight was delayed so that the meeting could take place. Barret was immediately confirmed in the Bastian role, and shooting began in Munich only a few weeks later.

[edit] Frankenweenie

The Neverending Story was filmed in Munich during the spring and 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 despite the author of the original book reportedly being unhappy with the film, it is still regarded as a classic. At around the time of the release of The Neverending Story, 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.

[edit] Subsequent TV roles

In that same year, he was featured in Wes Craven's Invitation to Hell, in the Highway to Heaven episode "To Touch the Moon", and in the Finder of Lost Loves episode "Portraits". These were minor productions, but Barret had a major role in each of them.

[edit] Mid '80s Film Career

[edit] D.A.R.Y.L. and Cocoon

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 was very effective in this, 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 widely regarded as a skilled example of juvenile acting. He and his family paid their only visit to Japan at this time, to promote D.A.R.Y.L., and there was considerable worldwide interest in the movie.

Oliver won the Saturn Award for Best Performance by a Younger Actor for his role as the cyborg Daryl in the film D.A.R.Y.L..

[edit] Later '80s career

Barret's next appearance was in the Shelley Duvall production of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in her Tall Tales and Legends series for TV. At the end of the year (1985) he returned to the realm of sci-fi in Gramma, an episode of The New Twilight Zone based on a Stephen King story. Here Barret was on screen for the entire episode, and also did the voice-overs, but the low production values in NTZ prevented Barret's efforts from making much critical impression. In 1986, however, he moved on to his last feature-length role as a juvenile actor in Disney's lightweight comedy-crime-spoof Spot Marks the X. Here at last Barret was able to play the part of a normal, well-balanced, good-humored American youth, and he clearly revelled in the opportunity.

Henceforth Barret, his voice now changed, took on the roles of teenagers rather than children. 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 television series, he was recalled in 1988 for a reprise of the Cocoon theme in Cocoon: 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. This became his last role.

[edit] Current career

Oliver currently teaches in Los Angeles, and some of his photographic works have been put in galleries and exhibitions.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links

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