| Joan Barry | |
|---|---|
| Born | Mary Louise Gribble[1] May 24, 1920 (or 1919) Detroit, Michigan, U.S. |
| Died | 1996 |
| Spouse | Russell C. Seck (1946-19??)[2] |
| Partner | Charlie Chaplin (1941–1942) |
Joan Barry (May 24, 1920 or 1919 – 1996) was an American actress who was at the center of a paternity suit with Charlie Chaplin in 1943.
Born as Mary Louise Gribble, her father, Jim Gribble, committed suicide before her birth. Her mother remarried a man whose last name was Berry and the family moved to New York before Barry went to California in 1938 to pursue an acting career.[1]
Charlie Chaplin had a brief affair with Barry, whom he was considering for a starring role in Shadows and Substance, a proposed film in 1942,[3] but the relationship ended when she began harassing him and displaying signs of severe mental illness. After having a child, Carol Ann, on October 2, 1943, [4] she filed a paternity suit against Chaplin in 1943. Although blood tests proved Chaplin was not the father of Barry's child, Barry's attorney, Joseph Scott, convinced the court that the tests were inadmissible as evidence, and Chaplin was ordered to support the child. The injustice of the ruling later led to a change in California law to allow blood tests as evidence. Chaplin's second wife, Lita Grey later asserted that Chaplin had paid corrupt government officials to tamper with the blood test results. She further stated that "there is no doubt that she [Carol Ann] was his child."[5] Federal prosecutors also brought Mann Act charges against Chaplin related to Barry in 1944, of which he was acquitted.[6]
Married to Russell Seck, a railroad clerk, in 1946, Barry gave birth to sons in 1947 and 1948. The boys moved to Ohio with their father in 1952. The following year, she was institutionalized at Patton State Hospital after being found walking the streets barefoot, carrying a pair of baby sandals and a child's ring, and murmuring: "This is magic".[7] After her mother was committed, Carol Ann went to live with a legally appointed guardian and changed her name. She continued to receive monthly payments from Chaplin until her 21st birthday.
Joan Barry's last contact with her sons was a telephone call in the mid-1960s, after which her whereabouts and fate are unknown. Her eldest son believed she probably remarried, changed her name and later died. A valid social security number was found in FBI documents having to do with Chaplin but nothing meaningful has ever been traced. [8]