John Barbour (actor)

John Barbour
Born Jonanthan Barbour
(1933-04-24) April 24, 1933
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Occupation Actor, television host
Years active 1955-present

John Barbour (born on April 24, 1933[1] in Toronto, Ontario), known as the godfather of reality TV, is an actor, comedian, television host, and is the only performer in TV to win Emmys for both entertainment and news shows. Barbour is known as one of the hosts of the NBC reality television series Real People, for which he was also a creator and co-producer.

Career

Barbour moved to the United States in the early 1960s. His comedy act, particularly his 1965 album It's Tough to Be White, dealt in part with civil rights and black-white relations.[2]

He is perhaps best known for creating and appearing in the hit 1970s TV show Real People. He also hosted the pilot for The Gong Show in the mid-1970s (walking away from the show in objection to its farcical premise and forcing producer Chuck Barris to step in front of the cameras as host), and was a regular panelist on the 1988 Canadian (US syndicated) version of Liar's Club.

Barbour portrayed game show host Harry Monte in a 1975 episode of Sanford and Son.[3][4]

Barbour wrote and narrated Keith Burns' documentary Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius.[5]

He also directed and wrote the 1992 documentary The JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapes.[6] This film covers the investigation of District Attorney Jim Garrison, who, after the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy, decided to further investigate the official report given by the Warren Commission. The documentary hypothesizes connections between the assassination and the FBI, the CIA, the Mafia, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Vietnam War, and other organizations and foreign affairs issues.[7][8] The film won an award in 1993 at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain.

References

  1. ↑ IMdB indicates 1933 birth year, other sources such as VH1 indicate 1934.
  2. ↑ "WFMU's Beware of the Blog: The Philosophy of Phil Gramm and John McCain". Retrieved 2008-11-23.
  3. ↑ "Sanford and Son". Yahoo!. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  4. ↑ "John Barbour Filmography". Fandango. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  5. ↑ "Ernie Kovacs: Television's Original Genius". Internet Movie Database. November 17, 1982. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  6. ↑ "A Reader's Guide to the Assassination". Retrieved 2008-03-06.
  7. ↑ Wells, Jeffrey (21 February 1992). "Pop Culture News: Who Killed JFK?". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2008-03-02.
  8. ↑ "JFK Assassination: The Jim Garrison Tapes (1991)". The New York Times. Retrieved 2008-03-02.

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