The many faces of
Barry Corbin

Tom Selleck and Barry Corbin appeared as presenters at a recent awards event.
Read our online interview
with Tom Selleck

Barry Corbin as "Charlie McCloud" in Conagher

Barry Corbin as "Roscoe Brown" in the highly acclaimed television miniseries Lonesome Dove

Barry Corbin as "Wickes" in the television series The Magnificent Seven

Barry Corbin as
"Eli Pembry" in the 2000 comedy film Held Up

Barry Corbin on the set of The Journeyman
(release date not announced)

Barry Corbin in his 1980 film debut as "Uncle Bob" in Urban Cowboy

Audio Books
Read by Barry Corbin

Max Brand Books
read by Barry Corbin

rELATED aRTICLE:
Maple Leaf Westerns: Where Are Our Westerns Goingand WHY?

Like a true rancher, his favorite time of day is early morning. Like a true son of Texas, he is an affable gentleman in the purest sense, a man who loves good cigars, red beans and rodeo, someone who enjoys spending his free time on horseback, cutting cattle. As a child he studied ballet. As a young man he became a Marine. Whenever he appears on-screen he can walk tough, talk tough, and look every bit the part. Then too, he can melt your heart like warm butter on hot Texas toast by simply applying that innocent, little boy expression of his... you know, the one from Conagher, with the sweetly irresistible but curiously sad puppy-dog eyes?

A classically trained actor, whose film career spans twenty years and is still going strong, Barry Corbin comes armed with an impressive filmography that is longer than a hard winter in the high country. A rather remarkable achievement for someone who describes himself as shy.

Sixty-year-old Corbin has a good-natured spirit and a dry sense of humor. Unpretentious and generous of heart, he is actively involved with fund-raisers, appearing at many charity events around the country. He possesses a genuine dedication and love for the western way of life, especially when it comes to addressing the perceptions of what the West is really all about. "We still need to feed the public," Corbin told me recently, "both physically and intellectually."

In talking about his craft, Corbin has joked that he has made an art out of giving up the ghost on screen, "dying about every third character or so."  But make no mistakeif ever it were to come down to the act of simply giving up... well, that is something that is clearly not an option in anything that Barry Corbin does. He loves challenge as much as he loves having fun. For him, those two things just naturally go hand-in-hand.

Within the movie industry many refer to Corbin as "the busiest character actor in Hollywood" and that's not said as bluster. His extensive career includes credits on stage, film, television, radioand then some. It seems no matter the vehicle or the mediumfrom films to audio books, from video games to music CDsif it has a soundtrack to it, then you can bet Barry Corbin is open to lending his talents to it. His distinctive voice with its cozy Texas drawl makes him a natural choice for such projects. Almost effortlessly, he breathes life into his characters. But hiring a talent as fine as this doesn't come cheap.

And for good reason. Since his 1980 motion picture debut as "Uncle Bob" in Urban Cowboy, Corbin has appeared in such notable westerns as Conagher, playing the lovable Charlie McCloud, a part for which Corbin received the Western Heritage Award in 1992 from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. Three years later, in 1995, he earned an Emmy nomination in the Best Supporting Actor category for his role as retired astronaut Maurice Minnifield in the offbeat TV series Northern Exposure, which has become a cult classic that continues to rope in new fans through its weekday re-runs on cable television. But perhaps his western fans know him best for his performance as Roscoe Brown, the unlikely deputy in the Emmy Award-winning television miniseries Lonesome Dove.

A durable actor, Corbin's character range extends well beyond the roles that he portrays in westerns. Corbin was a cast member in the 1980s television series Dallas, and has appeared in countless guest roles in such series as The Magnificent Seven, Spin City, The Drew Carey Show, Murder She Wrote, Matlock, and Walker, Texas Ranger to name but a few. His recent feature film releases include the comedies Hold Up and Fumbleheads, as well as the drama War Games. Just as a rolling stone gathers no moss, neither does Corbin. At the time of this writing, he has two new films now in production, another in post-production, plus two television docu-series that he is scheduled to host in the near future for the History Channel. Also, he has just completed an episode for the series Mysterious Ways on Pax TV, and finally, not to escape mention, is the work he did on the newly released computer video game, .

His dislikes seem fairly limited, yet surprisingly at the same time, rather wide-ranging in scope. How so? Well, Corbin claims to have a bit of an aversion to the hi-tech gadgetry of the computer age and all that goes with itincluding calculators.

Although Corbin admits he's "not too good at the email," he doesn't entirely forsake it. Despite any uneasiness he might feel when making the transition from being up on the silver screen to sitting down in front of the computer screen, his attitude towards it is pure cowboy, through and through. Palming a mouse may feel awkward to him, compared to throwing a rope, but he puts forth the effort. When it comes to handling the more technical aspects of running his official website at www.barrycorbin.net, he teamed up with a capable webmaster who now rides herd over Corbin's spread on the Internet range. (Check it out. The site is an honest-to-God, first-class rarity on web these days. One that actually is informative, well-designed, regularly updated, and visually appealing.)

In spite of his busy schedule, I had a chance to talk to Barry at home on his small ranch in Texas, where he lives with his daughter and three of his four grandchildren. We discussed westerns, the business of movie-making and the upcoming TNT western adventure Crossfire Trail, which stars Tom Selleck. The cast includes Virginia Madsen, Mark Harmon, Wilford Brimley, David O'Hara, Christian Kane, Brad Johnson, and of course, Barry Corbin.

~*~ A Conversation with Barry Corbin ~*~
by Taylor Fogarty

Taylor Fogarty [TF]: I recently had an opportunity to preview Crossfire Trail, which is based on the   Your part in this film is the role of Sheriff Walter Moncrieff. I found that interesting because wasnt there a time when you would turn down sheriff roles?

Barry Corbin [BC]:  Yes... well, I still do unless theres something a little different about them.

TF: Tell us a little bit about how this part came to you, and why you took the role of Sheriff Moncrieff.

BC:  Well, Tom Selleck is a friend of mine, and so are several others in the film... Wilford Brimley, Brad Johnson - were all friends - so this picture sounded like a lot of fun. But also this guys just not just the sheriff, hes also the Justice of the Peace. Hes got a little problem with the bottle and several other faults to him. It just looked like a fun part to play.

TF: You did a great job with the role. For as likable as you are personally, the character you played certainly had flawswhich surfaced during the wedding scene in the saloon. Of course, when you've got someone as formidable as Brad Johnson playing the villain, looming larger than life in the background of that scene....  [pictured at right]

BC: (chuckles)  Yeah. Well, you know, them old boys that survived that long out there, they either had to be fast with the gun or they had to have kind of iffy principles, I think.

TF: Lets talk a little bit about Simon Wincer, the director of Crossfire Trail. You worked with Simon on the miniseries . How was it teaming up with him again?

BC:  Oh, I love working with Simon! Hes got a good eye. And he knows what hes looking for in an individual performance within a scene. You know, a lot of times a director has an overall view of the project and kind of lets the individual things slide. But Simons right on top of all of it.

TF: You worked with Tom Selleck in this picture. In the past, youve also worked with Sam Elliott in . Whats it like working on westerns with those two?

BC:  They are both very good at what they do, but theyre different personalities. Sams a little quieter... well, not that Toms loud and robust and rambunctious. (chuckles)  ...I enjoy working with them and am very fond of both of them personally.

TF: It seems as if they both care enough to go the extra mile, in terms of bringing a certain measure of authenticity and an integrity to the westerns they produce...

BC:  Yes. They both have a particular love for westerns. Of course no one can make a living doing westerns anymore, so we all have to do other things.

TF: Whats your take on the publics appetite for the western, and how does that match up with Hollywoods assessment of that appetite?

BC:  Well, I think for the last fifteen, twenty years or so Hollywood has underestimated the appeal of the western. I think there is still a huge market. Conagher was a hit for TNT and it still plays and its still selling in video. They probably sell as many tapes of Lonesome Dove as they do of any other movie. And I think probably that Crossfire Trail will be in that category too.

TF: And it shouldn't go overlooked that Tom Sellecks 1997 western, was the most-watched film in cable history when it premiered.

BC:  Yes. ...But the producers underestimate the popularity. Like when Lonesome Dove came out and did so well, they thought it was just an anomaly. They couldnt believe that people wanted to see westerns. But if they do them right, then people do want to see them.

TF: Do you think the popularity of Lonesome Dove had an effect on the western, good or bad?

BC:  Well... they did Lonesome Dove. Then they did the sequel. Then they did that TV series up in Canada. I think they kind of run that one story into the ground. It didnt really do a whole lot as far as other westerns go. It became kind of a mini-franchise for Lonesome Dove. ...I hope Larry McMurtry got rich off it. I dont know that he did he ought to have. (chuckles) ...I dont know that theyre ever going to make . I was talking to Larry McMurtry about a year ago and he said he didnt think they were going to make it. He said he thinks theyve worn out the franchise.

TF: Still, I think there are quite a few other Western stories that would lend themselves to the big screen.

BC:  Oh, theres so many!   And there are some that are not strictly westerns

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