Barry Tubb
A Lone Star native with a lanky but athletic frame, tall, fair and blond-haired Barry Tubb has always felt at home on the range and many of his film and TV projects are indicative of that. Born in Snyder, Texas on February 13, 1963, his father owned an oil drilling company. Barry entered competition roping calves and riding bulls at age 7 and was, at one time, a "World Champion Jr. Bull Rider" at age 15. He then broadened his horizons by lassoing an acting career to boot. Following his graduation from Snyder High School in 1981, he left the rodeo circuit and relocated to San Francisco to pursue acting. Stage trained there, he eventually headed south to try his luck in Hollywood.
Barry initially drew attention on TV series work and in topical mini-movies dealing with sensitive issues. Following a regular role on the short-lived baseball ensemble series Bay City Blues (1983) and a recurring part as a rookie cop on Hill Street Blues (1981), he received critical applause for two prominent TV-movie roles -- one sympathetic and one not so sympathetic -- as a withdrawn homosexual who comes out to his parents and faces the repercussions therein in the high quality social drama Consenting Adult (1985), and as a self-involved preppy corporate caught up in murder in Billionaire Boys Club (1987).
Barry's Texas-boy type TV career reached its apex when he was cast as cowboy Jasper Fant in the epic western mini-series Lonesome Dove (1989) and its sequel Return to Lonesome Dove (1993), which were partially set in his native state. Once he cemented his reputation for high-quality material, he gravitated towards film with supporting roles in Mask (1985), The Legend of Billie Jean (1985) and Top Gun (1986) in which he played a fighter pilot trainee. In 1988, in a complete change of pace, he debuted on Broadway co-starring with Mary Tyler Moore and Lynn Redgrave in "Sweet Sue" by A.R. Gurney. Having a respectable run of 164 performances, he and the show gained a bit of notoriety when he appeared in it fully nude (not full frontal) as a model who poses for a drawing.
Specializing in quirky, fair-haired fellows with a slight but appealing awkwardness, he eventually grew disenchanted with Hollywood and turned to independent filming as well as other interests. At one point he moved to France (1991-93) and rode in a resurrection of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show. He spread his wings to include off-camera activity, wherein he starred, directed, produced and co-wrote the real cowboy and Indians low-budget Blood Trail (2005). He then returned to his youthful roots writing, producing and directing the family fare feature Grand Champion (2002), the exploits of a young boy who raises a prize-winning steer and struggles to save it from the slaughterhouse. He shot the film in his own Texas hometown of Snyder.
Into the millennium, Barry maintained a standard foothold in independent features with a few mature support roles thrown in and making occasional trips behind the camera as well. Such films included the action western American Outlaws (2001) starring link=nm0268199]; the Southern-styled comedy Baghdad Texas (2009); an off-the-wall comedy he wrote, produced and directed entitled Clown Hunt (2008) (the title tells all - about hunters hunting down clowns!); the horror opus Javelina (2011), which he also directed; the romantic dramedy Dear Sidewalk (2013) and the crime thriller Two Step (2014), which filmed in Texas. He also had a recurring roles on the TV series Friday Night Lights (2006) and Revolution (2012). Since then, Barry has kept a very low profile.
