Jered Barclay

Jered Barclay (November 22, 1930 – July 23, 2022) was an American actor, theater director, and acting coach born in Seattle, Washington, whose great-great-grandfather homesteaded on land that would eventually become part of the University of Washington campus. Barclay earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in drama from that same university before embarking on a career that spanned vaudeville, circus performance, film, Broadway, voice acting, and teaching.

His performing life began unusually early. Starting at age three, Barclay worked as a child vaudeville performer alongside Judy Garland, Shirley Temple, and Sammy Davis Jr. By age twelve he had joined the Clyde Beatty Circus as a touring performer.

Barclay made his feature film debut in the 1957 teen drama Untamed Youth. The following year he appeared in the Western Gun Fever and in Roger Corman's science fiction film War of the Satellites, both released in 1958. In 1962 he relocated from Los Angeles to New York City, where he performed in two Off-Broadway productions of Edward Albee plays at the Cherry Lane Theatre: The Zoo Story and The American Dream. He appeared the following year in Next Time I'll Sing to You at the Phoenix Theatre.

His Broadway career extended from 1967 to 1969 and included two productions: The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade and A Patriot for Me. In 1974 he moved into directing, staging a production of Sextet at the Bijou Theatre on Broadway, and subsequently directed the Harvey Perr plays Rosebloom and Scandalous Memories.

Beginning in the 1970s, Barclay worked as a voice actor on multiple Hanna-Barbera animated series, including The Smurfs, The Little Rascals, Challenge of the GoBots, Foofur, The Dukes, and The Kwicky Koala Show. His later film appearances included a supporting role in the horror film Howling VI: The Freaks (1991) and a final screen credit in Ken Russell's drama Whore.

From the 1980s onward, Barclay devoted significant effort to teaching acting. Among his students were Rue McClanahan, Dixie Carter, Johnny Depp, Lily Tomlin, Josh Brolin, Patrick Swayze, and Liza Minnelli.