A legendary actor who was best known for his roles in Vanishing Point and Petrocelli has passed away at the age of 92.
Barry Newman was a Boston-born actor and entertainer who died at New York City’s Columbia University Irving Medical Center after racking up 57 acting credits to his name over the course of several decades.
The iconic actor, who portrayed Kowalski in the 1971 thriller Vanishing Point, died on May 11, his wife confirmed on Sunday.
Among other roles on the big screen, Newman was also well known for playing defense lawyer Anthony Petrocelli in The Lawyer (1970).
Years later, on two occasions, the actor reprised his role as attorney Petrocelli by appearing in the 1974’s Night Games and Petrocelli the TV series which ran for 44 episodes between 1974 and 1976.
Later on, Newman also appeared in a variety of other films such as City on Fire (1979), King Crab (1980), Amy (1981), Daylight (1996), Bowfinger (1999), 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002), The O.C. (2005), and Grilled (2006) among others.
While the acting legend retired from his career in 2009 after being diagnosed with vocal cord cancer, he signed off with one final project – a 2022 independent movie Finding Hannah – before his passing.
Previously, in 2019, Newman opened up about his role in Vanishing Point and revealed that the movie became a huge hit without him even realizing it.
“In England, I was a hero, and in America, I was just a guy picking up his bags at the plane terminal,” he told Paul Rowlands.
“It opened again in America after playing Europe and people then started getting on to the film. It became a cult film without me even realizing it. To this day, I’m always being asked to talk about it somewhere.”
In another interview, the actor also opened up about his role as Petrocelli in The Lawyer saying: “This was very unique. I had just done this film about a lawyer, a Harvard graduate, and I thought this is a different kind of thing. The guy was the rebel, the antihero. I enjoyed doing that very much.”
Our thoughts remain with Barry’s loved ones, including his wife Angela, during this challenging time.