---
name: "Tom Barry"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/tom-barry-930394"
roles: ["Writer"]
born: "31 July 1885"
died: "7 November 1931"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "writer"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-19T21:40:14.285956+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Tom Barry

Writer. Born 31 July 1885 in Kansas City. Died 7 November 1931.

## Details

- **Work:** Writer
- **Born:** 31 July 1885, Kansas City
- **Died:** 7 November 1931
- **Active:** 1928–1931
- **Frequently works with:** [Winfield Sheehan](https://film.one/person/winfield-r-sheehan.md)
- **Academy Awards:** 1 Oscar nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Barry_(screenwriter), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1459318, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0058179/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/930394

## Biography

Tom Barry was an American screenwriter, playwright and vaudeville sketch writer. Born Hal Donahue on 31 July 1885 in Kansas City, Missouri, he worked in the theatre before entering the film industry in the late 1920s.

Barry is credited with the adaptation and dialogue for *In Old Arizona* (1928), the first major sound Western, and received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing. He earned a second nomination for *The Valiant* (1929). His other screen credits include *Under Suspicion* (1930), *Over the Hill* (1931) and *East Lynne* (1931).

He died of a heart attack on 7 November 1931 in Los Angeles, California, aged 46.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *In Old Arizona* (1928), Fi1m 61, Writer — [page](https://film.one/film/in-old-arizona.md)

## Complete filmography (12)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Thru Different Eyes* (1942), Dialogue
- *My Bill* (1938), Theatre Play
- *Over the Hill* (1931), Writer
- *East Lynne* (1931), Writer
- *Under Suspicion* (1930), Story, Screenplay
- *Song o' My Heart* (1930), Story
- *The Cock-Eyed World* (1929), Writer
- *The Valiant* (1929), Dialogue, Adaptation
- *Thru Different Eyes* (1929), Writer
- *In Old Arizona* (1928), Writer — Fi1m 61, [page](https://film.one/film/in-old-arizona.md)
- *Habit* (1921), Writer
- *The Upstart* (1916), Theatre Play

## Awards

### Academy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1929: Best Writing (nominated), for *The Valiant*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/tom-barry-930394