[2] A 1923 newspaper item reported that she was "a singer and player" whose bird imitations had been broadcast on radio.

[1] Her family moved to California when she was still a child due to her mother's wishing to escape the cold climate of the north.

Moving to Hollywood to pursue acting, Barclay received her first role at the age of 12, which was credited with her billed as Geraine Greear, in the 1927 film The Gaucho, starring Douglas Fairbanks[3] and Lupe Vélez.

That year she received roles in other B-movies that were not Westerns as well, including the 1936 crime drama Prison Shadows, which starred Lucille Lund and Edward J. Nugent, and the action/adventure film Phantom Patrol starring opposite Kermit Maynard.

From early 1936 to 1939, Barclay had both starring and supporting roles in 35 films, almost all of which were B-movies, mainly Westerns, serials, or cliffhangers.