Barry began his career as a child actor in silent motion pictures and later became a producer and director of both film and television.

Later screen productions which served him as starring vehicles are School Days, Rags to Riches, Heroes of the Street, and Warner specials.

In the 1940s, Barry became a director and producer of television and B-movies, such as The Steel Fist and Racing Blood.

During this period, Barry also began a prolific career as an assistant director on many major motion pictures, including Roger Corman's 1967 film The St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

It depicts a future society in which robots, known derisively as "Clickers," are persecuted by a fanatical human organisation named "The Order of Flesh and Blood".