Researching Barry Mackay

While competing in college for the University of Michigan, he won the Singles title of the 1957 NCAA Men's Tennis Championship to clinch the team title for Michigan over Tulane 10 to 9, by defeating Sammy Giammalva in a 5 set Final. His teammates were: Mark Jaffe, Dick Potter, Jon Erickson, John Harris, Dale Jensen, and Dick Cohen. He was also a finalist in the 1957 NCAA Doubles competition with Dick Potter. He won 5 Big Ten Conference titles, 1956-57 (2) in singles and 1955-57 (3) in doubles.

He reached the Quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 1958 and 1960 and the Semifinals in 1959, and was a Doubles finalist at the U.S. Open in 1958, with Sam Giammalva. In 1959, when he reached the Singles Semifinals at the Australian Championships he lost to Alex Olmedo in 5 sets, and in the Semifinals at The Championships, Wimbledon he lost to Rod Laver in five sets. He then reached the Quarterfinals of the U.S. Championships losing to Bob Mark. In 1960, he was seeded No. 1 at the French Championships, and reached the Quarterfinals losing to Sirola. Previously he had won the Italian Championships in early May, beating Defending Champion, Luis Ayala, in five sets. MacKay twice won the Pacific Coast Championships, first in 1959, and again in 1960. His big year was 1960, when he also won ten more tournaments, to earn the No. 1 ranking in the United States. That year he reached the Quarterfinals of the U.S. Championships. He received the Bob Hope Award for the Amateur Athlete of the Year in 1960.

Mackay died in San Francisco on June 15, 2012 after a long illness.

He was most prominently seen in light comedic roles in the British cinema of the 1930s and is perhaps best known as Jessie Matthews' leading man in Evergreen (1934), Gangway (1937) and Sailing Along (1938). On Stage he performed at the Comedy Theatre, London, in the Green Room Rags of 2 December 1934; opposite Ann Todd in the sketch Every Twenty Thousand Years.

Other notable roles include Lieutenant Somerville in Brown on Resolution (1935) and as Fred, Scrooge's nephew, in MGM's film A Christmas Carol (1938), the latter being one of two films he made in the US; the other was the lead role in a B-picture, Smuggled Cargo (1939). After these films and serving in the Canadian navy during WW II, followed by stage work, there was a long gap in his film career until he reappeared as a character actor in the 1950s, making his last film (Timeslip a.k.a. The Atomic Man ) in 1955.

Barry also appeared in the 1954 Sheldon Reynolds produced Sherlock Holmes television series. He portrayed Reggie "Sardines" Taunton in episode 17; "The Case of the Laughing Mummy".