ALSO SEEN
Barbara Barry as WAC Edna
Incredulity was recently expressed about four season recurring character WAC Edna being credited to actress Barbara Barrie.
Sure enough, it turns out to have been a different Barbara altogether.
Barbara Barry, centre, as WAC Edna.
With, left to right, Elisabeth Fraser (Sergeant Joan Hogan); Billie Allen (WAC Billie); Midge Ware and Fay Morley. 1955. Same women below.
Born Doris Hoffman in 1921, Barbara Barry started in show business as a nightclub singer. Other work included a seven month stint with the USO and spells in 40s and 50s vaudeville. She was possibly tapped for Bilko by Herbie Faye (Corporal Sam Fender), who she had partnered in vaudeville in 1949.
Later running an antiques business and then a sheep farm, Barbara died in 2004.
►WATCH
Barbara in Weekend Colonel. In this episode, Paul Ford plays two roles. Colonel Hall and, in this sequence, doppelganger Charlie Clusterman.