Celebrity Grave: Binnie Barnes, English Actress

Gittel Enoyce "Binnie" Barnes (25 May 1903 – 27 July 1998), later known as Gertrude Maude Barnes, was an English actress.

She was born in Islington to a Jewish father and an Italian mother and was raised Jewish. She worked on a farm and in hospital as a probationer. She then became a ballroom dancer and Tex McLeod's stage partner. Later she was in cabaret and revue.

She began her acting career in films in 1923, first in Britain then later in Hollywood and continued until 1973 (her final role was in the comedy 40 Carats). Her most famous film was probably The Private Life of Henry VIII, which starred Charles Laughton in the title role, with Barnes as Katherine Howard.

She was married to film producer Mike Frankovich, for whom she converted to Roman Catholicism and became an American citizen. They adopted three children.

She died of natural causes at the age of 95 in Beverly Hills, California, in 1998, survived by her three children, including production manager Mike Frankovich Jr. and producer Peter Frankovich. Her interment was in Glendale's Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery.

Partial filmography

Murder at Covent Garden (1932)
The Private Life of Henry VIII (1933)
The Private Life of Don Juan (1934)
Diamond Jim (1935)
Rendezvous (1935)
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935)
Three Smart Girls (1936)
The Last of the Mohicans (1936)
Broadway Melody of 1938 (1938)
The Divorce of Lady X (1938)
The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938)
Holiday (1938)
Gateway (1938)
Wife, Husband and Friend (1939)
The Three Musketeers (1939)
Frontier Marshal (1939)
'Til We Meet Again (1940)
Skylark (1941)
In Old California (1942)
The Man from Down Under (1943)
Barbary Coast Gent (1944)
The Spanish Main (1945)
The Time of Their Lives (1946)
If Winter Comes (1947)
Decameron Nights (1953)
Malaga (1954)
The Trouble with Angels (1966)
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1969)
40 Carats (1973)