American stage and screen actor Gene Barry, star of the western series Bat Masterson in the late 1950s, died on 9 December, 2009, aged 90.

Although he was born Eugene Klass in New York City in 1919 he later changed his name to Gene Barry in honour of the actor John Barrymore.

He made his Broadway debut in 1942 in The New Moon and made several other appearances throughout that decade in shows including Rosalinda, The Merry Widow, Catherine Was Great, The Would-Be Gentleman and Happy as Larry.

He later returned to Broadway twice more, in 1962 in The Perfect Setup and his Tony-nominated performance as Georges in the 1983 musical La Cage aux Folles.

Mr Barry also appeared and starred in many television programmes and films including both the original War of the Worlds - in 1953 playing Dr Clayton Forrester - and then the remake in 2005 where he made a cameo appearance playing a grandfather.

He had a recurring role in the television series Our Miss Brooks, as well as being the star of three other shows – Bat Masterson, The Name of the Game and Burke’s Law, going on to win a Golden Globe in 1965 for his role in the latter.

He went on to appear in several other big shows, and even appeared in the original two-hour pilot of Columbo.

He was married for 58 years to Betty Claire Barry – whose stage name was Julie Carson; she died in 2003. Together, they had three children, two biological sons, Michael and Frederick, and an adopted daughter Elizabeth.

Mr Barry died of congestive heart failure at Sunrise Assisted Living in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. He had had Alzheimer's disease for about five years before he died.