Will the real Alex7000 please step forward: An interview with Guerin Barry

Famed voice actor Guerin Barry provided the voice for the super computer ALEX 7000 in one of the original Bionic Woman's shows most famous and popular 2-parters: 'Doomsday Is Tomorrow'. Guerin has kindly given an exclusive interview with the web site named after his character from the show. We would like to thank 'Judd' for setting this up and making it happen, and Guerin for taking time out to speak with us.

What do you think about having a Bionic Woman fansite being named after a character you played?
I am quite surprised and proud that the current fansite is named after the character I
voiced! It has been a very long time since "Doomsday" and the fact that it is remembered at all is remarkable. It speaks to the desire for continuity between the original series and the new one.

How did you get involved in acting?
I have had many careers, but all of them seem to have directed me to acting. I studied architecture in college, but it was playing guitar and singing that gave me pleasure. I became a folksinger for a while, and then entered an acting school that also had courses in radio and TV subjects. I did become a DJ, but found it to be extremely lonely work. I had the opportunity to do TV production for a few years, but I missed performing. I then decided that acting was "it" and studied, in earnest, in New York for several years before moving to L.A.

Do you take a different approach to acting when you're performing on stage, on film or doing voice work?
Stage, film and voice work all take very different attitudes to perform effectively. On stage, you may be having a very intimate conversation, but you still must be heard by "the hard-of-hearing elderly person in the back row". The audience compensates for that convention. It's called, suspension of disbelief. On film, the camera may be as close to you as the person to whom you are speaking, so a natural style is called for. Voice work can run the gamut. One job may have a very intimate style, while in another situation, you could be having a conversation at an airport, calling for a louder approach. I try to imagine the situation and act accordingly. With Alex, it seemed that Jaime was always close (and perhaps…related), so I spoke to her in that way.

How did you get involved with The Bionic Woman? Did you have to audition?
What a funny story this is. I had a very new agent at the time, and when she submitted me for the VOICE role of Alex…SHE SENT MY PHOTO AND RESUME! Happily, the casting director took pity on her (and me) and asked for a voice sample. I got out my trusty cassette recorder and proceeded to give several examples of what I thought a computer might sound like, introducing the different styles, and then performing them. When I met the casting director and Ken to discuss the part, they both said that they didn't like the computer voices, but that my natural voice was the very thing they were looking for.

Did you have much direction from Kenneth Johnson who wrote and directed Doomsday is Tomorrow?
Ken Johnson was hands-on all the way. As you know, he was the creator and producer of the show and this two-parter was written and directed by him. It was his baby. He was a wonderful man and, obviously, a great writer. He knew what he wanted and communicated that to me very easily.

Did you get any background as to what Alex7000 was that we didn't hear about on screen?
The character of Alex was pretty clearly delineated in the script. Ken let me know that Alex was unfeeling and perhaps curious but not malicious. We made an exception in Alex's death scene. It had a bit of sadness that mirrored my own, coming to the end of this remarkable character's "life".

You said your work was done in post production. How did it work? It sounded like Lindsay Wagner was talking directly at Alex7000.
The way it usually works is, there is a script supervisor on the set reading the lines for timing and to give the actors something to play against. The director is always watching and listening to ensure that the finished product looks and sounds correct. Think of the actors who work on big, special effects projects. They are often talking to a tape mark on a stick (where the other characters eyes would be). When possible, the off-camera actor will stand next to the camera and read lines for the on-camera actor.

Did you use a different voice for Alex7000 or did you use your natural voice?
I used a much softer, less excitable version of my own voice. It was so soft that one morning, while recording, the engineers were crawling around the booth looking for a noisy cable or something unusual that they were hearing in the control room. One engineer came over to me and said, "Somebody get Guerin a cookie, his stomach is rumbling!" Oddly enough, years later when I was narrating audiobooks, I would give a different voice to every character in the book, often dozens and dozens of different characters. It really is a form of controlled schizophrenia, to sit in a closet-sized booth for forty hours and talk to yourself. I did remember the lesson, though, and never went into a booth hungry again.

I recently watched the episode. One line I thought which was funny was when Alex7000 asks how Jaime was able to get to the lower level so fast. The line is something like, "You're running at 43 miles per hour. That is not normal Jaime." Was there an intention to make that remark humorous?
That is a line that I remember well. I believe it went: "Jaime, you're running at sixty-eight-point-three miles per hour. That's not normal!" I'm sure that Ken wrote that for a chuckle, and that was my intention, too.

Many fans have compared Alex7000 to Hal from 2001. I think the characters are different. Hal liked people where as Alex didn't comprehend why people thought life was so precious. In what ways do you think the characters differ?
It was my understanding that Alex was written very much in the style of HAL. Interesting to note that both computers used contractions. Their speech was very human. As I remember, they tried to find the actor who voiced HAL, but he was Canadian and it would have been troublesome to hire him here. So they cast for the voice in L.A. (Bit of trivia for you, the letters H A L are the letters that precede I B M in the alphabet.)

Many fans say 'Doomsday is Tomorrow' is their favorite Bionic Woman episode. Even casual viewers remember Bigfoot, the Fembots, Max the Bionic Dog and Alex7000. Do you have any thoughts on what made the episode so memorable?
Certainly it was one of the best-written, best-produced, best-directed episodes in the series. Perhaps the subject matter was compelling, too.

Have you watched the new Bionic Woman series? Do you have any thoughts on it?
I have watched the new series, and I'm hooked. She is dynamite! The characters are so human. The fact that she is such a good actor and so beautiful doesn't hurt either. I'm sure that they will have a very long run.

Doomsday is Tomorrow contains themes of the use of weapons of mass destruction. I think it's the most mature and complex story of the Bionic Woman series. It holds up very well. Those themes are still important today given current world events. The new show has contained many references to the original series. Jaime's middle name is Wells and they used the original sound effect when they fixed her ear. I thought that Doomsday is Tomorrow would make for a great episode of the new series. If the producers decided to remake the story, would you like to provide the voice for Alex7000 again?
The theme of "Doomsday" was very mature and very daring. That was one of the elements that made it so great. You made reference to Alex's confusion over human belief of the preciousness of life. Given that the potential for human destruction has increased, I'm not sure that Alex was right on that one. I personally don't understand why, decades later, that the issue still exists. If the producers decided to remake the story, or resurrect poor, drowned Alex in any way, I would be thrilled to provide the voice.

You also provided the voice of Dr. Theopolous in Buck Rogers. What can you tell us about that experience?
I had just auditioned, and lost, the role of Kitt in Knight Rider when the same producer, Glen Larsen was casting for Theo. I auditioned for him and got it. You made reference earlier to the naturalness of Jaime talking with Alex. In Buck, I voiced Theo alone…never met Mel Blanc (Tweeki) much to my sadness, or Gil Gerard, while we were shooting, yet we all talked with each other all the time in the scripts.

Many Buck Rogers fans including me felt the first season was better than the second. I missed Dr. Theopolous and Dr. Huer, Killer Kane and Princess Ardella in season two. I didn't care for the new characters or space ship setting. The character Twiki worked really well when he had Dr. Theopolous to play off of. Why did they make all of those changes in season two?
I'm not exactly sure of why all the changes were made. Often it's an economic issue. I confess that when I was no longer doing the show, I lost interest in watching as well. Years later, however, when I found an obscure comic book version of the show with all the characters, including Theo drawn on the cover. I bought it.

You have done voice work for the Braille Institute. Can you tell us about it?
As an actor, I have a good deal of free time and wanted to use it in a constructive way. I have had vision issues all my life and the Braille Institute seemed like a really personal way of using the voice that was supporting me to help others. Since I had an architectural and technical background, they used me to read technical books. I also read a few biographies, which are my own personal favorites. Every Thursday, for several years, I would go to their studios from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM and read. It really improved my ability to do so and I met some wonderful people there.

What talking and singing toys have you done voice work for?
Providing the voices for talking toys may be the silliest thing I've ever done. When called to work, I never know what I'm going to be called upon to do, Santa, pirate, ghost, bunny, reindeer, talking skull, bats…it's like playtime. I hardly ever get to see the toys unless I stumble upon them in a store. I have seen the sad hound dog singing, "I'll Have a Blue Xmas Without You", singing snowman and rude (very rude) parrot. The big seasons for these toys are Xmas and Halloween. I just saw a pirate, talking skull and "Dead Fred" just the other day. Scary!

You toured with Sha Na Na for a few years. What would you like to tell us about that experience?
Sha Na Na was quite the detour from acting. A friend saw the audition notice and I decided that I just wanted to play with them once. Surely, I was too old to join a rock group, but I auditioned, sang, played guitar and bass and went home feeling great! When I got the call, I asked if they knew to whom they were talking. It seems that, although I was a few years older then they were, they were tired and I was not, so we looked about the same age. All of the other candidates, wonderful players, dancers and singers, were much younger and made the band look old. I was hired. That was the beginning of 1000 days of touring over a four-year period. It certainly was a two-sided coin. I got to see Malaysia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Japan, China, Bermuda, the Caribbean and most of North America. For a few hours each day, on stage, I had the time of my life, but days are long away from home with nothing to do but get on a plane or in a Limo or spend endless hours in a casino. Glad I did it, glad it's over.

Do people remember you from your roles when they meet you?
When I was doing more on-camera work, people recognized me more. For a while in the 70's, I was hired to play many gay characters. It was a time when gay actors were hesitant to play gay parts for fear of discovery and most straight actors either didn't want to or couldn't. When casting directors found an actor who could and would, they remembered him. When I was recognized by members of the gay community, they were usually surprised to find that I wasn't gay and thanked me for portraying them realistically and without stereotype. I have always tried to be an honest actor and never found any joy in making any one or any group look silly, computers included.

What current projects are you involved with?
I'm very involved with voice work, industrial training, CDROM stuff. I've voiced a GPS navigation system for Europe. I'm busy with toys and, after a few year lay-off, I'm thinking about getting back to audiobooks. I am anxious to return to on-camera work as well. As you probably know from my web site, I've also become known as a professional whistler. I whistle for composers of film and TV music. That is something that I've always enjoyed to the extent that I've become quite good at it. And speaking of silly, when I walk into a studio, whistle, pick up a check and leave, I find myself giggling all the way home.

Guerin Barry's official site is TrainedWhistle.com.

Copyright 2007 Judd / Alex7000. All rights reserved.

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