The Importance of Being Ernie

Barry Livingston is one of the select few in Hollywood to successfully transition from child star to adult actor. He talks about his journey in his new book The Importance of Being Ernie: From My Three Sons to Mad Men, a Hollywood Survivor Tells All

Episode Segments:

Its Beyond Complicated: The Golden Girls Revisited Another week, another severed penis. Then, Anna has news on a new trend that sounds suspiciously like a Bea Arthur sitcom. Plus - money makes fat disappear, plastic surgery trends, and actor Barry Livingston
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Its Beyond Complicated: Barry Livingston Barry's career in Hollywood has lasted an amazing seven decades. He's worked with showbiz legends like Jack Benny, Lucille Ball and Fred MacMurray, as well as contemporary stars such as Ben Affleck, Jake Gyllenhhall, and Jon Hamm. He chronicles it all in his new book The Importance of Being Ernie, and in this interview with Peter Fogel
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Guest(s) Appearing on this Episode

Barry Livingston Barry was four years old when he was cast as Paul Newman's son in the film, Rally Round The Flag Boys. Unfortunately, he was fired after production began because his eyes developed astigmatism, which required him to wear glasses. As fate would have it, his new horn-rimmed spectacles became his trademark and established him as a new type of child actor: a prototype nerd with big glasses, buckteeth and unruly hair. After a recurring role on The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Barry found huge national fame when he was cast as Ernie Douglas on the classic TV series, My Three Sons, which ran for a phenomenal twelve years. After Sons was canceled, Barry went to New York to be in the Broadway production of The Skin Of Our Teeth directed by Jose Quintero. Other stage roles followed in Cause Celebre at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles, Bertesgaden off-Broadway, The Third Day Comes directed by John Cassavetes and the musical, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown. After establishing himself as a stage actor, Barry continued his work on TV appearing in such classics as Room 222, The Streets of San Francisco and Ironsides in the seventies, Simon & Simon, Hart to Hart and Doogie Howser, M.D. in the eighties and The Nanny, Alley McBeal and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman in the nineties. Picking up steam in the new millennium, Barry guest starred in Will & Grace, West Wing, Crossing Jordan, Two and a Half Men, NCIS, Desperate Housewives, Big Love and the Emmy winning series, Mad Men. On the big screen, he was in Dickie Roberts, First Daughter, Zodiac (directed by the acclaimed director David Fincher) and Adam Sandler's hit, You Don’t Mess With The Zohan. Most recently, Barry worked for David Fincher, again, in the Academy Award Winning film, The Social Network. The Importance of Being Ernie Website