George Barrie was the owner and CEO of Fabergé Inc.

Fabergé Inc.

The House of Fabergé is a jewellery firm founded in 1842 in St Petersburg, Imperial Russia, by Gustav Faberge, using the accented name "Fabergé"; Gustav was followed by his son Peter Carl Fabergé, until the firm was nationalised by the Bolsheviks in 1918...

 from 1964 to 1984. He was nominated for two Oscars for Best Original Song

Academy Award for Best Original Song

The Academy Award for Best Original Song is one of the awards given annually to people working in the motion picture industry by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences . It is presented to the songwriters who have composed the best original song written specifically for a film...

 and created Brut (cologne)

Brut (cologne)

Brut is the brand name for a line of men's grooming and fragrance products first launched in 1964 by Fabergé. The Brut line would grow to include aftershave, balms, and deodorant...

. Though not one of the first to use celebrities to advertise, he was one of those that made it commonplace.
Born in New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and raised in Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Pittsfield, Massachusetts

Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Its area code is 413. Its ZIP code is 01201...

, he trained to be a musician. But in need of steady work, Barrie took a salesman job with the hair products company Rayette during the 1930s.

Rayette and Barrie purchased the perfume and hair-care company Fabergé Inc. for $26 million in 1964, and the Brut line began achieving international success soon after.

Barrie was considered to be a pioneer in the area of celebrity endorsements

Celebrity branding

Celebrity branding is a type of branding, or advertising, in which a celebrity uses his or her status in society to promote a product, service or charity...

, as he wooed stars such as Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett

Farrah Fawcett was an American actress and artist. A multiple Golden Globe and Emmy Award nominee, Fawcett rose to international fame when she first appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the first season of the television series Charlie's Angels, in 1976...

, Joe Namath

Joe Namath

Joseph William "Joe" Namath , nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the...

, Roger Moore

Roger Moore

Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...

, Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, philanthropist and social activist...

 and Margaux Hemingway

Margaux Hemingway

Margaux Hemingway was an American fashion model and actress.- Early life :Margot Louise Hemingway was born in Portland, Oregon, and was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway...

 to pitch company products.

Barrie and his Brut Productions produced the very successful film A Touch of Class (1973) which starred Glenda Jackson

Glenda Jackson

Glenda May Jackson, CBE is a British Labour Party politician and former actress. She has been a Member of Parliament since 1992, and currently represents Hampstead and Kilburn. She previously served as MP for Hampstead and Highgate...

 and George Segal

George Segal

George Segal is an American film, stage and television actor.-Early life:George Segal, Jr. was born in 1934 Great Neck, Long Island, New York, the son of Fannie Blanche and George Segal, Sr. He was educated at George School, a private Quaker preparatory boarding school near Newtown, Bucks County,...

, as well as Whiffs

Whiffs

Whiffs is a 1975 film directed by Ted Post. It stars Elliott Gould. It is about a gullible private that volunteers to be the subject of numerous military biological and chemical weaponry experiments and later robs banks....

(1975), Sweet Hostage (1975), Thieves (1977), Nasty Habits (1977), and Fingers

Fingers (1978 film)

Fingers is a 1978 drama film directed by James Toback.-Synopsis:The film features Harvey Keitel as a pianist who also works for his loan shark father as a "collector"...

(1978).

Barrie and Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn

Sammy Cahn was an American lyricist, songwriter and musician. He is best known for his romantic lyrics to films and Broadway songs, as well as stand-alone songs premiered by recording companies in the Greater Los Angeles Area...

 were nominated for the 1975 Oscar for Best Original Song, after writing "Now That We're In Love." Barrie and Cahn had been nominated in the same category in 1973, for "All That Love Went To Waste."

Trivia

Annual Straw Hat Awards - Party by Fabergé June 16, 1970 at the George Barrie Townhouse with Bette Davis

Bette Davis

Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis was an American actress of film, television and theater. Noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic characters, she was highly regarded for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional...

External links

• Biography at slick.org