Notable alums from the Barter Theater include Gregory Peck, Ned Beatty, Hume Cronyn

It has been 20 years since the Barter Theater in Abingdon was named the Business of the Year for the Tri-Cities in the Virginia/Tennessee region. And it has been 70 years since the birth of a writer who wrote a book about Barter, and 80 years since Barter was designated as the State Theatre of Virginia.

Even with those milestones decades ago, the Barter Theater – which opened in 1933 under founder Robert Porterfield – remains the longest-running professional equity theater in the United States.

“Broadway was not doing so much swinging during the Depression, when theaters went dark and actors found themselves out of work. Back in Porterfield’s part of Virginia, farmers were stuck with crops they couldn’t sell,” Paul Dellinger of The Roanoke Times wrote 20 years ago. “That was when Porterfield came up with his genius of an idea, bringing actors to Abingdon to barter their performances for farm goods.”

Mark Dawidziak, who turns 70 in September, grew up on Long Island and is a journalism graduate of George Washington University. He worked for papers in Bristol and Kingsport, Tennessee, and in 1982 published The Barter Theatre Story: Love Made Visible.

“It is where the likes of Gregory Peck, Ernest Borgnine, Patricia Neal, Ned Beatty, and Hume Cronyn got their starts,” according to publicity for the book.

Here is a look at those notable actors, and others, who have graced the stage at Barter, with home state and year born, death date if applicable, in alphabetical order:

• Ned Beatty (Kentucky, 1937-2021): He was nominated for several major awards after getting his start with nearly 10 years at the Barter.
• Will Bigham (Texas, 1971): He was just getting by financially before working five years in Abingdon. “The Barter was a huge part of my growth as an artist,” Bigham told a Bristol paper in 2007. “If I hadn’t gone to the Barter, I wouldn’t be here now because it has informed everything I’ve done since I left there.” He is known for “Moondance” (2004) and “Seasons” (2012), for starters, and as the director for “On the Lot.”
• Ernest Borgnine (Connecticut, 1917-2012): The son of Italian immigrants, his long career included several movies, including “From Here to Eternity,” and the TV show “McHale’s Navy.” He was the voice of Mermain Man on SpongeBob SquarePants for nearly 13 years, until his death in California in 2012.
• Gary Collins (California, 1938-2012): He went to Abingdon after being in Europe with the Armed Forces Network. One of his many TV roles was as a baseball player for the San Francisco Giants in an episode of “Ironside,” with Raymond Burr. His wife on the episode, Mary Ann Mobley, a former Miss America, was one of his wives in real life. She passed in 2014 in Beverly Hills while he died in Mississippi.
• Hume Cronyn (Canada, 1911-2003): He performed in film, TV and stage starting in the 1940s and appeared together with his wife, Jessica Tandy. Cronyn was given a Kennedy Center award and was honored on the Canada Walk of Fame.
• Frances Fisher (England, 1952): She went from New York to Virginia and then back to New York to act. One of her many TV roles was on “Becker,” with Ted Danson.
• John Glover (New York, 1944): He grew up on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, studied at Towson University near Baltimore and got his start at Barter.
• Wayne Knight (New York, 1955): Best known for playing postman Newman in “Seinfeld.”
• Larry Linville (California, 1939-2000): After studying in England, he headed to Abingdon to start his acting career. He is best known for playing surgeon Major Frank Burns in “M*A*S*H.”
• Patricia Neal (Kentucky, 1926-2010): She appeared in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in 1961 and “Flying By,” her final film role in 2009. Neal also appeared with Ronald Reagan in 1949 in “John Loves Mary,” and she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1963 after starring with Paul Newman in “Hud.”
• Gregory Peck (California, 1916-2003): Considered a leading man from the 1940s to the 1970s, he starred with Audrey Hepburn in the 1950s in “Roman Holiday.” According to online reports, he appeared in five plays at the Barter, including Family Portrait and On Earth As It Is.
• Kevin Spacey (New Jersey, 1959): Spacey has excelled for several years in TV and film, with Academy Award-winning performances in “The Usual Suspects” and “American Beauty.”
• Jim Varney (Kentucky, 1949-2000): Besides acting, he made commercials for several car dealerships around the country, including Tyson’s Toyota in Northern Virginia.