Alexander Crichlow Barker Jr. was a direct descendant of the founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, and of Sir William Henry Crichlow, historical Governor-General of Barbados. Barker attended the Fessenden School and Phillips-Exeter Academy, where he excelled in football and track. He went to Princeton, but left to become an actor. A year later he was spotted while working in summer stock theatre, and received a contract offer from 20th Century Fox. World War II intervened; he enlisted as an infantry private, and rose to the rank of major.
Although later signed by Fox and then Warner Bros, he was too tall for supporting parts and too unknown for leads.
Tarzan's Magic Fountain (1949) (RKO) provided his first starring role. After five Tarzan films, he went into other adventure films. After 16 non-Tarzan films, mostly westerns, he went to Europe in 1957 (he spoke French, Spanish, Italian, and German). He went on to make more than 50 more films worldwide: Brazil, Germany, Spain, Yugoslavia, Italy, Lebanon, France, as well as the USA. He became very popular in Germany owing to his roles as "Old Shatterhand", "Kara Ben Nemsi", and "Dr. Karl Sternau", in films based on books written by Karl May, a popular German writer of adventure literature. Barker won Germany's Bambi Award as Best Foreign Actor of 1966.
Night Gallery(1969)as Charlie McKinley (segment: The Waiting Room)
Die Rudi Carrell Show(1965)as Old Shatterhand
The F.B.I.(1965)as Owen Stuart
The Name of the Game(1968)as Will Cheyenne
Wenn du bei mir bist(1970)as Kapitän Hannes Schneider
Appelez-moi Lise(1972)as Self (1973)
The Merv Griffin Show(1962)as Self
Stars in der Manege(1959)as Self
Neues aus der Welt des Films(1965)as Self
Der goldene Schuß(1964)as Self
Lex Barker - Westernheld und Playboy(2023)as Self - Subject
The Truth About La Dolce Vita(2020)as Robert - marito di Sylvia
Cane Fire(2020)as Dr. Jim Ransom in Jungle Heat
The Last Movie Painter(2020)as Self
Hollywood, la vie rêvée de Lana Turner(2019)as Self
