Barney is a purple dinosaur and the main protagonist of the television series Barney & Friends and its home video predecessor Barney & The Backyard Gang. A two hundred million year (two dinosaur years) old, six-foot-four[3][4] tall purple tyrannosaurus-rex with a green tummy and green spots on his back and his tail and yellow toes, he comes to life through a child's imagination, springing up from a doll to full size. In turn, Barney opens children's eyes to the joys of learning and discovery, to the wonders of make-believe, and to the beauty of unconditional love. Dubbed as the "Elvis for Toddlers"[5] in the early days, he is best known for his silly and optimistic attitude.
His birthplace is Dallas, Texas (as he was created there by the creators), however, he lives and resides in one's imagination. His place of residence would later be expanded in the video Come on Over to Barney's House (2000). Although Barney comes to life through a child's imagination, he isn't imaginary. Once Barney springs to life from imagination, any and everyone can see him and no one else needs to use their imagination to see or interact with him in his large form.
David Voss originally performed as the costume for Barney from 1988 to 1990, and was succeeded by David Joyner, who would later define the costume mannerisms of the character. The character has been succeeded by many other costume performers during Joyner's time and after his resignation. The Barney character was originally voiced by Bob West from 1988 until 2000, but since his resignation has been voiced by many other voice actors.
Barney generally appears with his dino pals, Baby Bop, BJ and or Riff among others.
In 2023, after the series Barney's World was announced, franchise owner Mattel would split the brand into two different pillars for licensing purposes. To separate the long-known iteration from the iteration they created for the new series, this version of the character was dubbed "classic Barney".[6][7]
Barney the Dinosaur with creator Sheryl Leach and co-creators Kathy Parker and Dennis DeShazer.
Creation
Barney was first created in 1987 by Sheryl Leach, who was looking for a way to entertain her then two year old son, Patrick.[8] Originally, Barney was going to be a clown doll and in early scripts, he was a sea serpent named Cecelia (and or also written as Sea-celia). Another idea was for Barney to be a blanket. When that was proven to be too hard, he became a teddy bear who came to life.[9] When Sheryl took Patrick to the "Invasion of the Robot Dinosaur" exhibit in Dallas in the winter of 1988, she noticed that he was fascinated with dinosaurs at the museum, particularly the Tyrannosaurus rex. In response, Sheryl made Barney a T. Rex. Kathy Parker, a fellow teacher-turned-mother who had helped Sheryl create the character, agreed to the change, but on the condition that he was not to appear menacing (as a realistic t-rex would have scared her daughter Kaitlin) and that he was colored purple.[10][11] The original design attempts of Barney by Irene Corey depicted a fierce T-Rex. After producers rejected her designs, she handed the construction of the costume over to her niece Suzanne Lockridge and moved on to other projects. John Grable, the director of the original Barney and the Backyard Gang series asked art director Jamie Ruth Conner to design a plush dinosaur that a child would easily be able to embrace. Her design for Barney was approved by the producers and creators.
Naming
Some concept names for Barney were Cosby, Colby, and Danny. Co-creator Dennis DeShazer came up with the name Barney.[12]
Suzanne Lockridge (left) & Irene Corey (right) with two Barney suits.
Around a table, the television show’s producers, creator, and then art director, Jamie Conner[13] considered the possibilities for how the costume design would look, initially thinking of a plush dinosaur that closely resembled a Tyrannosaurus-Rex. The attributes first designed were approach-ability, “hug-ability,” and playfulness.[14]
Barney was originally a dark purple color, however, on camera appeared blue. After the first three videos of Barney & The Backyard Gang, Dwin Towell, a technical supervisor at the time, told Sheryl Leach that Barney’s color needed to change to give a more purple appearance on screen rather than blue which appeared in the final products. Leach was hesitant to change the color as she loved the original royal purple. She obtained several swatches of alternative colors however Towell kept rejecting them as they were still “too purple.” In frustration, Leach eventually told Towell to pick a color that would work. Towell picked the magenta color for the next suit, and that color stuck for the remainder of the series and franchise.[15] The costume would weigh about seventy pounds,[16] but was later shaved down to fifty pounds with the final costume.[17] Inside the costume could get up to over 120 degrees.[18] For the performer to walk around, the actor would look through Barney's mouth for vision. When the mouth was closed, the costume actor could not see anything, even for some variations of the costume, Barney would have its eye mechanism or blinking mechanism.
Early design of Barney from Irene Corey Design Associates (May 1988).
Final Barney design.
Barney design from Irene Corey Design Associates.
Early Barney design detailing how the performer would work the costume.
Portrayal
History
Barney the Dinosaur with David Voss, the original body actor.
Body
Originally the character was intended to be performed by one person in terms of doing the voice and being in the costume (similar to Big Bird). Bob West was the first individual hired to portray the character, however he was too tall for the costume that was already made. David Voss was brought in to fulfill the costume performance. The Barney character was originally portrayed as the actor using their hand to move the mouth while another hand was in one arm of the dinosaur, hence leaving Barney's other arm unfilled. Sometimes, both arms were filled (if required).
In 1990, he entered the military as a Cavalry Scout where he was based in Mannheim, He was succeeded in the role by David Joyner. The night before the audition, Joyner had a dream that Barney passed out and that he (Joyner) gave the purple dino mouth-to-mouth CPR. While driving to the audition, he noticed a billboard that said "Breathe Life Into Your Vacation," which made him think about breathing life into Barney and he decided to be as energetic and animated as possible. Joyner took some of what David Voss had already instilled in Barney and tried to bring out more personality.[19]
The Barney character was now performed with a newly re-designed costume mechanic: the body performer bites down on a bar padded with a sponge connected to Barney's bottom jaw to move his mouth up and down, while giving access to both hands of the costume. Each syllable the voice actor speaks is a movement for the costume actor's to move the mouth, which was also be referred to as dinosync when done live. Joyner's mannerisms would later be carried on into other Barney performers during his time with the character and after.
The character would eventually grow to over seven feet when performed by Carey Stinson as he was one of the taller performers.
Voice
Barney's voice was originally very low pitched when he debuted in Barney & The Backyard Gang as the creators thought that since Barney was a big guy, he needed to have a deep voice. The voice was hard to maintain for West, but it was made cheerful when Joyner came into the costume, and it proved to be a more friendly voice. Following West's retirement, Duncan Brannan, Tim Dever, were handed the role of the character, and soon after Dean Wendt, where West's successors would mimic West's Barney voice. Wendt would eventually make the voice his own, making the final result of the character's voice nasal towards the end of Barney & Friends. Following a brief hiatus of new content with the character, Korey Durham would be hired for the voice of what was now dubbed as "classic Barney", as Mattel desired for a voice that was similar to the style of Bob West's Barney voice for social media reels. Unlike Durham's predecessors where dinosync was done, the process in which Durham does the voice is through ADR, where he records over a scratch Barney voice.
Bob West (left) and David Joyner (right) with Barney the Dinosaur.
Bob West (the original voice of Barney), Josh Martin (a body of Barney) and Duncan Brannan (a voice of Barney) at Nostalgia Con in December 2024 doing the "Spider-Man Pointing" meme.
Barney possesses the ability to invoke in children the "magic of imagination", leading him to be viewed as a special friend by children and not as a "genie" who grants wishes.[4] He's not the problem-solver in situations. Instead, he helps the children take responsibility for solving their own problems, and helps them discover the best solution to a problem.[4]
Barney's expressions doesn't stem from his face but from his attitude and gestures, given his facial expressions are always the same on the costume. While Barney can feel sympathy and concern for others, he's optimistic most of the time due to his dedication in making others happy, and not having concerns about himself.
As seen in I Love You, You Hate Me, this image of Barney's expressions stems from "The Barney Bible".
Achievements
Barney's star on Paseo de las Luminarias, located at the Plaza de las Estrellas in Mexico City.
Some achievements achieved by Barney include being named one of People magazine's "25 Most Intriguing People of 1992",[21] and being being ranked at #3 for the highest paid entertainer, a list compiled by Forbes Magazine, in 1993-1994, following Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey.[22][23] Internationally, In 2007, Barney received a star on Paseo de las Luminarias, the Mexican equivalent of the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In terms of music, Barney ranked as Billboard's top children's artist from 1996-1998.[24] Prior to being a top artist on Billboard, Barney become a Grammy nominated and a 3× Platinum artist due to his successful debut album, Barney's Favorites, Volume 1.
Gallery
Silhouettes
Barney silhouette used from 1992-1993, in the first two seasons of Barney & Friends.
Barney silhouette used from 1995-2002 for seasons three through six of Barney & Friends.
Barney silhouette used since 2002, for seasons seven through fourteen of Barney & Friends.
Barney silhouette that debuted in 2008, as seen in The Best of Barney, Let's Go to the Doctor and the Barney Website until 2018.
Trivia
In the vital statistics of Barney, as seen in the book adaptation of The Backyard Show, Barney was originally depicted as being timeless, in terms of his age. However, since the episode "Happy Birthday, Barney!", he was aged to be 200 million years old. Although he's celebrated his birthday multiple times in the franchise, he continues to remain over 200 million years old.
The Barney logo and typeface is based on the handwriting of Tricia Legault, a creative director for various Barney books.
Barney first reached official pop culture status when he was parodied in a Saturday Night Live sketch in the fall of 1993. The Barney likeness played a game of one-on-one basketball against Phoenix Suns superstar Charles Barkley.[25]
During an interview on an urban radio station, while doing a PBS tour, Barney (voiced by Tim Dever at the time) mentioned that his favorite rap song is "Rapper's Delight" by The Sugarhill Gang after it was inquired by the radio hosts.[26]
Discontinued
In Barney & The Backyard Gang, Barney originally lived with Michael and Amy. In that series, Barney had to be kept a secret from the parents. That running gag lasted until Three Wishes where Michael and Amy's Mom is informed on who Barney is.
In Barney & The Backyard Gang and the first season of Barney & Friends, Barney originally did magic to make certain things happen. One of which was The Barney Shake, a magic trick used to make various things appear and another was the phrase "Shimbaree, Shimbarah", which were magic words that Barney would encourage his friends to say to take them to various places. The latter was especially phased out due to pushback once Barney & Friends was popular as some extremists from both religious and non religious groups viewed the "Shimbaree, Shimbarah" chant as witchcraft. Instead of using magic to make certain things happen, the character would eventually be phased into solely using his imagination, while encouraging others to do the same.
Whenever Barney grows a new spot on his tail, it's a sign that he's growing (as alluded to in the video I Can Do It!).
Mattel
In 2024, Mattel depicted Barney as being an employee of the respective toy company in a few social media reels, even depicting him working behind the scenes on Barney's World later in that year given the show's premiere that year.
A guideline created and curated by The Lyons Group was that the Barney character was not allowed to advertise a product nor interact with products being sold.[4] This rule would be broken via social media reels when Mattel, the current owner of the franchise, relaunched the character and franchise to coincide with Barney's World.
Voice
During the filming of season one of Barney & Friends, Bob West had laryngitis. Jeff Gittle, a crew member of the show, would step in to read for West, in which he eventually dubbed over.[27]
Like the voices of Baby Bop and BJ, Barney was voiced by an unknown stand-in for the live show of Barney Live! World Tour - A Celebration!. Similar to Baby Bop, he was voiced by another unknown stand-in for the Fisher-Price toys that were released in 2018.
See also
Alternate Barney Costumes - officially produced costumes that weren't explicitly used on camera for Barney's appearances on Barney & The Backyard Gang and Barney & Friends.
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