Mary Ellin Barrett

Author, journalist and editor Mary Ellin Barrett (1926-2022) was born and raised in New York City. The oldest of three daughters of Irving Berlin and Ellin Mackay Berlin, she attended the Brearley School and received her Bachelor of Arts from Barnard College.

Starting her career in the early 1950s as a researcher-reporter for Time Magazine, she went on to serve as a literary editor for Glamour, an assistant editor at Vogue, and a book reviewer for Cosmopolitan. She also wrote for these periodicals, as well as The Reporter and a monthly column on the arts for Good Housekeeping under a joint byline with her writer husband, Marvin Barrett. Her later editorial credits included Cosmopolitan and Women's Day.

Mary Ellin Barrett was also the author of three novels: Castle Ugly, published to great acclaim by Dutton in 1966 (Fawcett paperback, 1967; nine overseas publications), An Accident of Love (Dutton, 1973; Bantam paperback, 1974) and American Beauty (Dutton, 1980; Dell paperback, 1981).

Her first book of non-fiction, Irving Berlin: A Daughter's Memoir, was published by Simon & Schuster in November, 1994 and received ASCAP's Deems Taylor Award. A Daughter's Memoir was published in paperback by Limelight Editions in 1996.

Along with her two sisters, Linda Emmet of Paris and Elizabeth Peters of New York City, Mary Ellin Barrett served as a consultant to the Irving Berlin Music Company. She was also a Trustee of The Juilliard School. In private life, Mary Ellin Barrett was married for over 50 years to the late Marvin Barrett, with whom she had four children. She resided in New York City and Water Mill, New York.