Barret Oliver | Photographic Historian

Barret Spencer Oliver was one of the most promising child actors of the 1980s, pegged to become a major Hollywood player and a multi-millionaire. He earned his first breakthrough acting credit in the film The NeverEnding Story as Bastian Bux. He then starred in Tim Burton’s 1984 short film Frankenweenie, D.A.R.Y.L., a 1985 family sci-fi film, and Ron Howard’s Cocoon. You won’t be able to see him on the big screen any longer, as he retired from acting after 1989’s Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills.

He is now 47 years old and works as a photographic historian specializing in nineteenth-century photography. Moreover, he teaches seminars and gives demonstrations about the craft, and writing articles about it. After writing a book about the Woodbury-type printing process at the time, Barret is now an author. Barret later appeared in In the Usual Manner, a 2012 short film about his art.