The Nine Lives of Marion Barry debuts on HBO

July 25, 9:23 AMCable TV ExaminerChristine Nyholm

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Controversial Washington D.C. Politician Marion Barry will be studied in the HBO documentary The Nine Lives of Marion Barry which debuts on August 10, 2009. Barry has had soaring achievement and great failures. Barry's soaring achievements, catastrophic failures and phoenix lie rebirths have given an aura of indestructibility.

Many people remember Marion Barry as the philandering, drug addled mayor of Washington,D. C.,

who was famously caught in a 1990 FBI sting operation. Other people know Barry as a fold hero, civil rights champion and defender of the pool

The documentary explores Barry's improbable personal history through archival footage of him as a young activist in the 1960's and rising African-American political star in the 1970's.

Film directors and producers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer received unparalleled first hand access to Barry and his ex wife Effi (who passed away in 2007) and many other people close to Barry throughout his life.

Marion Barry was born a sharecropper's son in segregated Mississippi. He had nearly finished his Ph.D. In chemistry when he joined the civil rights movement. In the mid 1960's, Barry as at the forefront of change in Washington D.C.

Barry became the first black activist mayor in America, but after three terms he was filmed smoking crack in a hotel room with an ex-girlfriend. He was sentenced to six months in federal prison, but instead of disappearing from the public stage he was reelected for a fourth term as mayor.

Marion Barry is now 73 years old and continues to be an enduring force in Washington politics.

The Nine Lives of Marion Barry recounts the ongoing saga of this resilient politician. The documentary debuts on Monday, August 10 at 9 – 10:30 pm ET on HBO,

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