Barnabe was born in St Giles, London on 3 April 1905 to Tina (née Bendi) and Louis Vincent Barnabe. He married Avice Landone, who died in 1976. He trained for the stage at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art where he studied mime under Theodore Komisarjevsky. Barnabe served with the British Armed Forces from 1942 through 1946. He died in June 1998. Barnabe appeared in films as early as 1927 and appeared on television as early as 1937. He appeared on numerous television shows throughout the 1960s and 1970s, including Maigret, Danger Island, The Troubleshooters and Jesus of Nazareth. Films in which Barnabe acted include Man in the Shadow (1957), Pit of Darkness (1961), The Mummy's Shroud (1967), and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). He also appeared in a television adaptation of King Richard the Second in 1978.