Image of Ethel Barrymore

Ethel Barrymore

Ethel Barrymore was the second of three children seemingly destined for the actor's life of their parents Maurice and Georgiana. Maurice Barrymore had emigrated from England in 1875, and after graduating from Cambridge in law had shocked his family by becoming an actor. Georgiana Drew of Philadelphia acted in her parents' stage company. The two met and married as members of Augustin Daly's company in New York. They both acted with some of the great stage personalities of the mid Victorian theater of America and England. The Barrymore children were born and grew up in Philadelphia. Though older brother Lionel Barrymore began acting early with his mother's relatives in the Drew theater company, Ethel, after a traditional girl's schooling, planned on becoming a concert pianist. The lure of the stage was perhaps congenital, however. She made her debut as a stage actress during the New York City season of 1894. Her youthful stage presence was at once a pleasure, a strikingly pretty and winsome face and large dark eyes that seemed to look out from her very soul. Her natural talent and distinctive voice only reinforced the physical presence of someone destined to command any role set before her. After the opportunity to appear on the London stage with English great Henry Irving in "The Bells" (1897) and later in "Peter the Great" (1898), she returned to New York to star in the Clyde Fitch play "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines" (1901) (produced by her friend and benefactor Charles Frohman), which brought her initial American acclaim. Lead roles, such as Nora in Henrik Ibsen's "A Doll's House" (1905) and starring in "Alice By the Fire" (also 1905), "Mid-Channel" (1910) and "Trelawney of the Wells" (1911) proved her popularity as a warm and charismatic star of American stage. In the meantime she married stockbroker Russell Griswold Colt in 1909 and gave birth to three children while continuing her acting career. Although the stage was her first love, she did heed the call of the silver screen, and though not achieving the matinée idol image that younger brother John Barrymore garnered in silent movies after similar chemistry on stage, she won over audiences from her first film appearance in The Nightingale (1914). However, her early film roles, steady through 1919, took a back seat to continued stage triumphs: "Declassee" (1919), her impassioned Juliet in "Romeo and Juliet" (1922), "The Second Mrs. Tanqueray" (1924) and, especially, "The Constant Wife" (1926). She harnessed her considerable talents in the role of an activist as well, being a bedrock supporter of the Actors Equity Association and, in fact, had been a prominent figure in the actors strike of 1919. By 1930 she was entering middle age and her movie roles reflected this. Except for Rasputin and the Empress (1932) with her brothers, the roles were elderly mothers and grandmothers, dowager ladies and spinster aunts. Perhaps wisely she put off Hollywood for over a decade, with stage work that included her most endearing role in "The Corn is Green" (a tour that lasted from 1940 to 1942). She finally moved to Southern California in 1940. When she passed away in 1959, she was interred near her brothers at Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles.


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Born:
Aug 15, 1879 In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Movie/TV Credits:
42
First Appeared:
In the movie The Nightingale 1914-10-05
Latest Project:
Movie And the Oscar Goes To... 2014-02-01
Known For
Poster of The Oscars
Poster of Night Song
Poster of The Paradine Case
Poster of Moss Rose
Filmography
Movie And the Oscar Goes To... Self (archive footage) 2014-02-01
Movie That's Entertainment! (archive footage) (uncredited) 1974-06-21
Movie Johnny Trouble Katherine Chandler 1957-09-24
Series Climax! Unknown 1954-10-07
Movie Young at Heart Aunt Jessie Tuttle 1954-12-01
Series General Electric Theater Unknown 1953-02-01
Series The Oscars Unknown 1953-03-19
Movie The Story of Three Loves Mrs. Hazel Pennicott 1953-03-26
Movie Main Street to Broadway Self 1953-10-12
Movie Deadline - U.S.A. Margaret Garrison 1952-03-14
Series Omnibus Unknown 1952-11-09
Movie Just for You Alida De Bronkhart 1952-09-27
Movie Kind Lady Mary Herries 1951-06-20
Movie The Secret of Convict Lake Granny 1951-07-29
Movie It's a Big Country Mrs. Brian Patrick Riordan 1951-11-20
Movie The Great Sinner Grandmother Ostrovsky 1949-06-29
Movie That Midnight Kiss Abigail Trent Budell 1949-09-22
Movie The Red Danube Mother Superior ('Mother Auxilia') 1949-10-14
Movie Pinky Miss Em 1949-09-28
Movie Night Song Miss Willey 1948-01-20
Movie Moonrise Grandma 1948-10-01
Movie Portrait of Jennie Miss Spinney 1948-12-25
Movie The Farmer's Daughter Agath Morley 1947-03-26
Movie The Paradine Case Lady Sophie Horfield 1947-12-31
Movie Moss Rose Lady Margaret Drego 1947-05-30
Movie The Spiral Staircase Mrs. Warren 1946-02-06
Movie None But the Lonely Heart Ma Mott 1944-10-17
Movie Show-Business at War Self 1943-05-21
Movie Rasputin and the Empress Czarina Alexandra 1932-12-23
Movie Camille: The Fate of a Coquette Olympe 1926-01-01
Movie The Divorcee Lady Frederick Berolles 1919-01-20
Movie Our Mrs. McChesney Emma McChesney 1918-09-09
Movie National Red Cross Pageant Flanders / Belgium - Flemish & Final episodes 1917-12-01
Movie The White Raven Nan Baldwin 1917-01-14
Movie The Greatest Power Miriam Monroe 1917-06-18
Movie The Call of Her People Egypt 1917-05-27
Movie The Lifted Veil Clorinda Gildersleeve 1917-09-10
Movie Life's Whirlpool Esther Carey 1917-11-08
Movie The Kiss of Hate Nadia Turgeneff 1916-04-03
Movie The Awakening of Helena Ritchie Helena Richie 1916-12-18
Movie The Final Judgment Jane Carleson - Mrs. Murray Campbell 1915-10-18
Movie The Nightingale Isola Franti - 'The Nightingale' 1914-10-05