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Date of Death 29 May 1942, Los Angeles, California, USA. (pneumonia and cirrhosis of the liver)

Birth Name John Sidney Blyth

Nickname The Great Profile and Jack to close friends

Height 5' 9" (1.75 m)

Mini Biography

American stage and screen actor whose rise to superstardom and subsequent decline is one of the legendary tragedies of Hollywood. A member of the most famous generation of the most famous theatrical family in America, he was also its most acclaimed star. His father was Maurice Blyth (or Blythe; family spellings vary), a stage success under the name 'Maurice Barrymore'. His mother, Georgie Drew, was the daughter of actor John Drew. Although well known in the theatre, Maurice and Georgie were eclipsed by their three children, John, Lionel Barrymore, and Ethel Barrymore, each of whom became legendary stars.

John was handsome and roguish. He made his stage debut at 18 in one of his father's productions, but was much more interested in becoming an artist. Briefly educated at King's College, Wimbledon, and at New York's Art Students League, Barrymore worked as a freelance artist and for a while sketched for the New York Evening Journal. Gradually, though, the draw of his family's profession ensnared him and by 1905 he had given up professional drawing and was touring the country in plays. He survived the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and in 1909 became a major Broadway star in "The Fortune Hunter." In 1922, Barrymore became his generation's most acclaimed Hamlet, in New York and London. But by this time he had become a frequent player in motion pictures. His screen debut supposedly came in An American Citizen (1914), though records of several lost films indicate he may have made appearances as far back as 1912. He became every bit the star of films that he was on stage, eclipsing his siblings in both arenas.

Though his striking matinee-idol looks had garnered him the nickname "The Great Profile", he often buried them under makeup or distortion in order to create memorable characters of degradation or horror. He was a romantic leading man into the early days of sound films, but his heavy drinking (since boyhood) began to take a toll, and he degenerated quickly into a man old before his time. He made a number of memorable appearances in character roles, but these became over time more memorable for the humiliation of a once-great star than for his gifts. His last few films were broad and distasteful caricatures of himself, though in even the worst, such as Playmates (1941), he could rouse himself to a moving soliloquy from Hamlet. He died in 1942, mourned as much for the loss of his life as for the loss of grace, wit, and brilliance which had characterized his career at its height.

Spouse

Elaine Barrie (9 November 1936 - 27 November 1940) (divorced)

Dolores Costello (24 November 1928 - 9 October 1935) (divorced) 2 children

Blanche Oelrichs (5 August 1920 - 19 November 1928) (divorced) 1 child

Katherine Corri Harris (1 September 1910 - 6 December 1916) (divorced)

Trivia

Father of John Drew Barrymore and actress Diana Barrymore.

Grandfather of Drew Barrymore

Son of Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Barrymore; grandson of Louisa Drew and actor John Drew (1827-62); nephew of Sidney Drew; cousin of S. Rankin Drew; uncle of Samuel Colt, Ethel Colt, and John Drew Colt.

The three Barrymore siblings appeared in only one film together: Rasputin and the Empress (1932). Lionel and John appeared without Ethel in Arsène Lupin (1932), Night Flight (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933), and Grand Hotel (1932).

His birth certificate lists 14 February as birth date, which conflicts with the family Bible which says 15 February. His World War I draft record and Social Security records state February 15.

Rebaptized as a Roman Catholic after his mother's secret conversion, of the Barrymore siblings only Ethel Barrymore remained a devout Catholic.

George Bernard Shaw considered his very highly regarded "Hamlet" one of the worst performances of the role he had ever seen, and in a blistering letter accused him of indulging his own ego at the expense of William Shakespeare.

Courted showgirl Evelyn Nesbit as her involvement with married architect Stanford White was waning. When she became pregnant Barrymore proposed marriage, but White intervened and arranged for the still-teenaged Miss Nesbit to undergo an operation for "appendicitis." White was later murdered by Nesbit's vengeful husband, Pittsburgh millionaire Harry Thaw.

Was a good friend of Errol Flynn, who subsequently played Barrymore in Too Much, Too Soon (1958), a film about Barrymore's daughter Diana Barrymore.

His sharp wit never left him, even when he was dying. A priest came to administer the last rites, accompanied by an exceedingly homely nurse. When the priest asked him if he had anything to confess, Barrymore replied, "Yes, Father. I am guilty, at this moment, of having carnal thoughts." "About whom?," replied the shocked priest. "About HER!," he replied, indicating the nurse.

The only one of the three Barrymore siblings (John, Ethel Barrymore and Lionel Barrymore) to never win or even be nominated for an Academy Award; he is now considered the finest actor of the three.

One night, while drunk, he accidentally went into a women's restroom, instead of a men's room, and proceeded to relieve his bladder in a potted plant. A woman standing nearby reminded him that the room was "for ladies exclusively." Turning around, his penis still exposed, Barrymore responded, "So, madam, is this. But every now and again, I'm compelled to run a little water through it." This incident later made its way, verbatim, into My Favorite Year (1982), where the Barrymore-inspired character of Alan Swann, played by Peter O'Toole, is involved in a similar situation.

His 1922 "Hamlet" was the longest-running Broadway production of the play with 101 performances until John Gielgud played the part for 132 performances in 1936.

He was the greatest Hamlet and Richard III of his time, and he is still considered the greatest American actor to play those roles.

Barrymore had left specific instructions in his will that his body be cremated and his ashes be laid to rest next to his father and mother in the family cemetery in Philadelphia. However, due to the fact that his brother Lionel Barrymore and sister Ethel Barrymore were Catholic and cremation had not at that time been sanctioned by the Catholic Church, the executors (Lionel and Mervyn LeRoy) pulled some fancy judicial manipulations and Barrymore's remains were entombed at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles after his death in 1942.

In 1920 lived at 134 W. 4th Street in Manhattan.

Blue-eyed, brown-haired.

Was originally supposed to play Sheridan Whiteside in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), but because of the effects of his alcoholism he couldn't remember his lines and was fired.

Played by Jack Cassidy in W.C. Fields and Me (1976).

Personal Quotes

"There are lots of methods. Mine involves a lot of talent, a glass and some cracked ice."

"If you stay in front of the movie camera long enough, it will show you not only what you had for breakfast but who your ancestors were."

His feelings about never having been nominated for an Oscar: "I think they were afraid I'd show up at the banquet drunk, embarassing both myself and them. But I wouldn't have, you know."

[last words] "Die? I should say not, dear fellow. No Barrymore would allow such a conventional thing to happen to him."

"America is the country where you buy a lifetime supply of aspirin for one dollar, and use it up in two weeks."

"I like to be introduced as America's foremost actor. It saves the neccesity of further effort."

"It has been said that every man must properly pay the fiddler. Alas, in my case, it happened that an entire symphony orchestra had to be subsidized."