Ethel Barrymore | |
|---|---|
_(14595127410).jpg) Barrymore in 1896 | |
| Born | Ethel Mae Blyth (1879-08-15)August 15, 1879 Philadelphia,Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | June 18, 1959(1959-06-18) (aged 79) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1895–1957 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Maurice Barrymore Georgiana Drew |
| Family | Barrymore |
| Signature | |
 | |
Ethel Barrymore (bornEthel Mae Blyth; August 15, 1879 – June 18, 1959) was an American actress and a member of theBarrymore family of actors.[1][2] Barrymore was a stage, screen and radio actress whose career spanned six decades, and was regarded as "The First Lady of the American Theatre". She received four nominations for theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress, winning forNone but the Lonely Heart (1944).
Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blyth inPhiladelphia, the second child of the actorsMaurice Barrymore (whose real name was Herbert Blythe) andGeorgiana Drew.[3] She was named for her father's favorite character inWilliam Makepeace Thackeray'sThe Newcomes.
She was the sister of actorsJohn andLionel Barrymore, the aunt of actorJohn Drew Barrymore and great-aunt of actressDrew Barrymore. She was a granddaughter of actress and theater managerLouisa Lane Drew and niece ofBroadwaymatinée idolJohn Drew, Jr. andVitagraph Studios stage and screen starSidney Drew. She spent her childhood in Philadelphia and attendedRoman Catholic schools there. In 1884, the family moved toEngland for two years. Barrymore's father exhibited a play and starred on stage plays atLondon'sHaymarket Theatre.[4] Returning to the U.S. in 1886, her father took her to her firstbaseball game, which established her lifelong love of baseball.[5]
In the summer of 1893, Barrymore was in the company of her mother Georgie, who had been ailing fromtuberculosis and took a curativesabbatical toSanta Barbara, California, not far from wherefamily friendHelena Modjeska had a retreat. Georgie did not recover and died in July 1893 at age 36. Essentially Ethel's and Lionel's childhood ended when Georgie died; they were forced to go to work in their teens with neither finishing high school. John, a few years younger, stayed with their grandmother and other relatives. Barrymore's first appearance on Broadway was in 1895, in a play calledThe Imprudent Young Couple which starred her uncleJohn Drew Jr. andMaude Adams. She appeared with Drew and Adams again in 1896 inRosemary.[6]
In 1897 Ethel went withWilliam Gillette to London to play Miss Kittridge in Gillette'sSecret Service. She was about to return to the States with Gillette's troupe whenHenry Irving andEllen Terry offered her the role of Annette inThe Bells. A full London tour was on and, before it was over, Ethel created, onNew Year's Day 1898, Euphrosine inPeter the Great at theLyceum, the play having been written by Irving's son, Laurence. Men everywhere were smitten with Ethel, most notablyWinston Churchill, who asked her to marry him. Not wishing to be a politician's wife, she refused. Winston, years later, marriedClementine Hozier, who looked very much like Ethel. Winston and Ethel remained friends until the end of her life.
After her season in London, Ethel returned to the U.S.Charles Frohman cast her first inCatherine and then as Stella de Grex inHis Excellency the Governor.[7] After that, Frohman finally gave Ethel the role that would make her a star: Madame Trentoni inCaptain Jinks of the Horse Marines,[8] which opened at theGarrick Theatre in London'sWest End on February 4, 1901. Unbeknownst to Ethel, her father Maurice had witnessed the performance as an audience member and walked up to his daughter, congratulated her and gave her a big hug. It was the first and only time he saw her on stage professionally. When the tour concluded inBoston in June, she had out-drawn two of the most prominent actresses of her day,Mrs. Patrick Campbell andMinnie Maddern Fiske.
Following her triumph inCaptain Jinks, Ethel gave sterling performances in many top-rate productions and it was in Thomas Raceward'sSunday that she uttered what would be her most famous line, "That's all there is, there isn't any more."[9]
She portrayedNora inA Doll's House byIbsen (1905), andJuliet inRomeo and Juliet byShakespeare (1922).
Barrymore, along with friendMarie Dressler, was a strong supporter of theActors' Equity Association and had a high-profile role in the 1919 strike. During the strike, Ethel and Lionel Barrymore starred in a benefit show staged by AEA at the Lexington Avenue Opera House.[10] AEA came into being primarily to allow performers to have a bigger share in the profits of stage productions and to provide benefit to elderly or infirm actors. Barrymore's involvement in AEA may have been motivated by the fate of both of her parents, both long standing actors, her mother who had needed proper medical care and her father who required years of institutionalized care. Her support for the strike angered many producers and cost Barrymore her friendship withGeorge M. Cohan, an actor, songwriter and producer.[11]
In 1926, she scored one of her greatest successes as the sophisticated spouse of aphilandering husband inW. Somerset Maugham's comedy,The Constant Wife (Maugham counted himself among her admirers, saying that duringrehearsals for the play he had "fallen madly in love with her.")[12] She starred inRasputin and the Empress (1932), playingthe czarina married toCzar Nicholas. In July 1934, she starred in the playLaura Garnett, byLeslie andSewell Stokes, atDobbs Ferry, New York.
After she became a stage star, she would often dismiss adoring audiences who kept demandingcurtain calls by saying "That's all there is—there isn't any more!" This became a popular catch phrase in the 1920s and 1930s. Many references to it can be found in the media of the period, including theLaurel and Hardy 1933 filmSons of the Desert, andArthur Train's 1930 Wall Street Crash novelPaper Profits. It is sometimes recalled on modern day radio stations annually every August 15 when Ethel's birthday is mentioned.
Barrymore was a baseball andboxing fan. Her admiration for boxing ended when she witnessed the brutality of the July 4, 1919,Dempsey/Willard fight in whichDempsey broke Willard's jaw and knocked out several of his teeth. Ethel vowed never to attend another boxing match, though she would later watch boxing on television.
In 1928, theShuberts opened theEthel Barrymore Theatre, which operates under that name to the present day.
In 1938, Ethel became the first artistic director of theOlney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland.[13][14]
Barrymore appeared in her first feature motion picture,The Nightingale, in 1914. Members of her family were already in pictures; uncle Sidney Drew, his wife Gladys Rankin, and Lionel had entered films in 1911 and John made his first feature in 1913 after having debuted in Lubin short films in 1912. She made 15 silent pictures between 1914 and 1919, most of them for theMetro Pictures studio. Most of these pictures were made on the East Coast, as her Broadway career and children came first. A few of her silent films have survived: for example, one reel fromThe Awakening of Helena Richie (1916) which survives at theLibrary of Congress, andThe Call of Her People (1917) held at theGeorge Eastman House.[15][16]
The only two films that featured all three siblings—Ethel, John, and Lionel—wereNational Red Cross Pageant (1917) andRasputin and the Empress (1932). The former film is now considered alost film.
Barrymore won theAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the filmNone but the Lonely Heart (1944) oppositeCary Grant, but made plain that she was not overly impressed by it.
She appeared inThe Spiral Staircase (1946) directed byRobert Siodmak,The Paradine Case (1947) directed byAlfred Hitchcock, in which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for both as well for the 1949 filmPinky. She played the repressed wife ofCharles Laughton's character. Another important role of hers was inPortrait of Jennie (1948), and "The Red Danube" (1949), among others. Her last film appearance was inJohnny Trouble (1957).
Barrymore was heard on radio in 1923 when the first act ofThe Laughing Lady, in which she was appearing, was broadcast to an estimated 750,000 listeners.[17]
Barrymore starred inMiss Hattie, described as "a short-lived situation comedy," onABC in 1944–1945.[18] In one episode, Barrymore's character was "asked by Rob Thompson to direct a play which the workers of his war plant are presenting in order to raise money for war bonds."[19] Barrymore starred, along withGene Kelly, in the June 1, 1949, episode of Suspense, entitled "To Find Help".
Barrymore also made a number of television appearances in the 1950s, including one memorable encounter with comedianJimmy Durante onNBC'sAll Star Revue on December 1, 1951, which is preserved on akinescope. On October 2, 1952, Barrymore appeared as the mystery guest on theCBS quiz showWhat's My Line?, which has also been preserved on kinescope. In 1956, she hosted 14 episodes of the TV seriesEthel Barrymore Theatre, produced by theDuMont Television Network and presented on the DuMont flagship stationWABD just as the network was folding. Unfortunately none of the episodes were preserved on kinescope.
In the romantictime travel filmSomewhere in Time (1980), a photo of Barrymore wearing nun's habit from her 1928 playThe Kingdom of God can be seen.Christopher Reeve plays a journalist rummaging through old theater albums at a large Michigan hotel. He uncovers the photos of Barrymore in the play and childhood photos of actressesBlanche Ring andRose Stahl.In themusical filmSingin' in the Rain (1952), Barrymore is held up as an example of a lofty actress whenGene Kelly mocksDebbie Reynolds in a squabble about what makes a serious actor. He repeats the humorous taunt when Reynolds jumps out of a giant cake as a show girl.
Winston Churchill was among Barrymore's many new friends in England. Churchill proposed to her in 1900, and while Barrymore mentioned no such proposal in her autobiography, she included a photograph of herself and Churchill on the lawn atBlenheim Palace in 1899.[20] While touring in England at age 19, she was rumored to be engaged to theDuke of Manchester, actorGerald du Maurier, writerRichard Harding Davis and Churchill.[21] She was engaged toLaurence Irving, son of SirHenry Irving, but the couple did not marry.[4]
Barrymore married Russell Griswold Colt (1882–1960) on March 14, 1909.[22] The couple had three children: Samuel Colt (1909–1986), actress and singerEthel Barrymore Colt (1912–1977), and John Drew Colt (1913–1975).[23][24]
Barrymore campaigned for the reelection of PresidentHerbert Hoover in 1932.[25]
Ethel Barrymore died ofcardiovascular disease on June 18, 1959, at her home inHollywood, after having lived for many years with a heart condition. She was less than two months shy of her 80th birthday. She was entombed atCalvary Cemetery. TheEthel Barrymore Theatre inNew York City is named for her.[26]
In 1960, Barrymore was posthumously inducted into theHollywood Walk of Fame with amotion pictures star for her contributions to the film industry. Her star is located at 7001Hollywood Boulevard.[27] Barrymore was a member of theAmerican Theater Hall of Fame, along with her brothers,John andLionel.[28]
A crater on the planet Venus is named for Barrymore.[29]
