Search Everything

Login

Send feeback or report a bug here

Send feeback or report a bug here

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.

Personal information

Birthday

1879-08-12

Birth Place

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Movies and TV shows :

An American Widow

An American Widow

1917

0.0

Movie
And the Oscar Goes To...

And the Oscar Goes To...

2014

7.0

Movie
Camille: The Fate of a Coquette

Camille: The Fate of a Coquette

1926

4.0

Movie
poster

Climax!

1954

3.0

TV
Daphni: Virgin of the Golden Laurels

Daphni: Virgin of the Golden Laurels

1951

0.0

Movie
Deadline - U.S.A.

Deadline - U.S.A.

1952

6.8

Movie
Eloise

Eloise

1956

0.0

Movie
poster

General Electric Theater

1953

6.0

TV
It's a Big Country

It's a Big Country

1951

5.3

Movie
Johnny Trouble

Johnny Trouble

1957

4.7

Movie
Just for You

Just for You

1952

4.8

Movie
Kind Lady

Kind Lady

1951

7.0

Movie
poster

Legends

2006

5.0

TV
Life's Whirlpool

Life's Whirlpool

1917

0.0

Movie
Main Street to Broadway

Main Street to Broadway

1953

6.5

Movie
Moonrise

Moonrise

1948

6.2

Movie
Moss Rose

Moss Rose

1947

6.4

Movie
National Red Cross Pageant

National Red Cross Pageant

1917

0.0

Movie
Night Song

Night Song

1948

6.2

Movie
None But the Lonely Heart

None But the Lonely Heart

1944

6.2

Movie
poster

Omnibus

1952

6.0

TV
Our Mrs. McChesney

Our Mrs. McChesney

1918

0.0

Movie
Pinky

Pinky

1949

7.1

Movie
poster

Playhouse 90

1956

7.5

TV
Portrait of Jennie

Portrait of Jennie

1948

7.1

Movie
Rasputin and the Empress

Rasputin and the Empress

1932

5.3

Movie
Show-Business at War

Show-Business at War

1943

7.0

Movie
That Midnight Kiss

That Midnight Kiss

1949

5.0

Movie
That's Entertainment!

That's Entertainment!

1974

7.2

Movie
The Awakening of Helena Ritchie

The Awakening of Helena Ritchie

1916

0.0

Movie
The Call of Her People

The Call of Her People

1917

0.0

Movie
The Divorcee

The Divorcee

1919

0.0

Movie
The Eternal Mother

The Eternal Mother

1917

0.0

Movie
The Farmer's Daughter

The Farmer's Daughter

1947

6.9

Movie
The Final Judgment

The Final Judgment

1915

0.0

Movie
The Great Sinner

The Great Sinner

1949

6.7

Movie
The Greatest Power

The Greatest Power

1917

0.0

Movie
The Kiss of Hate

The Kiss of Hate

1916

0.0

Movie
The Lifted Veil

The Lifted Veil

1917

1.0

Movie
The Nightingale

The Nightingale

1914

0.0

Movie
The Paradine Case

The Paradine Case

1947

6.2

Movie
The Red Danube

The Red Danube

1949

6.3

Movie
The Secret of Convict Lake

The Secret of Convict Lake

1951

6.5

Movie
The Spiral Staircase

The Spiral Staircase

1946

7.0

Movie
The Story of Three Loves

The Story of Three Loves

1953

5.5

Movie
The White Raven

The White Raven

1917

6.0

Movie
poster

What's My Line?

1950

6.7

TV
Young at Heart

Young at Heart

1954

5.9

Movie