BARRYMORE, JOHN

(1882-1942)

The most mercurial and perhaps the most talented of the Drew-Barrymore theatrical dynasty, John Barrymore, son ofMauriceandGeorgiana Drew Barrymore, was born in Philadelphia. Like his siblings, Ethel andLionel Barry-more, he resisted going on the stage, working for a time as a newspaper illustrator in hopes of becoming a serious artist. He finally gave in to the family business, beginning as a light comedian of virile good looks in generally superficial plays. Barrymore's debut in Chicago inMagdaand in New York inGlad of It, both in 1903, were in innocuous vehicles, but a series ofsupportingroles inThe Dictator(1904),Yvette(1904),Sunday(1905),Alice Sit-by-the-Fire(1905), andMiss Civilization(1906) led to larger roles inThe Boys of Company B(1907),Toddles(1908),A Stubborn Cinderella(1909), andThe Fortune Hunter(1909), which was a long-running hit.Critics began to take notice of Barrymore with his performance inThe Affairs of Anatol(1912), followed byThe Yellow TicketandKick In, both in 1914, but he expended much of his energy on drinking and countless love affairs.

Barrymore won acclaim and stardom in more demanding roles beginning with John Galsworthy'sJustice(1916) and Leo Tolstoy'sRedemption(1918), and in two plays in which he costarred with his brother, Lionel:Peter Ibbetson(1917) andThe Jest(1919), for which they both won plaudits. In the early 1920s, Barrymore became a star in silent motion pictures, appearing in such classics asDr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde(1920),Beau Brummel(1924),The Sea Beast(1926), andDon Juan(1926). His most important stage achievements in this era came in Shakespeare when he performed in two Arthur Hopkins productions with scene designs by Robert Edmond Jones:Richard III(1920) andHamlet(1922). In the latter, he played 101 consecutive performances, one more thanEdwinBooth's record of 100 performances. These modernist productions featured Jones's stylized designs enhanced by Barrymore's poetic and emotionally intellectual acting. Although he was hailed as the greatest stage actor of his age, he turned almost exclusively to screen work after the mid-1920s.

With the dawn of sound films, Barrymore's screen fame grew even greater and he acted with distinction in many movies in the early 1930s, includingSvengali(1931),Grand Hotel(1932),Dinner at Eight* (1933),Counsellor-at-Law* (1933), andTwentieth Century* (1934), but his persistent carousing took a toll. He made a final Broadway appearance in an unworthy vehicle,My Dear Children(1940), in which he parodied himself, although in one scene he deeply moved critics when, while playing ahamactor, he delivered one of Hamlet's soliloquies with flashes of the brilliance he had demonstrated nearly 20 years before.