93 Facts About John Barrymore

John Barrymore began his career in 1903 and first gained attention as a stage actor in light comedy, then high drama, culminating in productions of Justice, Richard III and Hamlet ; his portrayal of Hamlet led to him being called the "greatest living American tragedian".

John Barrymore's stage-trained voice proved an asset when sound films were introduced, and three of his works, Grand Hotel, Twentieth Century and Midnight have been inducted into the National Film Registry.

John Barrymore struggled with alcohol abuse from the age of 14, was married and divorced four times, and declared bankruptcy later in life.

John Barrymore's father was Maurice Barrymore, an Indian-born British actor who had been born Herbert Blyth, and had adopted Barrymore as a stage name after seeing it on a poster in the Haymarket Theatre in London.

John Barrymore's mother, Georgie Drew John Barrymore, was born into a prominent theatrical family.

John Barrymore was sent first to the boys' annex of the Convent of Notre Dame in Philadelphia.

John Barrymore was expelled from the school in 1891 and was sent to Seton Hall Preparatory School in New Jersey, where Lionel was already studying.

John Barrymore was unhappy at Seton and was withdrawn, after which he attended several public schools in New York, including the Mount Pleasant Military Academy.

John Barrymore's father was mostly absent from the family home while on tour, and when he returned he would spend time at The Lambs, a New York actors' club.

In 1895, John Barrymore entered Georgetown Preparatory School, then located on Georgetown University Campus, but he was expelled in November 1897, probably after being caught waiting in a brothel.

One of his biographers, Michael A Morrison, posits the alternate theory that Barrymore was expelled after the staff saw him inebriated.

John Barrymore traveled with his father to England in 1898, where he joined King's College School, Wimbledon.

John Barrymore returned to New York in the summer of 1900, and by November he found work as an illustrator on The New York Evening Journal, at a salary of $50 a week.

John Barrymore had always professed a dislike of the acting profession, but in 1900 he was persuaded by his father to join him on stage for a few performances of a short play, "A Man of the World".

John Barrymore appeared in the same piece again the following year, but he still thought of the experience as merely a way to supplement his income, rather than as a possible future career.

John Barrymore persuaded the director to allow Barrymore to accept the part of the minor character, and Barrymore traveled from New York, learning his lines on the train.

John Barrymore was later transferred to a private institution in Amityville, Long Island, where he suffered a "rapid descent into madness".

Nesbit's mother did not think that, as a struggling artist, John Barrymore was a good match for her daughter.

John Barrymore expected to testify at Thaw's murder trial on the issue of Nesbit's morality; he worried that he might be asked whether he had arranged for Nesbit to have an abortion, disguised as an appendectomy, even though Nesbit had undergone two previous "appendectomies".

John Barrymore was never called as a witness because Thaw pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

In May 1902, John Barrymore was fired from his newspaper position after producing a poor illustration for the paper while hung over.

John Barrymore spent time as a poster designer but realized it was not lucrative enough for his lifestyle, which was being partly financed by Ethel, who was paying for their father's care.

John Barrymore began to contact his family's theatrical connections to find work and approached Charles Frohman, who had been the producer of Captain Jinks and had been an employer of John Barrymore's mother Georgie a decade earlier.

Frohman thought that John Barrymore had comedic potential but needed more experience before making a Broadway debut.

In March 1905, while The Dictator was playing in Buffalo, John Barrymore's father died in Amityville and was buried at Glenwood Cemetery in Philadelphia.

The critic for The Observer wrote that John Barrymore "admirably seconded" Collier.

John Barrymore continued drinking and lacked discipline, which affected his performances.

Why doesn't young John Barrymore imitate a real actor if he must copy someone.

John Barrymore gained his first leading role in early 1907, in the comedy The Boys of Company B at the Lyceum Theatre.

John Barrymore had previously been earning $50 a week during his sporadic employment but now enjoyed a wage increase to $175.

John Barrymore briefly appeared in The Candy Shop in mid-1909, before he played the lead role in Winchell Smith's play The Fortune Hunter at the Gaiety Theatre in September the same year.

In mid-1910 John Barrymore met socialite Katherine Corri Harris, and the couple married in September that year.

John Barrymore's increasing dependence on alcohol was a cause of marital problems, and he explained that "unhappiness increased the drink, and drink increased the unhappiness".

In January 1912, John Barrymore appeared together with his sister in A Slice of Life at the Empire Theatre on Broadway, which ran for 48 performances.

Charles Darnton, a critic for The Evening World, observed that "John Barrymore takes delight in 'kidding' his part not only to the limit, but perhaps beyond".

John Barrymore may have appeared in his first films in 1912.

In July 1912, John Barrymore went to Los Angeles, where he appeared in three short-running plays at the Belasco Theatre.

John Barrymore began the following year by appearing in a short run of A Thief for a Night in McVicker's Theatre, Chicago, before returning to New York, and the Thirty-Ninth St Theatre, for a two-month run in Believe Me Xantippe.

In late 1913, John Barrymore made his first confirmed feature film, the romantic comedy An American Citizen, with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company.

John Barrymore returned from Italy and accepted another serious stage role, that of an ex-convict in Kick In, at New York's Longacre Theatre.

The play was a success, and John Barrymore received praise from the critics; The New York Times reviewer thought that in a play that had "uncommonly able and sincere playing", John Barrymore acted his role with "intelligence and vigor and impart[ed] to it a deal of charm".

John Barrymore spent the second half of 1915 making three films, including The Red Widow, which he called "the worst film I ever made" in his 1926 autobiography.

From early 1916, John Barrymore had been living apart from Katherine, and she sued for divorce in November 1916.

Around this time, John Barrymore began a relationship with a married mother of two, Blanche Oelrichs, a suffragist from an elite Rhode Island family with what Peters calls "anarchistic self-confidence".

In 1919, John Barrymore portrayed a struggling lawyer in the film adaptation of the Broadway show Here Comes the Bride, which he followed with The Test of Honor.

Later that year, when John Barrymore again appeared on stage with Lionel in Sem Benelli's historical drama The Jest, audience members "agree[d] that the American stage had never witnessed finer acting", according to Peters.

Alexander Woollcott, writing in The New York Times, thought that "John and Lionel Barrymore hold spellbound each breathless audience", and he commented that Barrymore "contributes to that appeal by every step, every hand, every posture of a body grown unexpectedly eloquent in recent years".

Wid's Daily thought that "it is the star's picture from the very outset, and it is the star that makes it", going on to say that John Barrymore's portrayal was "a thing of fine shadows and violent emotions".

John Barrymore spent six weeks recuperating under the ministrations of his father's friend, wrestler William Muldoon, who ran a sanitarium.

In 1921, John Barrymore portrayed a wealthy Frenchman in New York in the film The Lotus Eater, with Colleen Moore.

John Barrymore then returned to New York to work on the film's interior scenes in January 1922.

John Barrymore became involved in the pre-production work for the film and provided designs for Moriarty's lair.

The film was released later that year and was generally thought "a little dull and ponderous, with too many intertitles", although James W Dean of The Evening News of Harrisburg opined that "the personality of Barrymore is the film's transcendent quality".

John Barrymore decided next to star in Hamlet on stage, with Arthur Hopkins directing.

The reviewer for Brooklyn Life stated that John Barrymore had "doubtless won the right to be called the greatest living American tragedian".

Around this time, John Barrymore acquired the nickname "the Great Profile", as posters and photographs of him tended to favor the left-hand side.

In February 1925, John Barrymore staged Hamlet in London at the Haymarket Theatre, which the Manchester Guardian later said had "the most memorable first night for years".

The film was well received by critics, and Mordaunt Hall, the film critic of The New York Times, praised the "energy, earnestness and virility" John Barrymore displayed in the role of Ceeley.

In 1927, John Barrymore planned to revive Hamlet at the Hollywood Bowl, but in August he canceled the production, without explanation, and began filming the third of the UA pictures, Eternal Love, for which he was paid $150,000.

In February 1928, John Barrymore obtained a quiet divorce from Oelrichs; she eagerly agreed to the separation, as she was in a relationship with a lawyer, Harrison Tweed, whom she later married.

Barrymore and Costello married in November that year; their daughter, Dolores, was born in April 1930 and a son, John Drew Barrymore, followed in June 1932.

John Barrymore purchased and converted an estate in the Hollywood Hills into 16 different buildings with 55 rooms, gardens, skeet ranges, swimming pools, fountains and a totem pole.

Actors with trained voices were in demand by the studios, and John Barrymore was offered a five-film deal with Warner Bros.

In 1932, John Barrymore went to RKO Pictures where he played a borderline-alcoholic lawyer in State's Attorney, and an escaped lunatic in A Bill of Divorcement, opposite Katharine Hepburn in her screen debut.

Physically, John Barrymore had deteriorated since filming Svengali, and he had gained weight because of his drinking.

John Barrymore appeared in five films during the year, including as a meek schoolteacher-turned-businessman in Topaze, opposite Myrna Loy, and Dinner at Eight, with Lionel.

John Barrymore then signed with Universal Studios to portray a troubled Jewish lawyer in Counsellor at Law.

In December 1933, John Barrymore agreed with RKO to film Hamlet.

John Barrymore underwent screen tests and hired Carrington to act as vocal coach again, but during one session, his memory failed him again, and the project was eventually scrapped.

John Barrymore starred in two films released in 1934, the drama Long Lost Father and the screwball comedy Twentieth Century.

In May 1934, John Barrymore was filming Hat, Coat and Glove for RKO when, during the filming of one scene, he again forgot his lines and even the name of his character.

John Barrymore returned to the US in early 1935 and settled in New York, leaving his wife in Los Angeles.

John Barrymore changed her name to Elaine Barrie, which she explained was to get "as near to Barrymore as I dared", and they began a relationship.

Costello filed for divorce, but after a series of arguments with Barrie, John Barrymore considered the relationship with Barrie to be at an end, and he left for Los Angeles.

John Barrymore was offered predominantly supporting roles, but he worked conscientiously on the films and as a result was able to honor his debts.

John Barrymore's memory was still problematic, and he used cue cards as an aid; his fellow actors and the directors of the films were sympathetic to his condition.

John Barrymore played the lead role, Allan Manville, an ageing hammy Shakespearean has-been.

In 1940, John Barrymore appeared in The Great Profile, a spoof of his life in the months prior to My Dear Children.

John Barrymore played Evans Garrick, closely modeled on his own experience, and Mary Beth Hughes played his wife.

In October 1940, John Barrymore returned to the NBC Radio network to work on Rudy Vallee's show, now called the Sealtest Show.

John Barrymore recorded 74 episodes of the program, continuing in the vein of self-parody, with jokes about his drinking, declining career and marital issues.

Shortly before his death, John Barrymore returned to his childhood Catholic faith.

However, in a 2020 interview for the YouTube series Hot Ones, John's granddaughter Drew Barrymore claimed the Flynn account was accurate.

In 1980, John Barrymore's son had his father's body reinterred to the family plot in Philadelphia's Mount Vernon Cemetery.

John Barrymore was honored on few occasions by the entertainment industry and its members.

When John Barrymore attended his ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1940, he left more than the customary hand and footprints in the theater's forecourt: aided by the owner, Sid Grauman, John Barrymore left a cement imprint of his facial profile.

In February 1960, for his contribution to the motion picture industry, John Barrymore was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a star at 6667 Hollywood Boulevard; John Barrymore, along with his two siblings, is included in the American Theater Hall of Fame.

The intersection marked the spot of the former Buckheister's Hotel, where John Barrymore had his 1900 stage debut in "A Man of the World".

John Barrymore has been used as the inspiration for characters on stage and film.

John Barrymore performed as himself in a number of works, and in the Ziegfeld Follies of 1921 he was played by his friend W C Fields.

In 1927 the John Barrymore family was parodied in The Royal Family in which a character based on him was portrayed by Fredric March, whose performance John Barrymore admired.

Three years later, a London production, Jack: A Night on the Town with John Barrymore, ran for 60 performances at the Criterion Theatre, and Williamson again played the lead.

John Barrymore had been a friend and drinking companion of Fields.