Lionel Barrymore
Encyclopedia
Lionel Barrymore was an American actor of stage, screen and radio. He won an Academy Award for Best Actor
for his performance in A Free Soul
(1931). He is well known for the role of the villainous Henry Potter
character in Frank Capra
's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life
.
, the son of actors Georgiana Drew
Barrymore and Maurice Barrymore
. He was the elder brother of Ethel
and John Barrymore
, the uncle of John Drew Barrymore
and Diana Barrymore
, and the granduncle (or great-uncle) of Drew Barrymore
. Barrymore was raised a Roman Catholic. He attended the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
.
In her autobiography Eleanor Farjeon
recalled that she and Barrymore were friends as toddlers; she would take off her shoes and he would kiss her feet.
During World War I Lionel staved off the deadly Spanish Influenza by taking cold alcohol baths as an antiseptic.
He was married twice, to actresses Doris Rankin
and Irene Fenwick
, a one-time lover of his brother John. Doris's sister Gladys was married to Lionel's uncle Sidney Drew, which made Gladys both his aunt and sister-in-law.
Doris Rankin bore Lionel two daughters, Ethel Barrymore II (b. 1908) and Mary Barrymore. Unfortunately, neither baby girl survived infancy, though Mary lived a few months. Lionel never truly recovered from the deaths of his girls, and their loss undoubtedly strained his marriage to Doris Rankin, which ended in 1923. Years later, Barrymore developed a fatherly affection for Jean Harlow
, who was born about the same time as his two daughters and would have been about their age. When Jean died in 1937, Lionel and Clark Gable
mourned her as though she had been family.
career in the mid 1890s, acting with his grandmother Louisa Lane Drew
. He appeared on Broadway in his early twenties with his uncle John Drew Jr.
in such plays as The Second in Command (1901) and The Mummy and the Hummingbird (1902), both produced by Charles Frohman
. In 1905 Lionel and his siblings, John and Ethel, were all being groomed under the tutelage of Frohman. That year Lionel appeared with John in a short play called Pantaloon while John appeared with Ethel in Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire.
In 1910, after he and Doris had spent many years in Paris
, Lionel came back to Broadway
, where he established his reputation as a dramatic and character actor. He and his wife often acted together on stage. He proved his talent in many plays, including Peter Ibbetson
(1917) (with brother John
), The Copperhead (1918) (with Doris), and The Jest (1919) (again with John). Lionel gave a short-lived performance as MacBeth in 1921. The play was not successful and more than likely convinced Lionel to permanently return to films. One of Lionel's last plays was Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1923) with his second wife, Irene Fenwick. This play would later be made into a 1928 silent film starring Lionel's friend, Lon Chaney
.
flew the channel
on July 25, 1909.
Entering films the same year his uncle Sidney Drew
began a film career at Vitagraph, Barrymore made The Battle (1911), The New York Hat
(1912), Friends
and Three Friends
(1913). In 1915 he co-starred with Lillian Russell
in a movie called Wildfire, one of the legendary Russell's few film appearances. He also made a foray into directing at Biograph. The last silent film he directed, Life's Whirlpool (Metro Pictures
1917), starred his sister, Ethel.
In early 1920, Barrymore reprised his title role in the stage play, The Copperhead (1920), in a Paramount Artcraft film of the same name.
Before the formation of MGM in 1924, Barrymore forged a good relationship with Louis B. Mayer early on at Metro Pictures. He made numerous silent features for Metro, most of them now lost. He occasionally freelanced, returning to Griffith in 1924 to film America. His last film for Griffith was in 1928's Drums of Love.
After Lionel and Doris divorced in 1923, he married Irene Fenwick
. The two went to Italy to film The Eternal City
for Metro Pictures in Rome, combining work with their honeymoon. In 1924 he went to Germany to star in British producer-director Herbert Wilcox
's Anglo-German co-production Decameron Nights, filmed at UFA
's Babelsberg studios outside Berlin.
Prior to his marriage to Irene, he and his brother John fell out over the issue of Irene's chastity
having been one of John's lovers. The brothers didn't speak again for two years and weren't seen together until the premiere of John's film Don Juan
in 1926, having patched up their differences. In 1924, he left Broadway for Hollywood. He starred as Frederick Harmon in director Henri Diamant-Berger's drama Fifty-Fifty
(1925) opposite Hope Hampton
and Louise Glaum
, and made several other freelance motion pictures, including The Bells (Tiffany Pictures
1926) with a then-unknown Boris Karloff
. After 1926, however, he worked almost exclusively for MGM, appearing opposite such luminaries as John Gilbert
, Lon Chaney, Sr.
, Jean Harlow
, Wallace Beery
, Marie Dressler
, Greta Garbo
, and his brother John.
On the occasional loan-out, Barrymore had a big success with Gloria Swanson
in 1928's Sadie Thompson
and the aforementioned Griffith film, Drums of Love. Talkies were now a reality and Barrymore's stage-trained voice recorded well in sound tests. In 1929, he returned to directing films. During this early and imperfect sound film period, he made the controversial His Glorious Night with John Gilbert, Madame X starring Ruth Chatterton
, and Rogue Song, Laurel & Hardy's first color film. Barrymore returned to acting in front of the camera in 1931. In that year, he won an Academy Award
for his role as an alcoholic lawyer in A Free Soul
(1931), after being nominated in 1930 for Best Director
for Madame X
. He could play many characters, like the evil Rasputin in the 1932 Rasputin and the Empress (in which he co-starred with siblings John and Ethel) and the ailing Oliver Jordan in Dinner at Eight (1933 - also with John Barrymore, although they had no scenes together).
During the 1930
s and 1940
s, he became stereotyped as grouchy but sweet elderly men in such films as The Mysterious Island
(1929), Grand Hotel
(1932, with John), Captains Courageous
(1937), You Can't Take It with You
(1938), Duel in the Sun (1946), and Key Largo (1948).
In a series of Doctor Kildare movies in the 1930
s and 1940
s, he played the irascible Doctor Gillespie, repeating the role he'd created in the radio series throughout the 1940s. He also played the title role in another 1940s radio series, Mayor of the Town
. Barrymore had broken his hip in an accident, hence he played Gillespie in a wheelchair; later, his worsening arthritis kept him in the chair. The injury also precluded his playing Ebenezer Scrooge
in the 1938 MGM film version of A Christmas Carol
, a role Barrymore played every year but one on the radio from 1934 through 1953.
His final film appearance was a cameo in Main Street to Broadway
, an MGM musical comedy released in 1953. His sister Ethel
also appeared in the film.
Perhaps his best known role, thanks to perennial Christmastime replays on television, was Mr. Potter, the miserly and mean-spirited banker in It's a Wonderful Life
(1946). The role suggested that of the "unreformed" stage of Barrymore's "Scrooge" characterization. Lionel's wife, Irene, died on Christmas Eve of 1936 and Lionel did not perform his annual Scrooge that year. John filled in as Scrooge for his grieving brother.
Barrymore loathed the income tax system which kept him working to the end of his life. He expressed an interest in appearing on television in the 1950s but felt compelled to remain loyal to his old friend and employer Louis B. Mayer and MGM.
in Van Nuys, California
, and was entombed in the Calvary Cemetery
in East Los Angeles, California
.
He is honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
, in the motion picture and radio categories.
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his performance in A Free Soul
A Free Soul
A Free Soul is a 1931 Pre-Code film which tells the story of an alcoholic defense attorney who must defend his daughter's ex-boyfriend on a charge of murdering the mobster she had started a relationship with; a mobster whom her father had previously got an acquittal for on a murder charge...
(1931). He is well known for the role of the villainous Henry Potter
Mister Potter
Henry F. Potter is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the 1946 Frank Capra film It's a Wonderful Life. He occupies slot #6 on the American Film Institute's list of the 50 Greatest Villains in American film history . Mr...
character in Frank Capra
Frank Capra
Frank Russell Capra was a Sicilian-born American film director. He emigrated to the U.S. when he was six, and eventually became a creative force behind major award-winning films during the 1930s and 1940s...
's 1946 film It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
.
Early life
Lionel Barrymore was born Lionel Herbert Blythe in Philadelphia, PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, the son of actors Georgiana Drew
Georgiana Drew
Georgiana Emma Drew , aka Georgie Drew Barrymore, was an American stage actress and a member of the Barrymore acting family....
Barrymore and Maurice Barrymore
Maurice Barrymore
Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe —stage name Maurice Barrymore — was the patriarch of the Barrymore acting family and great-grandfather of actress Drew Barrymore.-Early life:...
. He was the elder brother of Ethel
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
and John Barrymore
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
, the uncle of John Drew Barrymore
John Drew Barrymore
John Drew Barrymore was a member of the Barrymore family of actors, which included his father, John Barrymore, and his father's siblings, Lionel and Ethel...
and Diana Barrymore
Diana Barrymore
Diana Barrymore was an American film and stage actress.-Early life:Born Diana Blanche Barrymore Blythe in New York City, New York, she was the daughter of renowned actor John Barrymore and his second wife, poet Blanche Oelrichs...
, and the granduncle (or great-uncle) of Drew Barrymore
Drew Barrymore
Drew Blyth Barrymore is an American actress, film director, screenwriter, producer and model. She is a member of the Barrymore family of American actors and granddaughter of John Barrymore. She first appeared in an advertisement when she was 11 months old. Barrymore made her film debut in Altered...
. Barrymore was raised a Roman Catholic. He attended the Episcopal Academy in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...
.
In her autobiography Eleanor Farjeon
Eleanor Farjeon
Eleanor Farjeon was an English author of children's stories and plays, poetry, biography, history and satire. Many of her works had charming illustrations by Edward Ardizzone. Some of her correspondence has also been published...
recalled that she and Barrymore were friends as toddlers; she would take off her shoes and he would kiss her feet.
During World War I Lionel staved off the deadly Spanish Influenza by taking cold alcohol baths as an antiseptic.
He was married twice, to actresses Doris Rankin
Doris Rankin
Doris Rankin was an American film actress and the younger daughter of actor McKee Rankin and an unnamed actress though Rankin was married to actress Kitty Blanchard. She was married to actor Lionel Barrymore from 1904-1923. Her older sister, Gladys Rankin, was married to Lionel's uncle Sidney Drew...
and Irene Fenwick
Irene Fenwick
Irene Fenwick was a stage and silent film actress. She was married to Lionel Barrymore from 1924 until her death in 1936. She died of anorexia at age 49.-External links:*...
, a one-time lover of his brother John. Doris's sister Gladys was married to Lionel's uncle Sidney Drew, which made Gladys both his aunt and sister-in-law.
Doris Rankin bore Lionel two daughters, Ethel Barrymore II (b. 1908) and Mary Barrymore. Unfortunately, neither baby girl survived infancy, though Mary lived a few months. Lionel never truly recovered from the deaths of his girls, and their loss undoubtedly strained his marriage to Doris Rankin, which ended in 1923. Years later, Barrymore developed a fatherly affection for Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
, who was born about the same time as his two daughters and would have been about their age. When Jean died in 1937, Lionel and Clark Gable
Clark Gable
William Clark Gable , known as Clark Gable, was an American film actor most famous for his role as Rhett Butler in the 1939 Civil War epic film Gone with the Wind, in which he starred with Vivien Leigh...
mourned her as though she had been family.
Stage career
Barrymore began his stageTheatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
career in the mid 1890s, acting with his grandmother Louisa Lane Drew
Louisa Lane Drew
Louisa Lane Drew was a British actress and theater owner.She and her third husband John Drew were the parents of Louisa Drew , John Drew, Jr. and Georgie Drew . She had no children from her first two marriages...
. He appeared on Broadway in his early twenties with his uncle John Drew Jr.
John Drew Jr.
John Drew, Jr. was an American stage actor noted for his roles in Shakespearean comedy, society drama, and light comedies. He was the eldest son of John Drew, who had given up a blossoming career in whaling for acting, and Louisa Lane Drew, and the brother of Louisa Drew, Georgiana Drew & Sidney...
in such plays as The Second in Command (1901) and The Mummy and the Hummingbird (1902), both produced by Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman
Charles Frohman was an American theatrical producer. Frohman was producing plays by 1889 and acquired his first Broadway theatre by 1892. He discovered and promoted many stars of the American theatre....
. In 1905 Lionel and his siblings, John and Ethel, were all being groomed under the tutelage of Frohman. That year Lionel appeared with John in a short play called Pantaloon while John appeared with Ethel in Alice-Sit-By-The-Fire.
In 1910, after he and Doris had spent many years in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, Lionel came back to Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, where he established his reputation as a dramatic and character actor. He and his wife often acted together on stage. He proved his talent in many plays, including Peter Ibbetson
Peter Ibbetson
Peter Ibbetson is an American black-and-white drama film released in 1935 and directed by Henry Hathaway.The picture is based on a novel by George du Maurier, first published in 1891. In 1917, du Maurier's story was adapted into a very successful Broadway play starring John Barrymore, Lionel...
(1917) (with brother John
John Barrymore
John Sidney Blyth , better known as John Barrymore, was an acclaimed American actor. He first gained fame as a handsome stage actor in light comedy, then high drama and culminating in groundbreaking portrayals in Shakespearean plays Hamlet and Richard III...
), The Copperhead (1918) (with Doris), and The Jest (1919) (again with John). Lionel gave a short-lived performance as MacBeth in 1921. The play was not successful and more than likely convinced Lionel to permanently return to films. One of Lionel's last plays was Laugh, Clown, Laugh (1923) with his second wife, Irene Fenwick. This play would later be made into a 1928 silent film starring Lionel's friend, Lon Chaney
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
.
Film career
Barrymore began making films about 1911 with D.W. Griffith. There are claims that he made an earlier film with Griffith called The Paris Hat (1908) but no such movie exists. Lionel and Doris were in Paris in 1908, where Lionel attended art school and where their first baby, Ethel, was born. Lionel mentions in his autobiography, We Barrymores, that he and Doris were in France when BleriotLouis Blériot
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot was a French aviator, inventor and engineer. In 1909 he completed the first flight across a large body of water in a heavier-than-air craft, when he crossed the English Channel. For this achievement, he received a prize of £1,000...
flew the channel
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
on July 25, 1909.
Entering films the same year his uncle Sidney Drew
Mr. & Mrs. Sidney Drew
-Biography:Sidney Drew , or Mr. Sidney Drew as he was usually billed, was an uncle of actors Lionel, Ethel & John Barrymore. His origins have been the subject of much speculation. Sidney's mother Mrs. Louisa Drew said she adopted him not long after the death of her husband John Drew, Sr. in 1862....
began a film career at Vitagraph, Barrymore made The Battle (1911), The New York Hat
The New York Hat
The New York Hat is a short silent film directed by D. W. Griffith from a screenplay by Anita Loos, and starring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish.-Production:...
(1912), Friends
Friends (1912 film)
Friends is a 1912 film written and directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Mary Pickford, Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore, and Harry Carey...
and Three Friends
Three Friends (film)
Three Friends is a 1913 silent film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet.-Cast:* Henry B. Walthall – The Husband* Blanche Sweet – The Wife* John T. Dillon – First Friend* Lionel Barrymore – Second Friend...
(1913). In 1915 he co-starred with Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell
Lillian Russell was an American actress and singer. She became one of the most famous actresses and singers of the late 19th century and early 20th century, known for her beauty and style, as well as for her voice and stage presence.Russell was born in Iowa but raised in Chicago...
in a movie called Wildfire, one of the legendary Russell's few film appearances. He also made a foray into directing at Biograph. The last silent film he directed, Life's Whirlpool (Metro Pictures
Metro Pictures
Metro Pictures Corporation was an American motion picture production company founded in late 1915 by Richard A. Rowland . Louis B. Mayer who worked for Metro Pictures Corporation early on. It is not to be confused with MGM which is a much later franchise concerning itself, Goldwyn and Louis B....
1917), starred his sister, Ethel.
In early 1920, Barrymore reprised his title role in the stage play, The Copperhead (1920), in a Paramount Artcraft film of the same name.
Before the formation of MGM in 1924, Barrymore forged a good relationship with Louis B. Mayer early on at Metro Pictures. He made numerous silent features for Metro, most of them now lost. He occasionally freelanced, returning to Griffith in 1924 to film America. His last film for Griffith was in 1928's Drums of Love.
Irene Fenwick
Irene Fenwick was a stage and silent film actress. She was married to Lionel Barrymore from 1924 until her death in 1936. She died of anorexia at age 49.-External links:*...
. The two went to Italy to film The Eternal City
The Eternal City (1923 film)
The Eternal City is a silent film directed by George Fitzmaurice, from a script by Ouida Bergère based on a Hall Caine novel, starring Barbara La Marr, Lionel Barrymore and Bert Lytell. The film was produced by the Samuel Goldwyn Company and distributed by First National Pictures. It was a remake...
for Metro Pictures in Rome, combining work with their honeymoon. In 1924 he went to Germany to star in British producer-director Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Wilcox
Herbert Sydney Wilcox was a British film producer and director.-Early life:Wilcox's mother was from County Cork, Ireland, but he was born in Norwood and attended school in Brighton...
's Anglo-German co-production Decameron Nights, filmed at UFA
UFA
Ufa is a city in Russia.UFA or Ufa may also refer to:*Ufa River, a river in Russia*Ufa, Ethiopia, a town in Ethiopia*Ultra flat architecture, a network architecture design for LTE 4G mobile telecommunication networks...
's Babelsberg studios outside Berlin.
Prior to his marriage to Irene, he and his brother John fell out over the issue of Irene's chastity
Chastity
Chastity refers to the sexual behavior of a man or woman acceptable to the moral standards and guidelines of a culture, civilization, or religion....
having been one of John's lovers. The brothers didn't speak again for two years and weren't seen together until the premiere of John's film Don Juan
Don Juan (1926 film)
Don Juan is a Warner Brothers film, directed by Alan Crosland. It was the first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack, though it has no spoken dialogue...
in 1926, having patched up their differences. In 1924, he left Broadway for Hollywood. He starred as Frederick Harmon in director Henri Diamant-Berger's drama Fifty-Fifty
Fifty-Fifty (1925 film)
Fifty-Fifty is a 1925 silent era drama motion picture starring Hope Hampton, Lionel Barrymore, and Louise Glaum.Directed and produced by Henri Diamant-Berger for the production company Encore Pictures, Fifty-Fifty is a remake of a 1916 Norma Talmadge movie of the same title that was directed by...
(1925) opposite Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton
Hope Hampton was an American silent motion picture actress, who was noted for her seemingly effortless incarnation of siren and flapper types in silent-picture roles during the 1920s....
and Louise Glaum
Louise Glaum
Louise Glaum was an American actress. Best known for her role as a femme fatale in silent era motion picture dramas, she was credited with giving one of the best characterizations of a vamp in her early career....
, and made several other freelance motion pictures, including The Bells (Tiffany Pictures
Tiffany Pictures
Tiffany Pictures was a Hollywood motion picture studio in operation from 1921 until 1932.-History:...
1926) with a then-unknown Boris Karloff
Boris Karloff
William Henry Pratt , better known by his stage name Boris Karloff, was an English actor.Karloff is best remembered for his roles in horror films and his portrayal of Frankenstein's monster in Frankenstein , Bride of Frankenstein , and Son of Frankenstein...
. After 1926, however, he worked almost exclusively for MGM, appearing opposite such luminaries as John Gilbert
John Gilbert (actor)
John Gilbert was an American actor and a major star of the silent film era.Known as "the great lover," he rivaled even Rudolph Valentino as a box office draw...
, Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney, Sr.
Lon Chaney , nicknamed "The Man of a Thousand Faces," was an American actor during the age of silent films. He was one of the most versatile and powerful actors of early cinema...
, Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
, Wallace Beery
Wallace Beery
Wallace Fitzgerald Beery was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Bill in Min and Bill opposite Marie Dressler, as Long John Silver in Treasure Island, as Pancho Villa in Viva Villa!, and his titular role in The Champ, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor...
, Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler
Marie Dressler was a Canadian-American actress and Depression-era film star. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930-31 in Min and Bill.-Early life and stage career:...
, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, and his brother John.
On the occasional loan-out, Barrymore had a big success with Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson
Gloria Swanson was an American actress, singer and producer. She was one of the most prominent stars during the silent film era as both an actress and a fashion icon, especially under the direction of Cecil B. DeMille, made dozens of silents and was nominated for the first Academy Award in the...
in 1928's Sadie Thompson
Sadie Thompson
Sadie Thompson is an American silent film that tells the story of a "fallen woman" who comes to Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila to start a new life, but encounters a zealous missionary who wants to force her back to her former life in San Francisco. The film stars Gloria Swanson, Lionel...
and the aforementioned Griffith film, Drums of Love. Talkies were now a reality and Barrymore's stage-trained voice recorded well in sound tests. In 1929, he returned to directing films. During this early and imperfect sound film period, he made the controversial His Glorious Night with John Gilbert, Madame X starring Ruth Chatterton
Ruth Chatterton
Ruth Chatterton was an American actress, novelist, and early aviatrix.- Early life :Chatterton was born in New York City, on Christmas Eve 1892, to Walter Smith and Lillian Reed Chatterton...
, and Rogue Song, Laurel & Hardy's first color film. Barrymore returned to acting in front of the camera in 1931. In that year, he won an Academy Award
Academy Award for Best Actor
Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry...
for his role as an alcoholic lawyer in A Free Soul
A Free Soul
A Free Soul is a 1931 Pre-Code film which tells the story of an alcoholic defense attorney who must defend his daughter's ex-boyfriend on a charge of murdering the mobster she had started a relationship with; a mobster whom her father had previously got an acquittal for on a murder charge...
(1931), after being nominated in 1930 for Best Director
Academy Award for Directing
The Academy Award for Achievement in Directing , usually known as the Best Director Oscar, is one of the Awards of Merit presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to directors working in the motion picture industry...
for Madame X
Madame X (1929 film)
Madame X is a 1929 drama film directed by Lionel Barrymore, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. Ruth Chatterton was nominated for Best Actress for her performance as a fallen woman.-Plot:...
. He could play many characters, like the evil Rasputin in the 1932 Rasputin and the Empress (in which he co-starred with siblings John and Ethel) and the ailing Oliver Jordan in Dinner at Eight (1933 - also with John Barrymore, although they had no scenes together).
During the 1930
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
s and 1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
s, he became stereotyped as grouchy but sweet elderly men in such films as The Mysterious Island
The Mysterious Island
The Mysterious Island is a novel by Jules Verne, published in 1874. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Jules Férat. The novel is a sequel to Verne's famous Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and In Search of the Castaways, though thematically it is...
(1929), Grand Hotel
Grand Hotel (film)
Grand Hotel is a 1932 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum...
(1932, with John), Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous
Captains Courageous is an 1897 novel, by Rudyard Kipling, that follows the adventures of fifteen-year-old Harvey Cheyne Jr., the arrogant and spoiled son of a railroad tycoon...
(1937), You Can't Take It with You
You Can't Take It with You
You Can't Take It with You is a comedic play in three acts by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The original production of the play opened at the Booth Theater on December 14, 1936, and played for 837 performances...
(1938), Duel in the Sun (1946), and Key Largo (1948).
1930 in film
-Events:* November 1: The Big Trail featuring a young John Wayne in his first starring role is released in both 35mm, and a very early form of 70mm film and was the first large scale big-budget film of the sound era costing over $2 million. The film was praised for its aesthetic quality and realism...
s and 1940
1940 in film
The year 1940 in film involved some significant events, including the premieres of the Walt Disney classics Pinocchio and Fantasia.-Events:*February 7 - Walt Disney's animated film Pinocchio is released....
s, he played the irascible Doctor Gillespie, repeating the role he'd created in the radio series throughout the 1940s. He also played the title role in another 1940s radio series, Mayor of the Town
Mayor of the Town
Mayor of the Town was a comedy-drama radio series that aired from 1942 to 1949 on CBS and NBC radio, and starred noted actor Lionel Barrymore as the mayor of the fictional town of Springdale. Agnes Moorehead was the voice of his housekeeper Marilly....
. Barrymore had broken his hip in an accident, hence he played Gillespie in a wheelchair; later, his worsening arthritis kept him in the chair. The injury also precluded his playing Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge
Ebenezer Scrooge is the principal character in Charles Dickens's 1843 novel, A Christmas Carol. At the beginning of the novel, Scrooge is a cold-hearted, tight-fisted and greedy man, who despises Christmas and all things which give people happiness...
in the 1938 MGM film version of A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol (1938 film)
A Christmas Carol is a 1938 American film adaptation of Charles Dickens's novelette.-Cast:*Reginald Owen as Ebenezer Scrooge*Gene Lockhart as Bob Cratchit*Kathleen Lockhart as Mrs. Cratchit*Terry Kilburn as Tiny Tim*Barry MacKay as Fred...
, a role Barrymore played every year but one on the radio from 1934 through 1953.
His final film appearance was a cameo in Main Street to Broadway
Main Street to Broadway
Main Street to Broadway is a 1953 MGM musical comedy starring Tom Morton and Mary Murphy about an aspiring playwright who hopes to stage a Broadway production starring Tallulah Bankhead...
, an MGM musical comedy released in 1953. His sister Ethel
Ethel Barrymore
Ethel Barrymore was an American actress and a member of the Barrymore family of actors.-Early life:Ethel Barrymore was born Ethel Mae Blythe in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the second child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgiana Drew...
also appeared in the film.
Perhaps his best known role, thanks to perennial Christmastime replays on television, was Mr. Potter, the miserly and mean-spirited banker in It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life
It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern....
(1946). The role suggested that of the "unreformed" stage of Barrymore's "Scrooge" characterization. Lionel's wife, Irene, died on Christmas Eve of 1936 and Lionel did not perform his annual Scrooge that year. John filled in as Scrooge for his grieving brother.
Barrymore loathed the income tax system which kept him working to the end of his life. He expressed an interest in appearing on television in the 1950s but felt compelled to remain loyal to his old friend and employer Louis B. Mayer and MGM.
Composer
Barrymore was also a prolific composer. His works ranged from solo piano pieces to large-scale orchestral works, such as "Tableau Russe." His piano compositions, "Scherzo Grotesque" and "Song Without Words", were published by G. Schirmer in 1945.Graphic artist
Barrymore was also a very skillful graphic artist. For years, he maintained an artist's shop and studio attached to his home in Los Angeles. His etchings and drawings are prized by collectors around the world.Death
Lionel Barrymore died on November 15, 1954 from a heart attackMyocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
in Van Nuys, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, and was entombed in the Calvary Cemetery
Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles
The Calvary Cemetery is a Roman Catholic cemetery operated by the Los Angeles Archdiocese, located at 4201 Whittier Boulevard in Los Angeles, California...
in East Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
.
He is honored with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame consists of more than 2,400 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along fifteen blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, California...
, in the motion picture and radio categories.
Partial filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1911 | Fighting Blood Fighting Blood Fighting Blood is a 1911 short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith, starring George Nichols and featuring Lionel Barrymore and Blanche Sweet... |
Directed by D. W. Griffith D. W. Griffith David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera... |
|
| The Battle | wagon driver | Directed by D. W. Griffith | |
| The Miser's Heart The Miser's Heart The Miser's Heart is a 1911 short silent drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet. The film was shot in Fort Lee, New Jersey where early film studios in America's first motion picture industry were based at the beginning of the 20th century. A print of the film... |
Directed by D. W. Griffith | ||
| 1912 | Friends Friends (1912 film) Friends is a 1912 film written and directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Mary Pickford, Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore, and Harry Carey... |
Grizzley Fallon (Dandy Jack's friend) | Directed by D. W. Griffith |
| The Chief's Blanket The Chief's Blanket The Chief's Blanket is a 1912 short silent Western film directed by D. W. Griffith, starring Blanche Sweet and Lionel Barrymore.-Cast:* Lionel Barrymore - The Young Man* Blanche Sweet - The Young Woman* W. Chrystie Miller - The Father... |
Directed by D. W. Griffith | ||
| Heredity Heredity (film) -Cast:* Harry Carey - White Renegade Father* Madge Kirby - Indian Mother* Jack Pickford - Son of White Renegade Father and Indian Mother* Walter P. Lewis - Indian Chief* Kate Bruce - Indian Woman* Lionel Barrymore - Woodsman... |
woodsman | Directed by D. W. Griffith | |
| The New York Hat The New York Hat The New York Hat is a short silent film directed by D. W. Griffith from a screenplay by Anita Loos, and starring Mary Pickford, Lionel Barrymore, and Lillian Gish.-Production:... |
minister | Directed by D. W. Griffith | |
| 1913 | The Tender Hearted Boy | Directed by D. W. Griffith D. W. Griffith David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera... |
|
| Oil and Water Oil and Water (1913 film) Oil and Water is a 1913 film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Blanche Sweet. The supporting cast includes Henry B. Walthall, Lionel Barrymore, and Harry Carey. A stage dancer and a serious-type homebody discover, after marriage, that their individual styles don't mesh... |
In First Audience/In Second Audience/Visitor | Directed by D. W. Griffith | |
| Almost a Wild Man | In audience | ||
| The Work Habit | The father | ||
| The Strong Man's Burden The Strong Man's Burden The Strong Man's Burden is a 1913 drama film featuring Harry Carey.-Cast:* Kate Bruce - Bob & John's Mother* Harry Carey - Bob* Lionel Barrymore - John* William J. Butler - The Doctor* Claire McDowell - The Nurse... |
John | ||
| The Battle at Elderbush Gulch The Battle at Elderbush Gulch The Battle at Elderbush Gulch is a 1913 Western film directed by D. W. Griffith and featuring Mae Marsh, Lillian Gish, and Lionel Barrymore.-Plot:... |
Directed by D. W. Griffith D. W. Griffith David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera... |
||
| Death's Marathon Death's Marathon Death's Marathon is a 1913 silent film short directed by D. W. Griffith and distributed by Biograph. It stars Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall and was filmed in the Los Angeles area. This film survives and is available on dvd. -Cast:... |
The Financial Backer | Directed by D. W. Griffith D. W. Griffith David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera... |
|
| 1914 | Judith of Bethulia Judith of Bethulia Judith of Bethulia is a film starring Blanche Sweet and Henry B. Walthall. The film was produced and directed by D. W. Griffith and was the first feature-length film made by pioneering film company Biograph, although the second that Biograph released.... |
extra | Directed by D. W. Griffith D. W. Griffith David Llewelyn Wark Griffith was a premier pioneering American film director. He is best known as the director of the controversial and groundbreaking 1915 film The Birth of a Nation and the subsequent film Intolerance .Griffith's film The Birth of a Nation made pioneering use of advanced camera... |
| Strongheart | Billy Saunders | ||
| 1917 | The Millionaire's Double The Millionaire's Double The Millionaire's Double is a 1917 silent American drama film directed by Harry Davenport, starring Lionel Barrymore and Evelyn Brent. The film is considered to be lost.- Cast :* Lionel Barrymore as Bide Bennington* Evelyn Brent as Constance Brent... |
||
| 1920 | The Copperhead The Copperhead (1920 film) The Copperhead is a 1920 silent film historical drama based on a novel by Frederick Landis and a play by Augustus Thomas. The star of this film is Lionel Barrymore who won acclaim in the play version on Broadway, and who appeared in the play and this movie with his first wife Doris Rankin... |
Title role | |
| 1921 | The Great Adventure The Great Adventure (1921 film) The Great Adventure is a 1921 silent film romantic-comedy produced by Whitman Bennett and distributed by First National Pictures, then called Associated First National. The film was directed by Kenneth Webb and starred Lionel Barrymore. Fredric March made his screen debut in this film. Remade in... |
Priam Farll | |
| 1923 | Enemies of Women Enemies of Women Enemies of Women is a 1923 silent romantic drama film directed by Alan Crosland and starring Lionel Barrymore, Alma Rubens, Gladys Hulette, Pedro de Cordoba, and Paul Panzer. The film was produced by William Randolph Hearst through his Cosmopolitan Productions... |
Prince Lubimoff | |
| 1923 | The Eternal City The Eternal City (1923 film) The Eternal City is a silent film directed by George Fitzmaurice, from a script by Ouida Bergère based on a Hall Caine novel, starring Barbara La Marr, Lionel Barrymore and Bert Lytell. The film was produced by the Samuel Goldwyn Company and distributed by First National Pictures. It was a remake... |
Baron Bonelli | |
| 1924 | I Am the Man | James McQuade | |
| 1925 | Fifty-Fifty Fifty-Fifty (1925 film) Fifty-Fifty is a 1925 silent era drama motion picture starring Hope Hampton, Lionel Barrymore, and Louise Glaum.Directed and produced by Henri Diamant-Berger for the production company Encore Pictures, Fifty-Fifty is a remake of a 1916 Norma Talmadge movie of the same title that was directed by... |
Frederick Harmon | |
| 1926 | The Bells The Bells (1926 film) The Bells is a 1926 crime film directed by James Young, starring Lionel Barrymore and featuring Boris Karloff. The story had been performed on the stage in the 19th century by Sir Henry Irving as The Bells.-Cast:* Lionel Barrymore - Mathias... |
Mathias | |
| The Temptress The Temptress The Temptress is an American silent romantic drama film directed by Fred Niblo. Starring Greta Garbo, Antonio Moreno, Lionel Barrymore and Roy D'Arcy it premiered on October 10, 1926... |
Canterac | ||
| 1927 | The Show The Show (1927 film) The Show is a 1927 silent American drama film directed by Tod Browning, based upon C.T. Jackson's 1910 novel, The Day of Souls.-Plot:A Hungarian carnival troupe follows a young girl who reforms a tearaway after her old suitor tried to kill him with a poisonous lizard.-Cast:* John Gilbert - Cock... |
The Greek | |
| Body and Soul Body and Soul (1927 film) Body and Soul is a 1927 silent film starring Aileen Pringle, Norman Kerry, and Lionel Barrymore. The movie was directed by Reginald Barker.-Cast:*Aileen Pringle as Hilda*Norman Kerry as Ruffo*Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leyden... |
Dr. Leyden | ||
| 1928 | Sadie Thompson Sadie Thompson Sadie Thompson is an American silent film that tells the story of a "fallen woman" who comes to Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila to start a new life, but encounters a zealous missionary who wants to force her back to her former life in San Francisco. The film stars Gloria Swanson, Lionel... |
Alfred Davidson | |
| West of Zanzibar | Mr. Crane | ||
| 1929 | Madame X Madame X (1929 film) Madame X is a 1929 drama film directed by Lionel Barrymore, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director. Ruth Chatterton was nominated for Best Actress for her performance as a fallen woman.-Plot:... |
director Nominated — Academy Award for Best Director |
|
| The Unholy Night The Unholy Night The Unholy Night is a 1929 mystery film directed by Lionel Barrymore, starring Ernest Torrence and featuring Boris Karloff.-Cast:* Ernest Torrence - Dr... |
director | ||
| The Mysterious Island The Mysterious Island (1929 film) The Mysterious Island is an MGM film directed by Lucien Hubbard, a film adaptation of Jules Verne's novel L'Île mystérieuse , published in 1874... |
Count Dakkar | This film began production in 1927 as a silent. It was completed and released with sound and talking sequences in 1929. | |
| 1930 | The Sea Bat The Sea Bat The Sea Bat is a 1930 thriller film directed by Lionel Barrymore and Wesley Ruggles, starring Raquel Torres and featuring Boris Karloff. Part of the movie was filmed on location in Mazatlán, Mexico.... |
director (uncredited) | |
| 1931 | Ten Cents a Dance Ten Cents a Dance (1931 film) Ten Cents a Dance is a 1931 romantic drama film starring Barbara Stanwyck as a married taxi dancer who falls in love with one of her customers... |
director | |
| A Free Soul A Free Soul A Free Soul is a 1931 Pre-Code film which tells the story of an alcoholic defense attorney who must defend his daughter's ex-boyfriend on a charge of murdering the mobster she had started a relationship with; a mobster whom her father had previously got an acquittal for on a murder charge... |
Stephen Ashe, Defense Attorney | Academy Award for Best Actor Academy Award for Best Actor Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role is one of the Academy Awards of Merit presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry... |
|
| Guilty Hands | Richard Grant | ||
| The Yellow Ticket The Yellow Ticket The Yellow Ticket is a 1931 drama film based on a play by Michael Morton, produced by the Fox Film Corporation and directed by Raoul Walsh. The film starred Elissa Landi, Lionel Barrymore and featured Boris Karloff... |
Baron Igor Andrey | ||
| Mata Hari | Gen. Serge Shubin | ||
| 1932 | Broken Lullaby Broken Lullaby Broken Lullaby is an American drama film directed by Ernst Lubitsch and released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by Samson Raphaelson and Ernest Vajda is based on the 1930 play L'homme que j'ai tué by Maurice Rostand and its 1931 English-language adaptation, The Man I Killed, by Reginald... |
Dr. Holderlin | |
| Arsène Lupin Arsène Lupin (1932 film) Arsene Lupin is a 1932 talking film mystery directed by Jack Conway, produced and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. It is taken from a popular 1909 play by Maurice Leblanc and Francis de Croisset. John Barrymore stars in this film, his first MGM film under a new contract and after leaving Warner... |
Det. Guerchard | ||
| Grand Hotel Grand Hotel (film) Grand Hotel is a 1932 American drama film directed by Edmund Goulding. The screenplay by William A. Drake and Béla Balázs is based on the 1930 play of the same title by Drake, who had adapted it from the 1929 novel Menschen im Hotel by Vicki Baum... |
Otto Kringelein | ||
| Rasputin and the Empress Rasputin and the Empress Rasputin and the Empress is a 1932 film about Imperial Russia starring the Barrymore siblings—John , Ethel , and Lionel Barrymore . It is the only film in which all three appeared together... |
Rasputin | includes John, Ethel, and Lionel | |
| 1933 | Dinner at Eight Dinner at Eight (film) Dinner at Eight is a Pre-Code 1933 comedy of manners/drama produced by MGM Studios. The film was adapted to the screen by Frances Marion and Herman J. Mankiewicz from the play by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, with additional dialogue supplied by Donald Ogden Stewart. Produced by David O... |
Oliver Jordan | |
| One Man's Journey One Man's Journey One Man's Journey was a 2005 documentary series on PBS, featuring the canoe travels of naturalist and filmmaker Robert Perkins.-References:-External links:... |
Eli Watt | ||
| Should Ladies Behave | Augustus Merrick | ||
| 1934 | Carolina | Bob Connelly | |
| The Girl from Missouri The Girl from Missouri The Girl from Missouri is a 1934 American romantic comedy-drama film starring Jean Harlow and Franchot Tone. The movie was written by Anita Loos and directed by Jack Conway.-Plot:... |
Thomas Randall 'T.R.' Paige | ||
| Treasure Island Treasure Island (1934 film) Treasure Island is a 1934 movie adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s famous 1883 novel Treasure Island. Jim Hawkins discovers a treasure map and travels on a sailing ship to a remote island, but pirates led by Long John Silver threaten to take away the honest seafarers’ riches and... |
Billy Bones | ||
| 1935 | The Personal History, Adventures, Experience, and Observation of David Copperfield, the Younger |
Dan’l Peggotty | |
| The Little Colonel The Little Colonel The Little Colonel is a 1935 American comedy drama film directed by David Butler. The screenplay by William M. Conselman was adapted from a novel of the same name by Annie Fellows Johnston, and focuses on the reconciliation of an estranged father and daughter in the years following the American... |
Col. Lloyd | ||
| Mark of the Vampire Mark of the Vampire Mark of the Vampire is a 1935 horror film, starring Lionel Barrymore, Elizabeth Allan, Bela Lugosi, Lionel Atwill, and Jean Hersholt and directed by Tod Browning... |
Professor | ||
| Public Hero No. 1 | Dr. Josiah Glass | ||
| Ah, Wilderness! Ah, Wilderness! (film) Ah, Wilderness! is a 1935 screen adaptation of the Eugene O'Neill play of the same name starring Wallace Beery. The movie was filmed in Grafton, Massachusetts and directed by Clarence Brown. Beery plays the drunken uncle later portrayed on Broadway by Jackie Gleason, and the film features Lionel... |
Nat Miller | ||
| 1936 | The Road to Glory | Pvt. Moran | |
| The Devil-Doll The Devil-Doll The Devil-Doll is a horror film directed by Tod Browning and starring a cross-dressing Lionel Barrymore and Maureen O'Sullivan as his daughter, Lorraine Levond... |
Paul Lavond | ||
| The Gorgeous Hussy The Gorgeous Hussy The Gorgeous Hussy is a 1936 film directed by Clarence Brown, and starring Joan Crawford and Robert Taylor. The film's plot tells a fictionalized account of President of the United States Andrew Jackson and an innkeeper's daughter... |
Andrew Jackson | ||
| Camille Camille (1936 film) Camille is an American romantic drama film directed by George Cukor and produced by Irving Thalberg and Bernard H. Hyman, from a screenplay by James Hilton, Zoe Akins and Frances Marion. The picture is based on the 1852 novel and play La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils... |
Monsieur Duval | ||
| 1937 | Captains Courageous | Captain Disko Troop | |
| A Family Affair A Family Affair (film) A Family Affair is the first entry in the Andy Hardy film series, though Mickey Rooney has a secondary role as the son of Judge Hardy, played by Lionel Barrymore. The highly respected judge has to deal with family and political problems. The film was based on the play Skidding by Aurania... |
Judge James K. Hardy | ||
| Navy Blue and Gold Navy Blue and Gold (film) Navy Blue and Gold is a 1937 American Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film starring Robert Young, James Stewart and Lionel Barrymore.-Cast:*Robert Young as Roger Ash*James Stewart as "Truck" Cross*Lionel Barrymore as Captain "Skinny" Dawes... |
Capt. 'Skinny' Dawes | ||
| Saratoga Saratoga (film) Saratoga is a 1937 film written by Anita Loos and directed by Jack Conway. The movie stars Clark Gable and Jean Harlow in their sixth and final film collaboration.... |
Grandpa Clayton | ||
| 1938 | A Yank at Oxford A Yank at Oxford A Yank at Oxford is a 1938 British film, directed by Jack Conway from a screenplay by John Monk Saunders and Leon Gordon. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer British Studios... |
Dan Sheridan | |
| Test Pilot Test Pilot (film) Test Pilot is a 1938 film directed by Victor Fleming and featuring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, and Lionel Barrymore. The movie tells the story of a daredevil test pilot , his wife , and his best friend... |
Howard B. Drake | ||
| You Can't Take It with You You Can't Take It with You (film) You Can't Take It With You Adapted from the Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. The cast includes James Stewart, Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore and Edward Arnold.... |
Grandpa Martin Vanderhof | ||
| Young Dr. Kildare Young Dr. Kildare Young Dr. Kildare is a 1938 film starring Lew Ayres as an idealistic but somewhat immature young medical doctor, who benefits greatly from the wise counsel of his mentor, Dr. Gillespie, a seasoned older physician. This was the second of a total of ten Dr... |
Dr. Gillespie | ||
| 1939 | Let Freedom Ring | Thomas Logan | |
| Calling Dr. Kildare | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| On Borrowed Time On Borrowed Time On Borrowed Time is a 1939 film about the role death plays in life, and how humanity cannot live without it. It is adapted from Paul Osborn's 1938 Broadway hit play. The play, based on a novel by Lawrence Edward Watkin, has been revived twice on Broadway since its original run.Set in small-town... |
Julian Northrup (Gramps) | ||
| The Secret of Dr. Kildare The Secret of Dr. Kildare - Cast :*Lew Ayres as Dr. James "Jimmy" Kildare*Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leonard Barry Gillespie*Lionel Atwill as Paul Messenger*Helen Gilbert as Nancy Messenger*Nat Pendleton as Joe Wayman*Laraine Day as Nurse Mary Lamont*Sara Haden as Nora... |
Dr. Leonard Barry Gillespie | ||
| 1940 | The Stars Look Down The Stars Look Down (film) The Stars Look Down is a 1940 British film based on A. J. Cronin's novel of the same title, initially published in 1935, which chronicles various injustices in a mining community in North East England. The film, co-scripted by Cronin and directed by Carol Reed, stars Michael Redgrave as Davey... |
Narrator | voice, uncredited |
| Dr. Kildare's Strange Case Dr. Kildare's Strange Case - Cast :*Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare*Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leonard Gillespie*Laraine Day as Nurse Mary Lamont*Shepperd Strudwick as Dr. Gregory 'Greg' Lane*Samuel S. Hinds as Dr. Stephen Kildare*Emma Dunn as Mrs. Martha Kildare... |
Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| Dr. Kildare Goes Home Dr. Kildare Goes Home Dr. Kildare Goes Home is a 1940 drama film directed by Harold S. Bucquet, starring Lew Ayres, Lionel Barrymore and Laraine Day. This was the second in a series of nine Dr. Kildare, from 1938-1942 starring Lew Ayres as Dr, Kildare.-Plot summary:... |
Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| Dr. Kildare's Crisis | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| 1941 | The Penalty | 'Grandpop' Logan | |
| The Bad Man The Bad Man The Bad Man is a 1941 Western film starring Wallace Beery, Lionel Barrymore, Laraine Day, and Ronald Reagan. The movie was written by Wells Root from the Porter Emerson Browne play, and directed by Richard Thorpe... |
Uncle Henry Jones | ||
| The People vs. Dr. Kildare | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| Dr. Kildare's Wedding Day | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| Lady Be Good Lady Be Good (1941 film) Lady Be Good is the title of an MGM musical film which was released in 1941.The film starred dancer Eleanor Powell along with Ann Sothern, Robert Young, Lionel Barrymore, and Red Skelton. It was directed by Norman Z. McLeod and produced by Arthur Freed... |
Judge Murdock | ||
| 1942 | Dr. Kildare's Victory Dr. Kildare's Victory Dr. Kildare's Victory is a 1942 film directed by W. S. Van Dyke. It stars Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore.-Cast:*Lew Ayres as Dr. Kildare*Lionel Barrymore as Dr. Leonard Gillespie*Ann Ayars as Cynthia Cookie Charles... |
Dr. Leonard Gillespie | |
| Calling Dr. Gillespie | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| Dr. Gillespie's New Assistant | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | ||
| Tennessee Johnson Tennessee Johnson Tennessee Johnson is a 1942 American film about Andrew Johnson, the 17th president of the United States. It was directed by William Dieterle and written by Milton Gunzburg, Alvin Meyers, John Balderston, and Wells Root. It starred Van Heflin as Johnson, Lionel Barrymore as his nemesis Thaddeus... |
Thaddeus Stevens | ||
| 1943 | Dr. Gillespie's Criminal Case | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | |
| The Last Will and Testament of Tom Smith | Gramps | ||
| A Guy Named Joe A Guy Named Joe A Guy Named Joe is a 1943 film made by MGM, directed by Victor Fleming, produced by Everett Riskin, from a screenplay by Dalton Trumbo, adapted by Frederick Hazlitt Brennan from a story by Chandler Sprague and David Boehm. It starred Spencer Tracy, Irene Dunne and Van Johnson, with Esther Williams... |
The General | ||
| 1944 | Three Men in White | Dr. Leonard B. Gillespie | |
| Since You Went Away Since You Went Away Since You Went Away is a 1944 film distributed by United Artists, a big-budget epic about the American home front during World War II. It was directed by John Cromwell and adapted and produced by David O. Selznick from the novel Since You Went Away: Letters to a Soldier from His Wife by Margaret... |
Clergyman | ||
| Dragon Seed | Narrator | voice, uncredited | |
| 1945 | Between Two Women | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | |
| The Valley of Decision The Valley of Decision The Valley of Decision is a film set in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA in the late 19th century. It tells the story of a young Irish house maid who falls in love with the son of her employer, a local steel mill owner... |
Pat Rafferty | ||
| 1946 | Three Wise Fools Three Wise Fools (1946 film) Three Wise Fools is a 1946 film adaptation of Austin Strong's Broadway play of the same name. A young Irish orphan girl softens the hearts of three hardened old bachelors who were once unsuccessful suitors of her grandmother many years before.-Cast:*Margaret O'Brien as Sheila... |
Dr. Richard Gaunght | |
| It's a Wonderful Life It's a Wonderful Life It's a Wonderful Life is a 1946 American Christmas drama film produced and directed by Frank Capra and based on the short story "The Greatest Gift" written by Philip Van Doren Stern.... |
Henry F. Potter | ||
| The Secret Heart The Secret Heart The Secret Heart is a 1946 film directed by Robert Z. Leonard, and starring Claudette Colbert, Walter Pidgeon and June Allyson.-Plot:Lee is engaged to marry Larry Adams, a spendthrift widower with two children, son Chase and daughter Penny... |
Dr. Rossiger | ||
| Duel in the Sun | Sen. Jackson McCanles | ||
| 1947 | Dark Delusion | Dr. Leonard Gillespie | |
| 1948 | Key Largo Key Largo (film) Key Largo is a 1948 film noir directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor... |
James Temple | |
| 1949 | Down to the Sea in Ships | Capt. Bering Joy | |
| Malaya Malaya (film) Malaya is a 1949 war film set in colonial Malaya during World War II, starring Spencer Tracy and James Stewart. The movie was directed by Richard Thorpe.-Plot:... |
John Manchester | ||
| 1950 | Right Cross Right Cross Right Cross is a 1950 drama film directed by John Sturges, written by Armand Deutsch and starring June Allyson, Ricardo Montalban, Dick Powell, Lionel Barrymore, and Marilyn Monroe.-Cast:*June Allyson ... Pat O'Malley... |
Sean O'Malley | |
| 1951 | Bannerline | Hugo Trimble | |
| 1952 | Lone Star Lone Star (1952 film) Lone Star is a 1952 Western film starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Broderick Crawford, Ed Begley, and Lionel Barrymore as President Andrew Jackson... |
Andrew Jackson | |
| 1953 | Main Street to Broadway Main Street to Broadway Main Street to Broadway is a 1953 MGM musical comedy starring Tom Morton and Mary Murphy about an aspiring playwright who hopes to stage a Broadway production starring Tallulah Bankhead... |
Himself (with his sister Ethel) | |
| 1953 | Seven Angry Men | ||
External links
- Photographs of Lionel Barrymore
- Lionel Barrymore at Internet Broadway Database
- Lionel Barrymore photo gallery NYP Library
- NY Times August 29 1908 A NEW ETHEL BARRYMORE; Daughter Born To Lionel in Paris
- Lionel Barrymore and several other actors on Orson Welles Radio Almanac 1944