LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Ethel Barrymore
built 635 days ago
Often called “the first lady of the American stage,” Ethel Barrymore came from an historic theater family. Her grandmother, an actress and theater manager in Philadelphia, had several children who ... became successful actors, including Ethel Barrymore’s mother, Georgiana. Georgiana married a British actor, Herbert Blythe, who, using the stage name Maurice Barrymore, became a popular leading man. Maurice and Georgiana had three children: Ethel, Lionel, and John. All three had celebrated acting careers, earning them the nickname, “The Fabulous Barrymores.”
Source:
Barrymore ... appeared in vaudeville, on radio, and on television and made several motion pictures. She and her brothers, John and Lionel Barrymore, recognized the potential of that new medium, film, though Ethel never took easily to the screen. She made her film debut in The Nightingale (1914) and appeared in films made in New York and Hollywood through 1919. But she never cared for Hollywood, or for working in films, and so she returned to New York City and the stage.
Source:
The first actor of the name was Maurice Barrymore, 1847-1905, b. Agra, India. His original name was Herbert Blythe. He graduated from Cambridge, took a law degree, but renounced law for the stage. After appearing in the provinces in England he went to the United States (1875) and joined Augustin Daly 's company, making his first appearance in Daly's melodrama, Under the Gaslight. A handsome actor, he was leading man to many of the famous actresses of the period.
Source:
Apart from the Dr. Gillespie role, Barrymore continued to act in dozens of films throughout the final years of his life, usually in a wheelchair or deskbound yet still dominating his scenes. His screen persona in the latter years was often the butt of nightclub impressionists who copied his unusually pitched and timed voice and grandiose hand gestures. Yet Barrymore's career was a diverse one with as many calmly serious roles as flamboyant ones. It is unfortunate that the lasting impression he left is more that of Mr. Potter in Frank Capra's It's a Wonderful Life than the worried businessman in Dinner at Eight or the smart detective in Arsène Lupin. He was a consummate actor who worked hard and gave almost 300 screen performances of wide diversity, a great accomplishment by any standard.
Source:
It is related that when Ethel Barrymore stood hestitating on her first stage appearance some one in the gallery yelled out: "Speak up, Ethel. Don't be afraid. The Drews is all good actors."
Source:
May 19, 1942: Barrymore collapses during a rehearsal of the Rudy Vallee radio show. He is rushed to the hospital and diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, bronchial pneumonia, hemmorhaging ulcers, and hardening of the arteries.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Ethel Barrymore