Ethel Barrymore (born Ethel Mae Blythe; 1879–1959) was an American actress of stage, screen and radio. She came from a family of actors; she was the middle child of Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew Barrymore, and had two brothers, Lionel and John. Reluctant to pursue her parents' career, the loss of financial support following the death of Louisa Lane Drew, caused Barrymore to give up her dream of becoming a concert pianist and instead earn a living on the stage. Barrymore's first Broadway role, alongside her uncle John Drew, Jr., was in The Imprudent Young Couple (1895). She soon found success, particularly after an invitation from William Gillette to appear on stage in his 1897 London production of Secret Service. Barrymore was soon popular with English society, and she had a number of romantic suitors, including Laurence Irving, the dramatist. His father, Henry Irving, cast her in The Bells (1897) and Peter the Great (1898).
On her return to America in 1898, Barrymore was lauded by the press and public and, under Charles Frohman's management, she appeared in Catherine (1898) and Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines (1901) on Broadway. The latter play was a success, and Barrymore received particular praise. She went on to have a series of similarly popular roles in Cousin Kate (1903), Alice-Sit-by-the-Fire (1905), Lady Frederick (1908) and Déclassée (1920), among others. After a series of less well-received roles in the early 1920s, she returned to popularity with her role as the sophisticated spouse of a philandering husband in The Constant Wife (1927). In 1928 the Ethel Barrymore Theatre was opened in her honor, and she appeared in its inaugural production, The Kingdom of God.
Barrymore began her film career in The Nightingale in 1914, followed by a series of other silent films, but she never dedicated herself to the medium fully. When opportunities for the right stage roles declined in the 1930s and she encountered financial difficulties, she appeared in her first talking film, Rasputin and the Empress (1932)—in which both her brothers also starred—and began radio broadcasts on the Blue Network with The Ethel Barrymore Theater. In the 1940s she had a last stage triumph in the long-running The Corn Is Green (1942), in which she had "perhaps her most acclaimed role", according to her biographer, Benjamin McArthur. Her film work became increasingly prominent in the 1940s and 1950s, and she won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for None but the Lonely Heart (1944). She received subsequent Academy Award nominations—again for Best Supporting Actress—for The Spiral Staircase (1946), The Paradine Case (1947) and Pinky (1949). She was inducted into the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960 and is, along with her two brothers, included in the American Theater Hall of Fame.
| Production | Date | Theatre (New York, unless stated) | Role | Number of performances | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – ? | Montreal | – | |||
| Oliver Twist | – ? | Montreal | – | ||
| – ? | New York | – | |||
| – ? | New York | – | |||
| – ? | Empire Theatre | Katherine | |||
| Rosemary | – ? | Empire Theatre | Priscilla | ||
| Secret Service | Adelphi Theatre, London | – | |||
| England, tour | – | ||||
| Peter the Great | Lyceum Theatre, London | – | |||
| Catherine | – ? | Garrick Theatre | – | ||
| His Excellency, the Governor | – | – | |||
| Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines | – July 1901 | Garrick Theatre | 168 | ||
| – December 1902 | Savoy Theatre | Unknown and Carrots | 89 | ||
| Cousin Kate | – November 1903 | Hudson Theatre | 44 | ||
| Cousin Kate | – April 1904 | Hudson Theatre | 16 | ||
| Cynthia | Wyndham's Theatre, London | – | |||
| Sunday | – January 1905 | Hudson Theatre | Sunday | 79 | |
| – May 1905 | Lyceum Theatre | 15 | |||
| Alice Sit-by-the-Fire | – March 1906 | Olympia Theatre and touring | 81 | ||
| Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines | – March 1907 | Empire Theatre | 33 | ||
| – April 1907 | Empire Theatre | – | 20 | ||
| His Excellency the Governor | – May 1907 | Empire Theatre | – | 36 | |
| Cousin Kate | – May 1907 | Empire Theatre | 16 | ||
| Her Sister | – February 1908 | Hudson Theatre | 61 | ||
| Lady Frederick | – February 1909 | Hudson Theatre | 96 | ||
| Mid-Channel | – April 1910 | Empire Theatre | 96 | ||
| Trelawny of the 'Wells' | – February 1911 | Empire Theatre | 48 | ||
| Alice Sit-by-the-Fire | – March 1911 | Empire Theatre | – | 32 | |
| – March 1911 | Empire Theatre | – | 32 | ||
| – January 1912 | Empire Theatre | – | 64 | ||
| – ? | Empire Theatre | – | |||
| – March 1912 | Criterion Theatre | – | 48 | ||
| Miss Civilization | – ? | Palace Theatre | – | ||
| Tante | – January 1914 | Empire Theatre | 79 | ||
| – March 1915 | Empire Theatre | – | 72 | ||
| Our Mrs. McChesney | – February 1916 | Lyceum Theatre | – | 151 | |
| – February 1918 | Empire Theatre | 56 | |||
| – May 1918 | Empire Theatre | 92 | |||
| Belinda | – June 1918 | Empire Theatre | – | 32 | |
| Declassee | – May 1920 | Empire Theatre | 257 | ||
| Clair de Lune | – June 1921 | Empire Theatre | 64 | ||
| Rose Bernd | – December 1922 | Longacre Theatre | 87 | ||
| Romeo and Juliet | – January 1923 | Longacre Theatre | Juliet | 23 | |
| – May 1923 | Longacre Theatre | 96 | |||
| – June 1923 | Lyceum Theatre | 8 | |||
| – December 1923 | Plymouth Theatre | 24 | |||
| – December 1924 | Cort Theatre | Paula | 72 | ||
| Hamlet | – December 1925 | Hampden's Theatre | Ophelia | ||
| Hamlet | – December 1925 | National Theatre | Ophelia | 68 | |
| – February 1926 | Hampden's Theatre | Portia | 54 | ||
| – August 13, 1927 | Maxine Elliott Theatre | 296 | |||
| – March 1929 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | 92 | |||
| – July 1929 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | She | 88 | ||
| Scarlet Sister Mary | – December 1930 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | Sister Mary | 24 | |
| – November 1931 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | 23 | |||
| L'Aiglon | – December 1934 | Broadhurst Theatre | Marie-Louise | 58 | |
| – January 1938 | Guild Theatre | 48 | |||
| Whiteoaks | – June 1938 | Hudson Theatre | Adeline | 112 | |
| Farm of Three Echoes | – January 6, 1940 | Cort Theatre | 48 | ||
| – April 13, 1940 | Ethel Barrymore Theatre | 15 | |||
| – September 9, 1941 | National Theatre | ||||
| – January 1, 1942 | Royale Theatre | 477 | |||
| – June 19, 1943 | Martin Beck Theatre | 56 | |||
| Embezzled Heaven | – January 13, 1945 | National Theatre | Teta | 52 |
| Film | Year | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lost | |||||
| Survives | |||||
| Lost | |||||
| Survives | |||||
| Survives | |||||
| Egypt | Survives | ||||
| Lost | |||||
| Lost | |||||
| Life's Whirlpool | Lost | ||||
| Maris | Survives | ||||
| Lost | |||||
| National Red Cross Pageant | Herself | Lost | |||
| Our Mrs. McChesney | Lost | ||||
| Lost | |||||
| Camille | – | Short | |||
| Rasputin and the Empress | Czarina Alexandra | ||||
| All at Sea | – | Short | |||
| None but the Lonely Heart | Winner, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | ||||
| Nominee, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |||||
| Moss Rose | |||||
| Nominee, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | |||||
| Moonrise | Grandma | ||||
| Portrait of Jennie | |||||
| That Midnight Kiss | |||||
| Pinky | Nominee, Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress | ||||
| Kind Lady | |||||
| Granny | |||||
| It's a Big Country | |||||
| Deadline – U.S.A. | |||||
| Just for You | |||||
| Main Street to Broadway | Herself | ||||
| Young at Heart | |||||
| Johnny Trouble |
| Broadcast | Date | Network | Role | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| – April 7, 1937 | Blue Network | Various | Weekly plays, including Trelawny of the 'Wells' and Alice Sit-by-the-Fire | |||
| CBS | – | |||||
| Lincoln Highway | NBC | |||||
| Miss Hattie | – June 17, 1945 | Blue Network | ||||
| Screen Guild Players | CBS | – | ||||
| Family Theater "The Passion and Death" | Mutual Broadcasting System | Narrator | A pre-Easter broadcast telling the story of the Passion |