Lionel Barrymore (born Lionel Herbert Blythe; 1878–1954) was an American actor of stage, screen, and radio. He also directed several films, wrote scripts, created etchings, sketches, and composed music. He was the eldest child of the actors Maurice Barrymore and Georgie Drew Barrymore, and his two siblings were John and Ethel; these and other family members were part of an acting dynasty. Reluctant to follow his parents' career, Barrymore appeared together with his grandmother Louisa Lane Drew in a stage production of The Rivals at the age of 15. He soon found success on stage in character roles. Although he took a break from acting in 1906–1909 to train in Paris as a painter, he was not successful as an artist, and returned to the US and acting. He also joined his family troupe, from 1910, in their vaudeville act.
Barrymore began his film career in 1911, appearing in numerous silent films, many of which have subsequently been lost. In 1911, he signed a contract with the Biograph Company and appeared as a character actor in short films, many of them directed by D. W. Griffith, before moving into feature-length productions in 1914. He began writing scripts and directing films shortly afterwards, and for the next five years, he did not act on the legitimate stage. Although he had several successes on Broadway after the First World War, he encountered strongly negative criticism in a 1921 production of Macbeth, and in three productions in a row in 1925. Afterwards, he never again appeared on the New York stage. In 1925, he signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, where he became a close friend of Louis B. Mayer, for whom he made numerous films. He directed several films from 1929 to 1931, but concentrated on acting afterwards.
Barrymore became well known in curmudgeonly roles. In 1938, he broke his hip, and, aggravated by arthritis, he lived the remainder of his life in a wheelchair. Mayer made sure that roles were found or written to accommodate Barrymore, who continued to act in films until 1953. During that time, he appeared as Dr. Gillespie in the popular Dr. Kildare film series, with Lew Ayres in the title role, and as Mr. Potter in It's a Wonderful Life—a role that was highly placed on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 Heroes and Villains in a film that the critic Philip French described as "a complex inspirational work". Beginning in the 1930s, Barrymore increasingly worked in radio, initially as Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, which was broadcast annually from 1934 to 1953, then in Mayor of the Town, beginning in 1942, and also in a radio series spun off from the Dr. Kildare films (playing the same character that he had played in the films), among others.
Two of the films in which Barrymore appeared—Grand Hotel (1932), and You Can't Take It with You (1938)—won the Academy Award for Best Picture. He was considered for the Academy Award for Best Director for his 1929 film, Madame X, and won the Best Actor award for his performance in A Free Soul (1931). He was inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 8, 1960, and is, along with his two siblings, included in the American Theater Hall of Fame.
| Production | Date | Theatre (New York City, unless stated) | Role | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billed as Lional Barrymore | |||||
| Star Theatre | Footman | ||||
| Park Theatre, Boston | Subsequently, at the Star Theatre, Buffalo, from January 12, 1897. | ||||
| Mary Pennington, Spinster | Palmer's Theatre | Watson | |||
| Squire Kate | Palmer's Theatre | ||||
| Cumberland '61 | 14th Street Theatre | ||||
| Minneapolis–Saint Paul | |||||
| Magda | Minneapolis–Saint Paul | ||||
| Oliver Twist | Minneapolis–Saint Paul | ||||
| East Lynne | Minneapolis–Saint Paul | ||||
| Camille | Minneapolis–Saint Paul | ||||
| Uncle Dick | Star Theatre, Buffalo | ||||
| Honorable John Rigsby | New National Theatre, Washington | Subsequently, at the Powers' Theatre, Chicago from January 23, 1899, for two weeks. | |||
| Arizona | Chicago Grand Opera House, Chicago | ||||
| Rain Clouds | Albany, New York | ||||
| Albany, New York | |||||
| Albany, New York | |||||
| Sag Harbor | – December 1900 | Republic Theatre | Ran for 76 performances | ||
| Brixton Burglary | – July 8, 1901 | Herald Square Theatre | Ran for 48 performances | ||
| – December 1901 | Empire Theatre | Ran for 128 performances | |||
| – November 1902 and April 1903 – ? | Empire Theatre | Giuseppe | Ran for 85 performances in 1902 and then a second run in 1903 | ||
| – December 1903 | Academy of Music | Ran for 65 performances | |||
| – May 1904 | Criterion Theatre | Ran for 160 performances, transferring to the Empire Theatre on January 25, 1904, and then to the Lyceum Theatre on May 2, 1904 | |||
| Pantaloon/Alice Sit-by-the-Fire | – March 1906 | Criterion Theatre | Pantaloon | Ran for 81 performances; double bill with his siblings | |
| Illinois Theatre, Chicago | Abdulla | Barrymore left the production at the end of December | |||
| Victoria Theater | |||||
| Majestic Theatre, Chicago | Italian laborer | Written by Barrymore; co-starred first wife Doris Rankin | |||
| Bob Acres | Brooklyn | ||||
| Stalled | |||||
| Cincinnati | |||||
| Peter Ibbetson | – June 1917 | Republic Theatre | Ran for 71 performances; with John Barrymore | ||
| – June 1918 | Shubert Theatre | Ran for 120 performances | |||
| – February 28, 1920 | Plymouth Theatre | Ran for 77 performances and then another 179 performances after a summer break; adapted play with E. Sheldon and John Barrymore (co-star) | |||
| – July 1920 | Criterion Theatre | Mouzon | Ran for 89 performances | ||
| Macbeth | –March 1921 | Apollo Theatre | Macbeth | Ran for 28 performances | |
| – January 1922 | Broadhurst Theatre | Ran for 115 performances; co-starred Doris Rankin and Irene Fenwick (second wife) | |||
| Laugh, Clown, Laugh | – March 1924 | Belasco Theatre | Ran for 133 performances | ||
| – February 1925 | Eltinge Theatre | Ran for 44 performances | |||
| Taps | – May 1925 | Broadhurst Theatre | Ran for 32 performances | ||
| Man or Devil | – June 1925 | Broadhurst Theatre | Ran for 20 performances |
The list does not include the 1913 film The Vengeance of Galora, which Barrymore wrote. Although some sources list him as also appearing in the film, his biographers, James Kotsilibas-Davis and Margot Peters, separately state he did not. Kotsilibas-Davis also lists Fighting Blood (1911), My Hero (1912), and The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) as films in which Barrymore did not appear, despite claims of other biographers to the contrary; Peters does not list the films in her filmography of the actor.
| Film | Year | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| His Secret | Lost film | |||
| Where's the Baby? | Lost film | |||
| No Place for Father | Lost film | |||
| Just Boys | Lost film | |||
| Chocolate Dynamite | Lost film | [2] | ||
| Life's Whirlpool | 1917 | Also writer; lost film | ||
| His Glorious Night | 1929 | Barrymore also composed the music | ||
| Madame X | Barrymore was considered for the Academy Award for Best Director | |||
| Confession | ||||
| Redemption | Only for retakes | |||
| Uncredited | ||||
| Guilty Hands | Uncredited | |||
| Ten Cents a Dance |
| Title | Date | Role | Network | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Christmas Carol | – December 25, 1953 | CBS | Broadcast annually on Christmas Day | |||
| Mayor of the Town | 1942–1949 | ABC, CBS, Mutual, and NBC | Barrymore also composed the theme | |||
| Screen Guild Players | Narrator | CBS | Barrymore played the narration as the author, J. M. Barrie | |||
| Dr. Kildare | 1949–1952 | Syndicated | ||||
| The Hallmark Hall of Fame | 1953–1955 | Host | CBS |
. Hollis Alpert. The Barrymores. 1965. W.H. Allen. London. 30274937.
. Lionel Barrymore. We Barrymores. registration. 1951. Appleton-Century-Crofts. New York, NY. 594282.
. Margot Peters. The House of Barrymore. 1990. Touchstone. New York, NY. 978-0-671-74799-2.