Quick Facts
- NAME: Lionel Barrymore
- OCCUPATION: Actor
- BIRTH DATE: April 28, 1878
- DEATH DATE: November 15, 1954
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- PLACE OF DEATH: Van Nuyes, California
- Originally: Lionel Blythe
Best Known For
Lionel Barrymore was one of the most important character actors of the early 29th century and head of the famous Barrymore acting family.
Lionel Barrymore. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 03:17, Feb 08, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454
Lionel Barrymore [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454, February 08
" Lionel Barrymore." 2012. Biography.com 08 Feb 2012, 03:17 http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454
' Lionel Barrymore', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454 [accessed Feb 08, 2012]
" Lionel Barrymore," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454 (accessed Feb 08, 2012).
Lionel Barrymore [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 Feb 08]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454.
Lionel Barrymore, http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454 (last visited Feb 08, 2012).
Lionel Barrymore, http://www.biography.com/people/lionel-barrymore-9200454 (last visited Feb 08, 2012).
Synopsis
In 1926, Lionel Barrymore left Broadway for Hollywood and began a long line of outstanding screen roles in such films as The Mysterious Island and A Free Soul, for which he won an Oscar, and went on to Grand Hotel, Captains Courageous, Duel in the Sun and Key Largo. He was also a radio actor and was noted for his annual radio performance as Scrooge in Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.
Profile
(born April 28, 1878, Philadelphia—died November 15, 1954, Van Nuys, Calif., U.S.) one of the most important character actors in the early 20th century.
The son of the stage actors Maurice and Georgiana Barrymore, founders of the celebrated family of actors, he originally studied painting in Paris for three years. On his return to New York, however, he established his reputation as an actor in such plays as Peter Ibbetson (1917), The Copperhead (1918), and The Jest (1919).
In 1926 he left Broadway permanently for Hollywood and began a long line of outstanding screen characterizations in such films as The Mysterious Island (1929), A Free Soul (1931), for which he won an Academy Award as best actor, Grand Hotel (1932), Rasputin and the Empress (1932), Captains Courageous (1937), The Valley of Decision (1945), Duel in the Sun (1947), and Key Largo (1948). In the “Dr. Kildare” series, the first of which was released in 1938, he played Dr. Gillespie. In his older years he projected an image of an irascible (but usually lovable) curmudgeon, a role in which he exploited to the fullest his distinctive traits—a tall, stooped posture (though, because of arthritis, he usually performed in a wheelchair from 1938 on), shaggy eyebrows, and a hoarse, rasping voice. He was also a radio actor and was noted for his annual radio performance as Scrooge in Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol.
We Barrymores (1951), by Lionel Barrymore as told to Cameron Shipp, is basically an autobiography but contains much information on his famous siblings John and Ethel.
Copyright © 1994-2011 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. For more information visit Britannica.com
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